North Shropshire (UK Parliament constituency)

North Shropshire
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of North Shropshire in Shropshire.
Location of Shropshire within England.
County	Shropshire
Electorate	77,673 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Wem, Whitchurch, Ellesmere, Oswestry, and Market Drayton
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of parliament	Owen Paterson (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Oswestry and Wrekin
1832–1885
Number of members	Two
Replaced by	Oswestry
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	West Midlands

North Shropshire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by Owen Paterson, a Conservative.

Established for the 1832 general election, North Shropshire has been continuously held by the Conservative Party for its entire existence. However, the constituency was abolished in 1885 and re-created in 1983.

From its first creation in 1832 to the abolition of the first creation in 1885 it covered approximately half of the county and elected two members, formally Knights of the Shire. In 1885 the county was (together with South Shropshire) - divided between four constituencies: Ludlow, Newport, Oswestry and Wellington.

In 1983 the constituency was revived in a smaller form and elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

The Electoral Reform Society considers it to be historically the safest seat in the country. Taking into account the intermediary seats roughly covering its boundaries, the Society considers that the seat has been held continuously by the Conservative Party since 1835 - in political terms since the days of the Tamworth Manifesto and before Queen Victoria's accession to the throne. However, the result of the 2001 election was more marginal than most Conservative seats and the 2010 election saw it just outside the top third of seats in percentage terms held by the Conservative Party, with the 103rd largest share of the vote for the party.