Northampton North Constituency

The constituency is wholly within the Borough of Northampton and includes the areas of Thorplands, Kingsthorpe, Moulton Leys, Parklands, Eastfield, Kingsley, St David, Abington, Lumbertubs, Boughton Green, Headlands and Boothville. The current constituency boundaries also include Spencer, Dallington & Kings Heath as well as part of Ecton Brook but under the changes to be introduced at the next General Election these will move into the new Northampton South Constituency.

The current MP is Labour's Sally Keeble who won the seat from the Conservative (Tony Marlow) in the 1997 Labour landslide which saw Tony Blair swept into power.

Sally Keeble is a Blairite loyalist MP and was controverisally selected under an all woman shortlist. She was previously a Councillor in Southwark and moved to Northampton upon being elected. Since being elected in 1997 with a majority of 10,000 at the following two General Elections her majority has been reduced to now just short of 4,000.

See past General Election results courtesy of The Guardian website.

Lib Dems a growing force

Northampton North constituency has the longest history of Liberal Democrat success. The first Liberal Councillors to be elected back onto the Borough Council were in Kingsthorpe and Boughton Green wards in 1983. The party has been steadily increasing in strength since the 1980's such that in 2003 13 Lib Dem Borough Councillors were elected in the constituency - more than the other parties put together. With the County Council elections in 2005 the party gained 5 seats in the constituency giving 6 in total - Kingsthorpe having been held continuously since 1981.

The party has been increasing its share of the vote since the previous high point in 1983 when it achieved 26.1%:

• 1987 - Tony Rounthwaite - 20.7%

• 1992 - Richard Church - 15.2%

• 1997 - Lesley Dunbar - 12.7%

• 2001 - Richard Church - 17.7%

• 2005 - Andrew Simpson - 24.5%

The 2005 General Election

The party selected local Borough Councillor Andrew Simpson as its candidate for the 2005 General Election. Andrew fought a campign building on the Lib Dem grass roots strength in the constituency with national issues such as the Iraq war, student tuition fees and council tax as key elements.

The results saw a shift in vote of 3,000 from Labour to the Lib Dems with the Conservative vote staying static.

The Lib Dems are now challenging Labour hard in the constituency and see the seat as a prospective gain at the next election.

General Election Results - May 2005.

Andrew Simpson's Website.

On 13th May 2006 Northampton North Liberal Democrats voted by an overwhelming majority to re-select Andrew Simpson as their prospective parliamentary candidate for the constituency for the next general election.

May 2007 Borough Council Elections

In the Northampton Borough Council elections on 3rd May 2007 the Liberal Democrats won 9 out of 10 wards in Northampton North constituency. The party gained Parklands and Eastfield wards from the Conservatives and took Thorplands ward from Labour (Labour having held it for 24 years!). The Lib Dems gained 6 additional Council seats taking the total held by the party to 19. The Conservatives were left with no Borough Councillors in the constituency and Labour only just held on to 2 seats in Lumbertubs ward where the Lib Dems came a close second. Across the town the party took 26 seats and for the first time outright control of Northampton Borough Council.

In Northampton North constituency the share of the vote was 54% with over 25,000 votes for the party. The result bodes well for the party at the next General Election.