BBC Profile:
The Conservative MP Robert Banks represented Harrogate for nearly a quarter of a century until 1997, when boundary changes removed 12,000 rural voters from the constituency. This still left the Tories with a notional majority of more than 9,000 in the redrawn and renamed Harrogate and Knaresborough. Mr Banks retired and the former Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont stood in his place.

However, with the Labour vote squeezed to less than 9%, the Liberal Democrat Phil Willis won with a majority of more than 6,000.

Mr Willis increased his majority in 2001, and again in the 2005 general election, when he was returned with a majority of 10,429.

At this election, boundary changes mean the seat takes in sections of the Vale of York and Skipton and Ripon constituencies to the north and east of Harrogate. To find out what might have happened had these boundary changes been in force at the last election, see a notional - or estimated - result below.

Harrogate is a Victorian spa town, and is the home of Betty's Tea Rooms and Yorkshire Tea. It hosts the annual Great Yorkshire Show and has become known as a conference centre.

Knaresborough is a much smaller market town to the east. It is known for Mother Shiptons Well and its castle. Maundy money was first given out by King John in Knaresborough in 1210.

This is one of the most affluent parts of Yorkshire, benefiting from its own successful economy and from the growth of Leeds, for which it acts as an

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BBC Profile:
The Conservative MP Robert Banks represented Harrogate for nearly a quarter of a century until 1997, when boundary changes removed 12,000 rural voters from the constituency. This still left the Tories with a notional majority of more than 9,000 in the redrawn and renamed Harrogate and Knaresborough. Mr Banks retired and the former Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont stood in his place.

However, with the Labour vote squeezed to less than 9%, the Liberal Democrat Phil Willis won with a majority of more than 6,000.

Mr Willis increased his majority in 2001, and again in the 2005 general election, when he was returned with a majority of 10,429.

At this election, boundary changes mean the seat takes in sections of the Vale of York and Skipton and Ripon constituencies to the north and east of Harrogate. To find out what might have happened had these boundary changes been in force at the last election, see a notional - or estimated - result below.

Harrogate is a Victorian spa town, and is the home of Betty's Tea Rooms and Yorkshire Tea. It hosts the annual Great Yorkshire Show and has become known as a conference centre.

Knaresborough is a much smaller market town to the east. It is known for Mother Shiptons Well and its castle. Maundy money was first given out by King John in Knaresborough in 1210.

This is one of the most affluent parts of Yorkshire, benefiting from its own successful economy and from the growth of Leeds, for which it acts as an executive dormitory. The number of managerial and skilled non-manual workers is well above average.

Rallings & Thrasher Notional:
LD 25,639 (52.10%)
C 17,659 (35.88%)
Lab 4,480 (9.10%)
UKIP 845 (1.72%)
Others 589 (1.20%)

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