Earlier versions of the seat existed in 1885–1918 and 1950–1983.
First creation
Parliament passed theRedistribution of Seats Act 1885 creating the larger constituency of North Somerset from the 1885 general election, which was later abolished for the 1918 general election.
Second creation
North Somerset was re-established for the 1950 general election, and abolished again for the 1983 general election.
The Woodspring seat returned Conservative MPs, and had been held byLiam Fox from 1992 until its abolition. Fox won the new constituency by nearly 14 percentage points over the Liberal Democrats in 2010, while Labour took second place in 2015, 2017 and 2019. In 2024, with the Conservatives doing poorly around Bristol and surrounding constituencies in losing all their seats,Sadik Al-Hassan was elected as MP - the first to have been returned to Parliament for theLabour Party.
1885–1918: The Sessional Divisions of Keynsham, Long Ashton, and Temple Cloud, and the civil parishes of Binegar, Chilcompton, and Midsomer Norton.
1950–1983: The Urban Districts of Keynsham, Norton Radstock, and Portishead, the Rural Districts of Bathavon and Clutton, and part of the Rural District of Long Ashton.
2010–2024: The District of North Somerset wards of Backwell, Clevedon Central, Clevedon East, Clevedon North, Clevedon South, Clevedon Walton, Clevedon West, Clevedon Yeo, Easton-in-Gordano, Gordano, Nailsea East, Nailsea North and West, Pill, Portishead Central, Portishead Coast, Portishead East, Portishead Redcliffe Bay, Portishead South and North Weston, Portishead West, Winford, Wraxall and Long Ashton, Wrington, and Yatton.
2024–present: The District of North Somerset wards of: Backwell; Clevedon East; Clevedon South; Clevedon Walton; Clevedon West; Clevedon Yeo; Gordano Valley; Long Ashton; Nailsea Golden Valley; Nailsea West End; Nailsea Yeo; Nailsea Youngwood; Pill; Portishead East; Portishead North; Portishead South; Portishead West; Winford; Wrington.[4]
This is essentially the former Woodspring seat with a new name. A coastal strip between the Severn Estuary and the M5 motorway includes the towns of Clevedon and Portishead, while inland from the motorway is the town of Nailsea and a predominantly rural area dotted with villages. This is a fairly affluent constituency with average incomes and low proportion of unemployment claimants[6] – about a third of the population commute to work, mostly in Bristol and Bath.[7]
Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;
^Acounty constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer).
^As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by thefirst past the post system of election at least every five years.
