Thanet West (UK Parliament constituency)

Thanet West
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
Thanet West in Kent, showing boundaries used from 1974-1983
County	Kent
Major settlements	Margate
February 1974–1983
Seats	One
Created from	Isle of Thanet
Replaced by	Thanet North and Thanet South

Thanet West was a British parliamentary constituency in the Isle of Thanet, in Kent.

It was created for the February 1974 general election, when the former constituency of Isle of Thanet was split in two, and returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was abolished for the 1983 general election, when Thanet West and the neighbouring Thanet East constituency were replaced by new North Thanet and South Thanet constituencies.

Boundaries

The Borough of Margate, and in the Rural District of Eastry the parishes of Acol, Minster, Monkton, St Nicholas at Wade, and Sarre.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	Feb 1974	William Rees-Davies	Conservative
	1983	constituency abolished

Election results

General election 1979: Thanet West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Rees-Davies	18,122	55.39	+10.1
	Labour	J. F. Little	8,576	26.21	−2.3
	Liberal	D. Payne	6,017	18.39	−7.7
Majority			9,546	29.18	+12.4
Turnout			32,715	71.60	+2.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Thanet West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Rees-Davies	13,763	45.34	−4.2
	Labour	C. J. Smith	8,655	28.51	+5.1
	Liberal	I. G. Tiltman	7,935	26.14	−1.0
Majority			5,108	16.83	−5.7
Turnout			30,353	69.14	−9.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Thanet West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Rees-Davies	16,880	49.55
	Liberal	I. G. Tiltman	9,220	27.06
	Labour	D. Ramage	7,969	23.39
Majority			7,660	22.49
Turnout			34,069	78.09
	Conservative win (new seat)

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "T" (part 1)