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Westmorland and Lonsdale is a constituency[n 1] in the south of Cumbria, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Tim Farron, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats (2015–2017).

Westmorland and Lonsdale
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Westmorland and Lonsdale in Cumbria
Location of Cumbria within England
County	Cumbria
Electorate	66,609 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	Grange-over-Sands, Kendal, Windermere
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of Parliament	Tim Farron (Liberal Democrats)
Number of members	One
Created from	Morecambe and Lonsdale and Westmorland

Since 2017, Westmorland and Lonsdale has been the only Liberal Democrat seat in the whole of Northern England.

Constituency profile

The constituency mostly overlaps the South Lakeland district of Cumbria. Important towns by size in the constituency include Kendal, Windermere and Kirkby Lonsdale. It is named for the historic county of Westmorland and the Lancashire Hundred of Lonsdale, both of which extend beyond the bounds of the constituency. This is one of a minority of rural seats where residents voted to Remain in the European Union in 2016.

Boundaries

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Cumbria, the Boundary Commission for England created a modified Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency, to deal with population changes.

The electoral wards used to create the modified seat, contested for the first time at the 2010 general election, are entirely within the South Lakeland district.

• Arnside and Beetham, Burneside, Burton and Holme, Cartmel, Coniston, Crooklands, Grange, Hawkshead, Holker, Kendal Castle, Kendal Far Cross, Kendal Fell, Kendal Glebelands, Kendal Heron Hill, Kendal Highgate, Kendal Kirkland, Kendal Mintsfeet, Kendal Nether, Kendal Oxenholme, Kendal Parks, Kendal Stonecross, Kendal Strickland, Kendal Underley, Kirkby Lonsdale, Lakes Ambleside, Lakes Grasmere, Levens, Lyth Valley, Milnthorpe, Natland, Sedbergh, Staveley-in-Cartmel, Staveley-in-Westmorland, Whinfell, Windermere Applethwaite, Windermere Bowness North, Windermere Bowness South and Windermere Town[2]

This removed Broughton-in-Furness from the constituency.

History

Having been a Conservative-dominated seat since its creation in 1983, the 1997 general election saw the Conservatives' majority cut to fewer than 5,000 votes. This was further reduced at the 2001 general election. In 2005, the constituency featured among a list of seats held by high-profile Conservatives (in this case, Shadow Education minister Tim Collins) targeted by the Liberal Democrats by deploying supporters from across each region in what was referred in the media as a "decapitation strategy".[3] In the 2005 election, Tim Farron gained the seat by a marginal majority of 267 votes.

At the 2010 general election, the local electorate caused the largest Conservative-to-Lib Dem swing nationally, of 11.1% — equally the lowest share of the vote for Labour (2.2%, one of five lost deposits for Labour), nationally. With 96.2% of votes cast for either the Conservative or Liberal Democrat candidates, Westmorland and Lonsdale had the highest combined share of the vote cast for the Coalition parties.

Contrasting with its long-term Conservative support, the combined Conservative/UKIP vote narrowly failed to reach 40% in 2015. Equally, Farron, who would become Leader of the Liberal Democrats two months later; was the only member of his party to secure an absolute majority (over 50%) of votes cast, after what was a poor result for the party nationwide with their seat count reduced from 57 seats to 8.[4][5] In 2017 (when Farron was Lib Dem leader), Farron's majority fell to just 777 votes. However, in 2019, he was re-elected with a majority increased to 1,934.

