Parliamentary representation from Bedfordshire

Historic counties of England

The historic counties of England are subdivisions of England established for administration by the Normans and in most cases based on earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and shires...

of Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....

, located in the 21st century region of East of England

East of England

The East of England is one of the nine official regions of England. It was created in 1994 and was adopted for statistics from 1999. It includes the ceremonial counties of Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. Essex has the highest population in the region.Its...

, was represented in Parliament from the 13th century. This article provides a list of constituencies constituting the Parliamentary representation from Bedfordshire.

In 1889 Bedfordshire became an administrative county and in 1974 much the same area became a shire county. Luton

Luton

Luton is a large town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000....

became a unitary authority

Unitary authority

A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...

in 1997, but it remains part of the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire.

The first part of this article covers the constituencies wholly or predominantly within the area of the historic county of Bedfordshire, both before and after the administrative changes of 1889 and 1974. The second part refers to constituencies mostly in another historic county, which included some territory from the historic county of Bedfordshire (if any). The summaries section only refers to the constituencies included in the first section of the constituency list.

List of constituencies

Article names are followed by (UK Parliament constituency). The constituencies which existed in 1707 were those previously represented in the Parliament of England

Parliament of England

The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...

.

Key to abbreviations:

(Type) BC Borough constituency, CC County constituency.
(Administrative County in Notes) B historic/administrative/shire/ceremonial county of Bedfordshire.

Constituencies wholly or predominantly in the historic county

Constituency	Type	From	To	MPs	Notes
Bedford Bedford (UK Parliament constituency) Bedford is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The seat was established in its current form in 1997, restoring a centuries old name. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election...	BC (1295-1918)	1295	1983	2 (1295-1654)	B
				1 (1654–1659)
				2 (1659–1885)
				1 (1885–1983)
	CC (1918–1983)			1 (1885–1983)
	BC (1997-*)	1997	*	1 (1997-*)
Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (UK Parliament constituency) Bedfordshire was a United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency, which elected two Members of Parliament from 1295 until 1885, when it was divided into two constituencies under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.-History:...	CC	1290	1885	2 (1290-1654)	B
				5 (1654–1659)
				2 (1659–1885)
Mid Bedfordshire Mid Bedfordshire (UK Parliament constituency) Mid Bedfordshire is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...	CC	1918	*	1	B
North Bedfordshire	CC	1983	1997	1	B
North East Bedfordshire	CC	1997	*	1	B
South Bedfordshire South Bedfordshire (UK Parliament constituency) South Bedfordshire was a county constituency in Bedfordshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system....	CC	1950	1983	1	B
South West Bedfordshire	CC	1983	*	1	B
Biggleswade Biggleswade (UK Parliament constituency) Biggleswade was a county constituency in Bedfordshire which was represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until its abolition in 1918...	CC	1885	1918	1	B
Luton Luton (UK Parliament constituency) Luton was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Luton in Bedfordshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system....	CC (1885–1950)	1885	1974	1	B
	BC (1950–1974)	1885	1974	1	B
Luton East Luton East (UK Parliament constituency) Luton East is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was created upon the abolition of the Luton constituency in 1974 and, with Luton West, divided into Luton North and Luton South in 1983.-Members of Parliament:...	BC	1974	1983	1	B
Luton North Luton North (UK Parliament constituency) Luton North is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...	CC (1983–1997)	1983	*	1	B: Including North Luton 1983-1997
	BC (1997-*)	1983	*	1	B: Including North Luton 1983-1997
Luton South Luton South (UK Parliament constituency) Luton South is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...	BC	1983	*	1	B
Luton West Luton West (UK Parliament constituency) Luton West is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was created upon the abolition of the Luton constituency in 1974 and, with Luton East, divided into Luton North and Luton South in 1983.-Members of Parliament:...	BC	1974	1983	1	B

Constituencies mostly in another historic county

Constituency	Type	From	To	MPs	Notes

Periods constituencies represented

	1290–1295	1295–1885	1885–1918	1918–1950	1950–1974	1974–1983	1983–1997	1997–*
Bedford Bedford (UK Parliament constituency) Bedford is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The seat was established in its current form in 1997, restoring a centuries old name. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election...		1295–1983						1997–*
Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (UK Parliament constituency) Bedfordshire was a United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency, which elected two Members of Parliament from 1295 until 1885, when it was divided into two constituencies under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.-History:...	1290–1885
Mid Bedfordshire Mid Bedfordshire (UK Parliament constituency) Mid Bedfordshire is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...				1918–*
North Bedfordshire							1983–1997
North East Bedfordshire								1997–*
South Bedfordshire South Bedfordshire (UK Parliament constituency) South Bedfordshire was a county constituency in Bedfordshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system....					1950–1983
South West Bedfordshire							1983–*
Biggleswade Biggleswade (UK Parliament constituency) Biggleswade was a county constituency in Bedfordshire which was represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until its abolition in 1918...			1885–1918
Luton Luton (UK Parliament constituency) Luton was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Luton in Bedfordshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system....			1885–1974
Luton East Luton East (UK Parliament constituency) Luton East is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was created upon the abolition of the Luton constituency in 1974 and, with Luton West, divided into Luton North and Luton South in 1983.-Members of Parliament:...						1974–1983
Luton North Luton North (UK Parliament constituency) Luton North is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...							1983–*
Luton South Luton South (UK Parliament constituency) Luton South is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...							1983–*
Luton West Luton West (UK Parliament constituency) Luton West is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was created upon the abolition of the Luton constituency in 1974 and, with Luton East, divided into Luton North and Luton South in 1983.-Members of Parliament:...						1974–1983

Summary of Constituencies by Type and Period

Type	1290	1295	1654	1659	1885	1918	1950	1974	1983	1997
Borough	-	1	1	1	1	-	1	2	1	3
County	1	1	1	1	2	3	3	3	4	3
Total	1	2	2	2	3	3	4	5	5	6

Summary of Members of Parliament by Type and Period