Waveney (UK Parliament constituency)

Waveney
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Waveney in Suffolk.
Location of Suffolk within England.
County	Suffolk
Electorate	79,132 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Lowestoft
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of parliament	Peter Aldous (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Lowestoft
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	East of England

Waveney is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Peter Aldous, a Conservative.

1983-1997: The District of Waveney.

1997-2010: The District of Waveney except the wards of Blything, Halesworth, and Southwold.

2010-present: The District of Waveney wards of Beccles North, Beccles South, Bungay, Carlton, Carlton Colville, Gunton and Corton, Harbour, Kessingland, Kirkley, Lothingland, Normanston, Oulton, Oulton Broad, Pakefield, St Margaret's, The Saints, Wainford, Whitton, and Worlingham.

The seat is based on the coastal town of Lowestoft, which today is generally Labour-voting, because of its recent history as a declining seaside resort, fishing and industrial town. However, the constituency also takes in the small towns of Beccles, Bungay and Halesworth. These along with the smaller inland rural villages are considerably more supportive of Conservatives.

The seat was created in 1983 under the Act implementing the third periodic review of Westminster constituencies, broadly replacing Lowestoft, which the first victor of the new seat had served since 1959.

Waveney has been a bellwether since its creation, swinging heavily in line with the mood of the nation. Labour's big majority in 1997 reflected the large overall majority in the Commons, and by the 2010 election it had become touted by one published analysis as the seat that the Conservatives needed to win to secure an overall majority. Fittingly, 2010 saw a marginal majority and the national result was a hung parliament with the Conservative Party the largest party. 2010 here was the Labour Party's second highest share of the vote in the narrow, traditional grouping of East Anglia (Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex).