Welwyn Hatfield
County constituency for theHouse of Commons
Boundaries since 2024
Boundary of Welwyn Hatfield in the East of England
County	Hertfordshire
Electorate	74,535 (2023)[1]
Major settlements	Brookmans Park,Hatfield,Welham Green,Welwyn Garden City
Current constituency
Created	1974 (1974)
Member of Parliament	Andrew Lewin (Labour)
Seats	One
Created from	Hertford andSt Albans

Welwyn Hatfield is aconstituency^{[n 1]} inHertfordshire represented in theHouse of Commons of theUK Parliament since2024 byAndrew Lewin, a member of theLabour Party.

The area has a higher than average proportion of managers, professionals and retired people than much ofGreater London.^[2] The seat has a strong local economy, with extensive retail and industrial/commercial premises, particularly inWelwyn Garden City andHatfield. Two of the four largest Hertfordshire economic towns,Stevenage andSt Albans are also close by. Accordingly, workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.4% of the population based on a statistical compilation byThe Guardian.^[3]

The seat was created for the February 1974 general election following thesecond periodic review of Westminster constituencies, asWelwyn and Hatfield. It was formed from parts of the abolished constituency ofHertford. For the 1983 general election, the constituency was renamed in line with the recently createdDistrict of Welwyn Hatfield.

Despite its short history, the seat has seen two parties serve it, with threeLabour periods of representation, during the longer part of theLabour government of 1974 to 1979, the first two terms of theBlair ministry and the firstStarmer ministry. Other than this the seat has elected aConservative as its MP.

The 2005 majority more than tripled on the second election ofGrant Shapps, in 2010, from a historically breakable (in the constituency) majority of 5,946 votes to the 26th largestConservative share of the vote,^[4] which on standard uniformswing seen in elections since 1931 represented asafe seat, but a 5% swing to Labour in 2017 meant that the seat was somewhat marginal again, needing a 7.1% swing to become Labour. In the2024 election, a swing of 14.3% led to the election of Labour'sAndrew Lewin with a majority of 3,799.

The first MP ended his term in the Commons as the member for Welwyn Hatfield before which he was Defence Minister from 1970 to 1972 then a Foreign Office Minister until February 1974 - later that yearLord Balniel was awarded alife peerage,^{[n 2]} accelerating and safeguarding his right to sit in theLords. The second MP later became the politically neutralLord Speaker,Baroness Hayman.

During five years of theBlair ministry, the constituency's MPMelanie Johnson was a frontbench minister, serving asEconomic Secretary to the Treasury, Minister for Competition and Consumers and theMinister for Public Health.

Grant Shapps, her successor, was appointed theMinister of State for Housing and Local Government for the first two years of theUK coalition government 2010 before being appointed to chair his party. Following the Conservative victory in 2015, he was appointed Minister of State at theDepartment for International Development^[5] before resigning in November 2015. Shapps was briefly Home Secretary for six days from 19 October 2022 covering the period between the resignation and reinstatement ofSuella Braverman.^[6] Since then, he has served asSecretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy followed bySecretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.

• The Urban District of Welwyn Garden City; and
• The Rural Districts of Hatfield and Welwyn.^[7]

In April 1974 these local authorities were abolished and were merged into the Welwyn Hatfield District.

• The District of Welwyn Hatfield wards of Brookmans Park and Little Heath, Haldens, Handside, Hatfield Central, Hatfield East, Hatfield North, Hatfield South, Hollybush, Howlands, Peartree, Sherrards, Welham Green and Redhall, Welwyn East, and Welwyn West; and
• The City of St Albans ward of Wheathampstead.

Wheathampstead had formerly been in theSt Albans parliamentary constituency.The Welwyn Hatfield ward ofNorthaw was included in the newBroxbourne parliamentary constituency.^[8]

Map of boundaries 2010-2024

As above minusWheathampstead ward, which was transferred to the new constituency ofHitchin and Harpenden.^[9]

• The District of Welwyn Hatfield wards of Brookmans Park and Little Heath, Haldens, Handside, Hatfield Central, Hatfield East, Hatfield North, Hatfield South, Hatfield West, Hollybush, Howlands, Panshanger, Peartree, Sherrards, Welham Green, Welwyn North, and Welwyn South.

Contents updated to reflect local authority boundary review. Northaw remained in the Broxbourne constituency.^[10]

• The District of Welwyn Hatfield wards of Brookmans Park and Little Heath, Haldens, Handside, Hatfield Central, Hatfield East, Hatfield South West, Hatfield Villages, Hollybush, Howlands, Panshanger, Peartree, Sherrards, Welham Green and Hatfield South, Welwyn East, and Welwyn West.

Further to the2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the2024 general election, the composition of the constituency is unchanged, except for very minor modifications due to ward boundary revisions.^[11]

The District of Welwyn Hatfield ward ofNorthaw and Cuffley was transferred fromBroxbourne toHertsmere.

For elections prior to1974, seeHertford andSt Albans.

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Hertfordshire
• List of parliamentary constituencies in the East of England (region)

• Welwyn Hatfield UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) atMapIt UK
• Welwyn Hatfield UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) atMapIt UK
• Welwyn Hatfield UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) atMapIt UK

51°46′10″N0°11′40″W / 51.76944°N 0.19444°W /51.76944; -0.19444

• Parliamentary constituencies in Hertfordshire
• Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1974
• Politics of Welwyn Hatfield

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