Devon (European Parliament constituency)

Devon
European Parliament constituency
Boundary within South West England (1979-1984)
Member stateUnited Kingdom
Created1979
Dissolved1994
MEPs1
Sources
[1]

Devon was a European Parliament constituency covering all of Devon in England, with the exception of the city of Plymouth.

Prior to its uniform adoption of proportional representation in 1999, the United Kingdom used first-past-the-post for the European elections in England, Scotland and Wales. The European Parliament constituencies used under that system were smaller than the later regional constituencies and only had one Member of the European Parliament each.

When it was created in England in 1979, it consisted of the Westminster Parliament constituencies of Devon North, Devon West, Exeter, Honiton, Tiverton, Torbay and Totnes. In 1984, Totnes was replaced by South Hams and Teignbridge, while Devon West was replaced by Devon West and Torridge.[1] During the fifteen-year existence of the Devon European Parliamentary constituency, it was represented by Charles Strachey, 4th Baron O'Hagan, until his resignation in 1994.

The constituency was replaced by Devon and East Plymouth and parts of Dorset and East Devon and Somerset and North Devon in 1994. These seats became part of the much larger South West England constituency in 1999.

Boundary within South West England (1984-1994)

Members of the European Parliament

Elected Name Party
1979 Lord O'Hagan Conservative

Results

European Parliament election, 1979: Devon[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Lord O'Hagan 127,032 61.8
Liberal Ted Pinney 41,010 20.0
Labour Reg C. J. Scott 37,380 18.2
Majority 86,022 41.8
Turnout 205,422 38.5
Conservative win (new seat)
European Parliament election, 1984: Devon[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Lord O'Hagan 110,129 54.7 −7.1
Liberal Peter Driver 53,519 26.6 +6.6
Labour David Gorbutt 30,017 14.9 −3.3
Ecology Peter Christie 6,919 3.5 New
Wessex Regionalist Henrietta E. Rous 659 0.3 New
Majority 56,620 28.1 −13.7
Turnout 201,243 35.9 −2.6
Conservative hold Swing
European Parliament election, 1989: Devon[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Lord O'Hagan 110,518 46.4 −8.3
Green Peter Christie 53,220 22.3 +18.8
Labour Walter Cairns 40,675 17.1 +2.2
SLD Mike Edmunds 23,306 9.8 −16.8
SDP R. C. (Bob) Edwards 7,806 3.3 New
Monster Raving Loony Stuart Hughes 2,241 0.9 New
Wessex Regionalist Henrietta E. Rous 385 0.2 −0.1
Majority 57,298 24.1 −4.0
Turnout 230,345 39.9 +4.0
Conservative hold Swing

References

  1. ^ "David Boothroyd's United Kingdom Election Results". Retrieved 20 January 2008.
  2. ^ a b c United Kingdom European Parliamentary Election results 1979–99: England: Part 1