Poole (UK Parliament constituency)

Poole
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Poole in Dorset.
Location of Dorset within England.
County	Dorset
Electorate	72,773 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Poole
Current constituency
Created	1950
Member of parliament	Robert Syms (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	East Dorset
1455–1885
Number of members	Two (1455–1868), One (1868–1885)
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South West England

Poole is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by Robert Syms, a Conservative.

The first version of the Poole constituency existed from 1455 until 1885. During this period its exact status was a parliamentary borough, sending two burgesses to Westminster per year, except during its last 17 years when its representation was reduced to one member.

During its abeyance most of Poole was in the East Dorset seat and since its recreation in 1950 its area has been reduced as the harbour town's population has increased.

1950-1983: The Municipal Borough of Poole.

1983-1997: The Borough of Poole wards of Broadstone, Canford Cliffs, Canford Heath, Creekmoor, Hamworthy, Harbour, Newtown, Oakdale, Parkstone, and Penn Hill.

1997-2010: The Borough of Poole wards of Bourne Valley, Canford Cliffs, Hamworthy, Harbour, Newtown, Oakdale, Parkstone, and Penn Hill.

2010-present: The Borough of Poole wards of Branksome West, Canford Cliffs, Creekmoor, Hamworthy East, Hamworthy West, Newtown, Oakdale, Parkstone, Penn Hill, and Poole Town.

The borough is an economically very diverse borough. In the centre and north are a significant minority of Output Areas which in 2001 had high rankings in the Index of Multiple Deprivation, contributing in 2012 with the remainder to producing for Poole the highest unemployment of the constituencies in the county. However, Canford Cliffs is epitomised by one sub-neighbourhood, Sandbanks with its multimillion-pound properties, the coastline area has been dubbed as "Britain's Palm Beach" by the national media. Alongside oil extraction, insurance, care, retail and customer service industries choosing the town as their base tourism contributes to overall a higher income than the national average, however the divergence is not statistically significant and the size of homes varies extensively.