Weston-super-Mare (UK Parliament constituency)

Weston-super-Mare
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Weston-super-Mare in South West England
County	Somerset
Electorate	70,722 (2023)
Major settlements	Weston-super-Mare
Current constituency
Created	1918
Member of Parliament	Dan Aldridge (Labour)
Seats	One
Created from	part North Somerset, part Wells

Weston-super-Mare is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Dan Aldridge from the Labour Party since 2024. Before then it was held since 2005 by John Penrose, a Conservative.

History

The seat was created under the Representation of the People Act 1918. Its forerunner was the North Somerset division created in 1885.

The by-election of 1934 was triggered by the acceptance of the appointment of Lord Erskine to the position of Governor of Madras Presidency, that of 1958 by the death of Ian Orr-Ewing and that of 1969 by the death of David Webster.

Political history

The seat has alternated in representation between 1992 and 2005: in the election of 1997 the fresh Conservative candidate, Margaret Daly failed to hold the seat which led to Weston Super Mare's first marginal majority since 1923, obtained by Brian Cotter, a Liberal Democrat. Between 1997 and 2010, all the majorities in the constituency were lower than 3,000 votes, remaining strongly marginal and seeing in 2005 Cotter lose the seat to John Penrose. Following the 2015 election however, the seat moved strongly towards the Conservatives, who increased their share of the vote in every subsequent election until 2019 election, when Penrose gained a majority of 17,121 over the second place Labour candidate. Penrose subsequently lost the seat to Labour's Dan Aldridge in 2024.

Frontbenchers

• Jerry Wiggin was Minister for the Armed Services from 1981 to 1983.
• Brian Cotter was the Liberal Democrat Small Business Spokesman (1997–2005),
• John Penrose was appointed the Minister for Tourism and Heritage (2010–2012).