Westmorland and Lonsdale (UK Parliament constituency)

Westmorland and Lonsdale is a constituency in the south of Cumbria, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Tim Farron, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats (2015–2017).

Westmorland and Lonsdale is the Liberal Democrats' longest continuously held seat in England, as the only seat where they have won in every election since 2005.

Constituency profile
The constituency mostly overlaps the former South Lakeland district of Cumbria. Important towns by size in the constituency include Kendal, Windermere and Kirkby Lonsdale. It is named after the historic county of Westmorland and the Lancashire Hundred of Lonsdale, both of which extend beyond the bounds of the constituency. This is one of a minority of rural seats where residents voted to Remain in the European Union in 2016.

Boundaries
Following their review of parliamentary representation in Cumbria, the Boundary Commission for England created a modified Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency, to deal with population changes.

The electoral wards used to create the modified seat, contested for the first time at the 2010 general election, are entirely within the South Lakeland district.
 * Arnside and Beetham, Burneside, Burton and Holme, Cartmel, Coniston, Crooklands, Grange, Hawkshead, Holker, Kendal Castle, Kendal Far Cross, Kendal Fell, Kendal Glebelands, Kendal Heron Hill, Kendal Highgate, Kendal Kirkland, Kendal Mintsfeet, Kendal Nether, Kendal Oxenholme, Kendal Parks, Kendal Stonecross, Kendal Strickland, Kendal Underley, Kirkby Lonsdale, Lakes Ambleside, Lakes Grasmere, Levens, Lyth Valley, Milnthorpe, Natland, Sedbergh, Staveley-in-Cartmel, Staveley-in-Westmorland, Whinfell, Windermere Applethwaite, Windermere Bowness North, Windermere Bowness South and Windermere Town

This boundary change removed Broughton-in-Furness from the constituency.

2023 Boundary Change
Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, from the 2024 United Kingdom general election, the constituency will be composed of the following (as they existed on 1 December 2020):


 * The District of Eden wards of: Appleby (Appleby); Appleby (Bongate); Askham; Brough; Crosby Ravensworth; Dacre; Eamont; Greystroke; Kirkby Stephen; Kirkby Thore; Long Marton; Morland; Orton and Tebay; Ravenstonedale; Shap; Ullswater; Warcop.


 * The District of South Lakeland wards of: Ambleside & Grasmere; Bowness & Levens; Broughton & Coniston (polling districts AF, AO, AP, AQ, AS, AT, AU, BC, BDA, BDB, CX and DH); Cartmel; Grange; Kendal East; Kendal North; Kendal Rural; Kendal South & Natland; Kendal Town; Kendal West; Windermere.

''The constituency will be expanded by adding parts of the (former) District of Eden, including the market towns of Appleby-in-Westmorland and Kirkby Stephen, currently in the (to be abolished) constituency of Penrith and The Border. To partly offset this, the (former) District of South Lakeland wards of Arnside & Milnthorpe, Burton & Crooklands, and Sedbergh & Kirkby Lonsdale will be included in Morecambe and Lunesdale (thereby creating a cross-county boundary constituency).''

With effect from 1 April 2023, the Districts of Eden and South Lakeland were abolished and absorbed into the new unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness. The constituency will therefore now comprise the following wards of Westmorland and Furness from the 2024 general election:


 * Appleby and Brough; Bowness and Lyth; Coniston and Hawkshead (nearly all); Eamont and Shap; Eden and Lyvennet Vale; Grange and Cartmel; Greystoke and Ullswater; Kendal Castle; Kendal Highgate; Kendal Nether; Kendal South (majority); Kendal Strickland and Fell; Kirkby Stephen and Tebay; Levens and Crooklands (majority); Sedbergh and Kirkby Lonsdale (part); Upper Kent; Windermere and Ambleside.

The new constituency was made up of part of the previous constituency (41.7% by area and 72.3% by population of the new constituency) and part of the former Penrith and The Border constituency (58.3% by area and 27.7% by population of the new constituency). The notional 2019 election result for the revised constituency was calculated to be a Conservative victory. Hence, the 2024 general election result was described as "Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative", although Liberal Democrat Tim Farron was re-elected in the seat he had served since 2005.

History
Having been a Conservative-dominated seat since its creation in 1983, the 1997 general election saw the Conservatives' majority cut to fewer than 5,000 votes. This was further reduced at the 2001 general election. In 2005, the constituency featured among a list of seats held by high-profile Conservatives (in this case Shadow Education Secretary Tim Collins) targeted by the Liberal Democrats by deploying supporters from across each region in what was referred in the media as a "decapitation strategy". In the 2005 election, Tim Farron gained the seat by a marginal majority of 267 votes.

At the 2010 general election, the local electorate caused the largest Conservative-to-Lib Dem swing nationally, of 11.1% &mdash; equally the lowest share of the vote for Labour (2.2%, one of five lost deposits for Labour), nationally. With 96.2% of votes cast for either the Conservative or Liberal Democrat candidates, Westmorland and Lonsdale had the highest combined share of the vote cast for the Coalition parties.

Contrasting with its long-term Conservative support, the combined Conservative/UKIP vote narrowly failed to reach 40% in 2015. Equally, Farron, who would become Leader of the Liberal Democrats two months later; was the only member of his party to secure an absolute majority (over 50%) of votes cast, after what was a poor result for the party nationwide with their seat count reduced from 57 seats to 8. In 2017 (when Farron was Lib Dem leader), Farron's majority fell to just 777 votes. However, in 2019, he was re-elected with a majority increased to 1,934.

The 2024 general election saw a large increase in Farron's majority to 21,472. By many measures &mdash; the total votes cast, the size of the majority, and the margin of victory &mdash; this was the Liberal Democrats' strongest result nationwide. It was also the only constituency where the Labour candidate lost their deposit by polling less than 5% of the vote.

Elections in the 2010s
In 2019, Westmorland and Lonsdale was one of five English constituencies, the others being Esher and Walton, East Devon, Cheltenham and Winchester, where Labour failed to obtain over 5% of the vote and lost their deposit.

Elections in the 1980s
Note: The Robert Gibson who stood in this election and the similarly named candidate in 2001 and 2005 are not the same person.