Members of Parliament

Election	Member[6]	Party
1983	Michael Jopling		Conservative
1997	Tim Collins		Conservative
2005	Tim Farron		Liberal Democrats

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

In 2019, Westmorland and Lonsdale was one of five English constituencies, the others being Esher and Walton, East Devon, Cheltenham and Winchester, where Labour failed to obtain over 5% of the vote and lost their deposit.[7]

General election 2019: Westmorland and Lonsdale[8][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Tim Farron	25,795	48.9	+3.1
	Conservative	James Airey	23,861	45.3	+1.0
	Labour	Phillip Black	2,293	4.4	―4.9
	Brexit Party	Steven Bolton	763	1.5	N/A
Majority			1,934	3.7	+2.1
Turnout			52,712	77.8	―0.1
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	+1.1

General election 2017: Westmorland and Lonsdale[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Tim Farron	23,686	45.8	―5.7
	Conservative	James Airey	22,909	44.3	+11.1
	Labour	Eli Aldridge	4,783	9.3	+3.8
	Independent	Mr Fishfinger	309	0.6	N/A
Majority			777	1.5	―16.8
Turnout			51,687	77.9	+3.6
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	―8.4

General election 2015: Westmorland and Lonsdale[11][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Tim Farron	25,194	51.5	―8.5
	Conservative	Ann Myatt	16,245	33.2	―3.0
	UKIP	Alan Piper	3,031	6.2	+4.6
	Labour	John Bateson	2,661	5.4	+3.2
	Green	Chris Loynes	1,798	3.7	N/A
Majority			8,949	18.3	―5.5
Turnout			48,929	74.3	―1.5
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	―2.8

General election 2010: Westmorland and Lonsdale[13][14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Tim Farron	30,896	60.0	+14.1
	Conservative	Gareth McKeever	18,632	36.2	―8.7
	Labour	Jonathan Todd	1,158	2.2	―5.6
	UKIP	John Mander	801	1.6	+0.2
Majority			12,264	23.8	+23.3
Turnout			51,487	75.8	+5.1
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	+11.1

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Westmorland and Lonsdale[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Tim Farron	22,569	45.5	+5.1
	Conservative	Tim Collins	22,302	44.9	―2.0
	Labour	John Reardon	3,796	7.6	―3.3
	UKIP	Robert Gibson	660	1.3	+0.1
	Independent	Anthony Kemp	309	0.6	New
Majority			267	0.6	―5.9
Turnout			49,636	71.6	+3.8
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing	+3.5

General election 2001: Westmorland and Lonsdale[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Tim Collins	22,486	46.9	+4.6
	Liberal Democrats	Tim Farron	19,339	40.4	+7.0
	Labour	John Bateson	5,234	10.9	―9.7
	UKIP	Robert Gibson	552	1.2	New
	Independent	Timothy Bell	292	0.6	New
Majority			3,147	6.5	―2.6
Turnout			47,903	67.8	―6.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	―1.2

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Westmorland and Lonsdale[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Tim Collins	21,463	42.3	―14.6
	Liberal Democrats	Stanley Collins	16,942	33.4	+5.9
	Labour	John Harding	10,452	20.6	+5.5
	Referendum	Michael H. Smith	1,924	3.8	New
Majority			4,521	8.9	―20.5
Turnout			50,781	74.1	―3.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	―10.3

General election 1992: Westmorland and Lonsdale[18][19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Jopling	31,798	56.9	―0.7
	Liberal Democrats	Stanley Collins	15,362	27.5	―1.7
	Labour	Dickon J. Abbott	8,436	15.1	+1.9
	Natural Law	Robert Johnstone	287	0.5	New
Majority			16,436	29.4	+1.0
Turnout			55,883	77.8	―3.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.5

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Westmorland and Lonsdale[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Jopling	30,259	57.6	―3.7
	Liberal	Stanley Collins	15,339	29.2	+2.1
	Labour	Shaun Halfpenny	6,968	13.2	+3.3
Majority			14,920	28.4	―5.8
Turnout			52,566	74.8	+2.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	―2.9

General election 1983: Westmorland and Lonsdale[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Jopling	29,775	61.3
	Liberal	Ken Hulls	13,188	27.1
	Labour	Chris Stott	4,798	9.9
	Ecology	Robert Gibson	805	1.7
Majority			16,587	34.2
Turnout			48,566	72.3
	Conservative win (new seat)

Note: The Robert Gibson who stood in this election and the similarly named candidate in 2001 and 2005 are not the same person.

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Cumbria

Notes

References

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