Penrith and the Border

Penrith and the Border
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Penrith and the Border in Cumbria.
Location of Cumbria within England.
County	Cumbria
Electorate	65,234 (December 2010)"Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011.
Major settlements	Appleby-in-Westmorland, Brampton, Penrith and Wigton
Current constituency
Created	1950
Member of parliament	Rory Stewart (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Penrith & Cockermouth, North Cumberland and Workington
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	North West England

Penrith and the Border is a constituency in Cumbria represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Rory Stewart, a Conservative.

Penrith and the Border was first contested in 1950 since which it has to date been a safe Conservative seat and on rare occasions a marginal. The Conservatives came close to losing the seat in a 1983 by-election, when the former cabinet minister 'Willie' Whitelaw became the leader of the House of Lords: the by-election took place a mere seven weeks after his success in the 1983 general election. Since that year the Liberal Democrats have come second behind the Conservatives until the 2015 general election when they came fourth.

1950-1983: The Urban District of Penrith, and the Rural Districts of Alston with Garrigill, Border, Penrith, and Wigton. (These districts were abolished in 1974 but the constituency boundaries remained the same.)

1983-1997: The District of Eden wards of Alston Moor, Appleby, Appleby Bongate, Askham, Brough, Crosby Ravensworth, Dacre, Eamont, Greystoke, Hartside, Hesket, Kirkby Thore, Kirkoswald, Langwathby, Lazonby, Long Marton, Lowther, Penrith East, Penrith North, Penrith South, Penrith West, Skelton, Ullswater, and Warcop, the City of Carlisle wards of Arthuret, Brampton, Burgh, Dalston, Great Corby and Geltsdale, Hayton, Irthing, Lyne, St Cuthbert Without, Stanwix Rural, and Wetheral, and the District of Allerdale wards of Aspatria, Boltons, Marsh, Silloth, Tarns, Wampool, Warnell, Waver, and Wigton.