Canterbury - Governance

Governance

Since 1987, the Member of Parliament for the Canterbury constituency, which includes Whitstable, has been the Conservative Julian Brazier. At the 2005 general election, the Conservatives won a majority of 7,471 and 44.4% of the vote in the Canterbury constituency. Labour won 28.7% of the vote, Liberal Democrats 21.1%, the Green Party 3.2%, United Kingdom Independence Party 1.9%, and the Legalise Cannabis Alliance 0.7%.

Canterbury, along with Whitstable and Herne Bay, is in the City of Canterbury local government district. The city's urban area consists of the six electoral wards of Barton, Harbledown, Northgate, St Stephens, Westgate, and Wincheap. These wards have fifteen of the fifty seats on the Canterbury City Council. Twelve of these seats are held by the Liberal Democrats and three by the Conservatives.

The city became a county corporate in 1461, and later a county borough under the Local Government Act 1888. In 1974 it lost its status as the smallest county borough in England, after the Local Government Act 1972, and came under the control of Kent County Council.