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> United Kingdom > England > North East > North East
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Established | January 01, 1512 |
Disbanded | Still Active |
Contributor | RP |
Last Modified | RBH September 11, 2021 04:11pm |
Description |
This is a highly rural seat, wedged between the Northumbria coast and the England/Scotland border. The town of Berwick changed hands 13 times in its history before ending up on the English side of the border. However, its football team, Berwick Rangers, currently plays in the Scottish League. Berwick is an attractive, historic market town on the river Tweed and on the main railway line from Edinburgh to London, but the constituency extends far southwards to Alnwick and Amble. It takes in a number of historical and tourist sites, including Holy Island, Bamburgh Castle and the Cheviot Hills. The parliamentary constituency has changed hands rather less often. Liberal Sir William Beveridge succeeded to the seat in 1944, only to lose to the Conservatives in 1945 with the Liberal vote badly squeezed. But by 1973 their political fortunes had changed and that, coupled with a call-girl scandal involving the sitting Tory MP, Lord Anthony Lambton, handed the seat to Alan Beith in the by-election that followed. Then, few would have suspected that he would still be the MP more than 30 years later, and with a majority of over 8,000 votes. Most of the electors in this almost totally white constituency (99.5%) live on or near the coast, from Berwick southwards. Predominantly agricultural, with fishing and tourism, new businesses established in the constituency tend to manufacture exclusive products such as fishing tackle. Significant numbers of the working population are employed in agricultural and fishing related industries and also in the hotel and catering trade.
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