History
The constituency was formed as a result of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999, replacing a number of single-member constituencies. These were Bristol, Cornwall and West Plymouth, Devon and East Plymouth, Dorset and East Devon, Somerset and North Devon, Wiltshire North and Bath, and parts of Cotswolds.
Before the 2004 election, it was expanded to include Gibraltar. This was the result of a 1999 European Court of Human Rights case, which argued that Gibraltar should be entitled to vote in European elections. Spain took a complaint about Gibraltar participating in European elections to the European Court of Justice, but their case was unsuccessful.
| MEPs for former South West England constituencies, 1979 – 1999 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Election | 1979 – 1984 | 1984 – 1989 | 1989 – 1994 | 1994 – 1999 | |||||
| Bristol | Richard Cottrell Conservative |
Ian White Labour |
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| Cornwall and Plymouth Cornwall and West Plymouth |
David Harris Conservative |
Christopher Beazley Conservative |
Robin Teverson Liberal Democrat |
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| Cotswolds | Lord Plumb Conservative |
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| Devon Devon and East Plymouth |
Lord O'Hagan Conservative |
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| Somerset Somerset and Dorset West Somerset and North Devon |
Frederick Warner Conservative |
Margaret Daly Conservative |
Graham Watson Liberal Democrat |
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| Upper Thames Wiltshire Wiltshire North and Bath |
Robert Jackson Conservative |
Caroline Jackson Conservative |
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| Wessex Dorset East and Hampshire West Dorset and East Devon |
James Spicer Conservative |
Bryan Cassidy Conservative |
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Read more about this topic: South West England (European Parliament Constituency)
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