St Ives Constituency
The St Ives Parliamentary Constituency covers the south west of Cornwall taking in the towns of Penzance, St Ives, Helston, St Just, Porthleven and Marazion. It also includes the Isles of Scilly which lie 28 miles from Lands End.
It has a population of 63,000 people and stretches 37 miles along its south coast boundary from Lands End to Lizard Point.
Take an arial tour of West Cornwall courtesy of VisitCornwall.com
Andrew George has been Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament since May 1997, having missed out at the 1992 General Election by a narrow margin to the sitting Conservative MP.
2010 General Election (Image: graph form)
Andrew George 19,619
Conservative 17,900
Labour 3,751
UKIP 2,560
Green 1,308
Cornish Democrats 396
Mebyon Kernow 387
Historically, St Ives constituency has been a straight political contest between the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives, and their predecessor parties. St Ives constituency has never returned a Labour Member of Parliament.
The St Ives Parliamentary name has existed since 1588, when it was created as a Parliamentary Borough returning two Members of Parliament until the Great Reform Act of 1832. Until the late 19th century it was limited to the parish of St Ives. By 1918 it had expanded to include everywhere from Lands End to St Erth, including Penzance and the Isles of Scilly. 1918 saw the introduction of the Lizard peninsula, with Helston being added in 1950.