2001 Result: Won by LD, majority 18.2%

Profile: The constituency is large with a long coastline stretching from the holiday resort of Newquay, through Padstow, Wadebridge, Tintagel and Bude right up to the border with Devon West and Torridge. It also reaches inland to Launceston in the east and Bodmin in the west. The main industries are agriculture and tourism. Newquay is one of the most popular resorts in the British Isles with about one million visitors each year. It has an airport which has recently been redeveloped to attract more holiday flights. Other resorts include Bude and Padstow, which has been made more popular by the chef Rick Stein. Most of the coastline and Bodmin Moor is designated as an "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty". Inland, apart from the Moor, much of Cornwall North comprises undulating countryside with small villages. Its demographic profile reflects life in a quiet constituency - it has a high proportion of older residents, and of those in employment, an unusually large number are in the hotel or tourism sectors. Labour has always performed very badly in Cornwall North, recording just 9.7% in 2001. The constituency is a traditional Conservative-Liberal marginal which has in the past returned prominent and long-serving Liberal MPs, including John Pardoe, who represented the seat from 1966-1979, and unsuccessfully stood against David Steel for the leadership in 1976. Paul Tyler, who is standing down, has held the seat for the Liberal Democrats w

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2001 Result: Won by LD, majority 18.2%

Profile: The constituency is large with a long coastline stretching from the holiday resort of Newquay, through Padstow, Wadebridge, Tintagel and Bude right up to the border with Devon West and Torridge. It also reaches inland to Launceston in the east and Bodmin in the west. The main industries are agriculture and tourism. Newquay is one of the most popular resorts in the British Isles with about one million visitors each year. It has an airport which has recently been redeveloped to attract more holiday flights. Other resorts include Bude and Padstow, which has been made more popular by the chef Rick Stein. Most of the coastline and Bodmin Moor is designated as an "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty". Inland, apart from the Moor, much of Cornwall North comprises undulating countryside with small villages. Its demographic profile reflects life in a quiet constituency - it has a high proportion of older residents, and of those in employment, an unusually large number are in the hotel or tourism sectors. Labour has always performed very badly in Cornwall North, recording just 9.7% in 2001. The constituency is a traditional Conservative-Liberal marginal which has in the past returned prominent and long-serving Liberal MPs, including John Pardoe, who represented the seat from 1966-1979, and unsuccessfully stood against David Steel for the leadership in 1976. Paul Tyler, who is standing down, has held the seat for the Liberal Democrats with comfortable majorities in every election since 1992.

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