1832–1868: The Hundreds of Appletree, Morleston and Litchurch, and Repton and Gresley, and so much of the Wapentake of Wirksworth as was not comprised in the Bakewell Division.[2]
1868–1885: The Hundreds of Repton and Gresley, Morleston and Litchurch, and Appletree.[3]
1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Derby, the Sessional Divisions of Repton and Swadlincote, and parts of the Sessional Divisions of Ashbourne and Derby.
1918–1950: The Urban Districts of Alvaston and Boulton, Long Eaton, and Swadlincote, the Rural Districts of Hartshorne and Seals, and Shardlow, and part of the Rural District of Repton.
1983–1997: The District of South Derbyshire, and the City of Derby wards of Boulton, Chellaston, and Mickleover.
1997–2010: The District of South Derbyshire, and the City of Derby wards of Boulton and Chellaston.
2010–2024: The District of South Derbyshire.
The constituency was originally created after the Reform Act in 1832 when
Derbyshire was divided into
North Derbyshire and South Derbyshire.
The present constituency was created in 1983 from parts of the seats of
Derby North,
Derby South,
Belper, and
South East Derbyshire. When Parliament implemented the plans of the Boundary Commission's Fourth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies 1995 that came into effect for
1997, Mickleover ward was transferred to Derby South. Under the
Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, approved for the 2010 general election, the constituency shed the two City of Derby wards to become coterminous with its district.[n 3]
The District of South Derbyshire wards of Aston; Church Gresley; Etwall; Linton; Melbourne; Midway; Newhall and Stanton; Repton; Seales; Stenson; Swadlincote; Willington and Findern; Woodville.[4]
This comprises the whole of South Derbyshire District, excluding the wards of Hatton and Hilton, which were transferred to
Derbyshire Dales.
This constituency consists of rural and semi-rural settlements, including
Repton (with its
famous public school), in which a majority of voters have, in local elections since World War II, been Tory-voting, plus more historically industrial, and manufacturing-focussed settlements such as
Swadlincote where the electorate has been for the most part Labour-voting.
Workless claimants were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.2% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian, and very close to that of the Mid Derbyshire seat, at 1.9%. Also similar is the regionally lowest jobseeker seat of Derbyshire Dales, with only 1.5% of the population registered as jobseekers.[5]
^Boulton and Chellaston wards were transferred to Derby South, and Mickleover ward, herein from 1983 to 1997, was transferred from Derby South to Derby North.