North West Hampshire

North West Hampshire is a constituency in Hampshire in South East England, covering parts of the Test Valley and Basingstoke and Deane local government districts. Its largest town is Andover, which has a population of around 51,000.^[3] Other settlements include the towns of Whitchurch and Tadley, the villages of Overton and Kingsclere and the Basingstoke suburb of Rooksdown.

This is a mostly rural constituency with many small villages. Most of the constituency is part of the North Wessex Downs, a National Landscape of rolling chalk hills. Andover was traditionally a centre for the wool trade and today has a significant military presence; the town is the site of Marlborough Lines, the headquarters of the British Army. Whitchurch is a historic market town and Tadley is located adjacent to AWE Nuclear Security Technologies, the Ministry of Defence's nuclear weapons research facility. Whilst the facility is located just outside this constituency, many of its employees live in Tadley and the town was largely developed to accommodate them. There is some deprivation in the northern suburbs of Andover, which contain a large quantity of council housing, however the constituency is generally affluent, especially so in the rural areas.^[4] House prices here are lower than the rest of South East England but higher than the UK average.^[5]

North West Hampshire has an above-average proportion of middle-aged adults and a low proportion of young adults.^[6] Residents have high levels of income and average rates of homeownership.^[5] The child poverty rate is around half the UK-wide figure.^[7] Residents have average levels of education and a high proportion work in the health, transport and defence sectors.^[5][8] The percentage claiming unemployment benefits is low.^[7] White people made up 92% of the population at the 2021 census.^[9]

Most of the constituency is represented by Conservatives at the local council level, with some Liberal Democrats elected in the Tadley area. An estimated 53% of voters in North West Hampshire supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum, similar to the UK-wide figure of 52%.^[5]

This constituency's results suggest a Conservative safe seat since its creation for the 1983 general election. The outgoing MP for Basingstoke, David Mitchell, was elected the first MP as he chose to represent the area carved out from the old seat, where he lived instead, and served for fourteen years. On Sir David Mitchell's retirement in 1997 George Young won the seat and held it until his resignation in 2015. Young was previously MP for the marginal constituency of Ealing, Acton from 1974 to 1997, and was Transport Secretary in the Government of John Major from 1995 to 1997. He also ran for Speaker of the House in 2000 and 2009, being defeated on both occasions.^[10] Young was appointed Leader of the House of Commons in the coalition government following the 2010 general election, but returned to the backbenches in David Cameron's cabinet reshuffle of 4 September 2012 and returned to the government frontbenches as Chief Whip a few weeks later, in October 2012 in place of Mitchell's son Andrew Mitchell. In 2015, Young was succeeded by Kit Malthouse, also a Conservative.

The 2010 result placed the seat 31st of the 307 Conservative seats by share of the vote polled.^[11]

1983–1997: The Borough of Test Valley wards of Alamein, Anna, Bourne Valley, Dun Valley, Harewood, Harrow Way, Kings Somborne and Michelmersh, Millway, Nether Wallop and Broughton, Over Wallop, St Mary's, Stockbridge, Tedworth, Weyhill, and Winton, and the Borough of Basingstoke and Deane wards of Baughurst, Burghclere, East Woodhay, Kingsclere, Overton, St Mary Bourne, Tadley Central, Tadley North, Tadley South, and Whitchurch.

1997–2010: The Borough of Test Valley wards of Alamein, Anna, Bourne Valley, Harrow Way, Millway, St Mary's, Tedworth, Weyhill, and Winton, and the Borough of Basingstoke and Deane wards of Baughurst and Heath End, Burghclere, East Woodhay, Highclere and Bourne, Kingsclere, Oakley and North Waltham, Overton and Laverstoke, Sherborne St John, Tadley, and Whitchurch.

2010–2024: The Borough of Test Valley wards of Alamein, Amport, Anna, Bourne Valley, Charlton, Harrow Way, Millway, Penton Bellinger, St Mary's, and Winton, and the Borough of Basingstoke and Deane wards of Baughurst, Burghclere, East Woodhay, Highclere and Bourne, Kingsclere, Oakley and North Waltham, Overton, Laverstoke and Steventon, Tadley North, Tadley South, and Whitchurch.

2024–present: Further to the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency is composed of the following (as they existed on 1 December 2020):

• The Borough of Basingstoke and Deane wards of: Evingar; Sherborne St. John & Rooksdown; Tadley & Pamber; Tadley North, Kingsclere & Baughurst; Whitchurch, Overton & Laverstoke.
• The Borough of Test Valley wards of: Andover Downlands; Andover Harroway; Andover Millway; Andover Romans; Andover St. Mary's; Andover Winton; Bourne Valley.^[12]

To bring the electorate within the permitted range, rural areas to the west and south of Andover were transferred to Romsey and Southampton North and, in the east, the village of Oakley was transferred to Basingstoke. The Sherborne St John & Rooksdown ward was added.

Basingstoke and Winchester prior to 1983

• Parliamentary constituencies in Hampshire
• List of parliamentary constituencies in the South East England (region)