Key Data

  • The South West is represented in Parliament by 51 MPs: 22 Conservative, 13 Labour, and 16 Liberal Democrat.
  • The South West is the only English region where no single political party holds more than half of the Parliamentary Constituencies.
  • Electorate turnout in the South West for the May 2005 General Election was higher than in any other English region.
  • The region is represented in Europe by 7 MEPs: 3 Conservative, 1 Labour, 1 Liberal Democrat, and 2 UK Independence Party.
  • There are 51 local authorities in the South West: 10 unitary authorities, and 6 counties which between them contain 35 districts.
  • None of the 16 county or unitary authorities in the South West holds either of the two lowest Comprehensive Performance Assessment ratings of 0 or 1 star, and only 1 of the 35 district authorities currently has the lowest possible rating of 'poor'.
  • Between them, the Government Office for the South West, the South West Regional Assembly, and the South West Regional Development Agency channeled over £660 million of Government and European funding into the region in 2006/07.