|
|
|
Devon North
|
|
gain
from LibDem
|
|
Nick Harvey
|
|
0 ( 0.0%)
|
|
21,643 (39.5%)
|
|
5,367 ( 9.8%)
|
|
27,824 (50.7%)
|
|
0 ( 0.0%)
|
|
0 ( 0.0%)
|
|
|
|
70,350
|
|
54,834 (77.9%)
|
|
Nick Harvey
|
|
Devon North
|
|
793 ( 1.4%)
|
|
26,596 (45.7%)
|
|
3,406 ( 5.9%)
|
|
27,389 (47.1%)
|
|
0 ( 0.0%)
|
|
764 ( 1.3%)
|
|
|
LibDem
|
|
70,051
|
|
58,155 (83.0%)
|
|
|
-6.3%
|
|
+3.9%
|
|
+3.6%
|
|
+0.0%
|
|
-1.3%
|
|
+0.4%
|
|
-5.1%
|
|
|
|
|
In 1970 there were unofficial signs erected by roadsides at the borders of the North Devon constituency. They read: 'You are now entering Liberal country'. This was the seat of the Liberal party leader at the time, Jeremy Thorpe. His career was ended in scandalous circumstances and the seat was lost in 1979 as the Tory Tony Speller romped home by a decisive 8,000 majority. After the 1992 Election, though, those signs could return, for North Devon again returned a Liberal (Democrat) MP.
North Devon has a long Liberal tradition, and seems set to be part of a growing swathe of Lib Dem seats in the far west country after the next election. They are strong now not only in the main town, the surprisingly working-class and industrial Barnstaple, but also in the seaside villages and small resorts of the so-called Golden Coast, and in the hilly farming country inland. The new MP, Nick Harvey, is cerebral and efficient - and it may help him too that he is probably the most Euro-sceptical of all the Liberal Democrat MPs.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
926
|
2.32
|
9.03
|
26
|
|
|
8,976
|
22.44
|
11.17
|
201
|
|
|
3,958
|
9.90
|
11.25
|
88
|
|
|
3,474
|
8.69
|
14.70
|
59
|
|
|
1,686
|
4.22
|
10.45
|
40
|
|
|
4,910
|
12.28
|
2.81
|
436
|
|
|
5,018
|
12.55
|
8.01
|
157
|
|
|
8,222
|
20.56
|
15.25
|
135
|
|
|
1,438
|
3.60
|
7.13
|
50
|
|
|
562
|
1.41
|
10.17
|
14
|
|
|
