South Bedfordshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Luton South and South Bedfordshire (UK Parliament constituency).

South Bedfordshire
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of South Bedfordshire in Bedfordshire, boundaries 1974-83
1950–1983
Seats	One
Created from	Luton and Mid Bedfordshire
Replaced by	South West Bedfordshire, Luton North and Luton South

South Bedfordshire was a county constituency in Bedfordshire. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.

The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, and abolished for the 1983 general election.

Boundaries and boundary changes

1950–1974

The constituency was created by the Representation of the People Act 1948 as a County Constituency, comprising:

• The Municipal Borough of Dunstable;
• The Urban District of Leighton Buzzard;
• The Municipal Borough of Luton wards of Leagrave and Limbury; and
• The Rural District of Luton.

Leighton Buzzard and surrounding rural areas were transferred from Mid Bedfordshire; and Dunstable, Leagrave and Limbury from the abolished constituency of Luton.

1974–1983

(Second Periodic Review of Westminster Constituencies)

• The Municipal Borough of Dunstable;
• The Urban District of Leighton-Linslade; and
• The Rural District of Luton.

Gained the former Urban District of Linslade from Buckingham in Buckinghamshire - this had been merged with Leighton Buzzard to form the Urban District of Leighton-Linslade in 1965.  Leagrave and Limbury were included in the new constituency of Luton West.

The constituency was abolished for the 1983 general election. It was largely absorbed into the new constituency of South West Bedfordshire, including Dunstable, Leighton Buzzard and Linslade.  Areas to the north and south of Luton were included in the constituencies of North Luton and Luton South respectively.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1950	Edward Moeran	Labour
	1951	Norman Cole	Conservative
	1966	Gwilym Roberts	Labour
	1970	David Madel	Conservative
	1983	constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Bedfordshire South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Edward Moeran	20,070	45.26
	National Liberal	William A Fearnley-Whittingstall	18,546	41.83
	Liberal	James Stewart Knight	5,725	12.91
Majority			1,524	3.43
Turnout			44,341	86.88
Registered electors			51,039
	Labour win (new seat)

General election 1951: Bedfordshire South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Norman Cole	22,917	50.94	+9.11
	Labour	Edward Moeran	22,068	49.06	+3.80
Majority			849	1.88	N/A
Turnout			44,985	86.70	−0.18
Registered electors			51,887
	National Liberal gain from Labour		Swing	+2.66

General election 1955: Bedfordshire South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Norman Cole	23,365	52.79	+1.85
	Labour	Edward Moeran	20,897	47.21	−1.85
Majority			2,468	5.58	+3.70
Turnout			44,262	81.89	−4.81
Registered electors			54,051
	National Liberal hold		Swing	+1.85

General election 1959: Bedfordshire South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Norman Cole	25,861	47.13	−5.66
	Labour	Walter Johnson	21,102	38.45	−8.76
	Liberal	Renee Soskin	7,912	14.42	New
Majority			4,759	8.68	+3.10
Turnout			54,875	83.89	+2.00
Registered electors			65,416
	National Liberal hold		Swing	+1.55

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Bedfordshire South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Norman Cole	33,838	50.25	+3.12
	Labour	Dennis John Nisbet	33,499	49.75	+11.30
Majority			339	0.50	−8.17
Turnout			67,337	80.83	−3.06
Registered electors			83,307
	Conservative hold		Swing	−4.09

General election 1966: Bedfordshire South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gwilym Roberts	34,549	47.75	−2.00
	Conservative	Norman Cole	30,319	41.90	−8.35
	Liberal	Hamilton Simonds-Gooding	7,484	10.34	New
Majority			4,230	5.85	N/A
Turnout			72,352	83.74	+2.91
Registered electors			86,403
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+3.18

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Bedfordshire South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Madel	38,085	48.73	+6.83
	Labour	Gwilym Roberts	33,107	42.36	−5.39
	Liberal	Godfrey Shocket	6,956	8.90	−1.44
Majority			4,978	6.36	N/A
Turnout			78,148	77.16	−6.58
Registered electors			101,284
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+6.11

General election February 1974: Bedfordshire South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Madel	21,380	39.70	−9.03
	Liberal	David John Howard Penwarden	16,622	30.87	+21.97
	Labour	Paul Farnham Tinnion	15,847	29.43	−12.93
Majority			4,758	8.83	+2.47
Turnout			53,849	84.49	+7.33
Registered electors			63,700
	Conservative hold		Swing	−15.50

General election October 1974: Bedfordshire South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Madel	20,794	41.31	+1.61
	Labour	Raymond Alfred Little	16,351	32.48	+3.05
	Liberal	David John Howard Penwarden	13,194	26.21	−4.66
Majority			4,443	8.83	0.00
Turnout			50,339	78.27	−6.27
Registered electors			64,329
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.72

General election 1979: Bedfordshire South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Madel	32,988	56.37	+15.06
	Labour	John Gardner	16,505	28.20	−4.28
	Liberal	Malcolm Alfred Turner	8,402	14.36	−11.85
	National Front	Laurence Anthony Smith	626	1.07	New
Majority			16,483	28.17	+19.34
Turnout			58,521	79.90	+1.65
Registered electors			73,247
	Conservative hold		Swing	+9.67

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 2)