Worthing
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
County	West Sussex
1945–1997
Seats	One
Created from	Horsham and Worthing
Replaced by	East Worthing & Shoreham and Worthing West

Worthing was a parliamentary constituency in West Sussex, centred on the town of Worthing in West Sussex. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.

History

The constituency was created for the 1945 general election by dividing Horsham and Worthing, and abolished for the 1997 general election. Its territory was then divided between the new constituencies of Worthing West and East Worthing and Shoreham.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member^[1]	Party
	1945	Sir Otho Prior-Palmer	Conservative
	1964	Sir Terence Higgins	Conservative
	1997	constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Worthing ^[2]^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Otho Prior-Palmer	31,337	64.45
	Labour	Arthur Wellesley Wright	11,570	23.43
	Liberal	Walter Parnell-Smith	6,483	13.13
Majority			19,767	40.02
Turnout			49,390	72.21
Registered electors			68,393
	Conservative win (new seat)

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Worthing ^[2]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Otho Prior-Palmer	29,475	66.76	+3.31
	Labour	E Duchin	10,028	22.71	-0.72
	Liberal	William Horne	4,647	10.53	-2.60
Majority			19.447	44.05	+4.03
Turnout			44,150	83.98	+11.77
Registered electors			52,573
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.02

General election 1951: Worthing ^[2]^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Otho Prior-Palmer	32,302	74.63	+7.87
	Labour	Gerry Reynolds	10,978	25.37	+2.66
Majority			21,324	49.26	+5.21
Turnout			43,280	79.96	-4.02
Registered electors			54,125
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.61

General election 1955: Worthing ^[2]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Otho Prior-Palmer	31,106	77.12	+2.49
	Labour	Brian Ronald Stevens	9,231	22.88	-2.49
Majority			21,875	54.24	+4.98
Turnout			40,337	72.75	-7.21
Registered electors			55,449
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.49

General election 1959: Worthing ^[2]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Otho Prior-Palmer	31,396	68.16	-8.96
	Labour	Frederick Roy Mason	7,618	16.54	-6.34
	Liberal	Deryck Abel	7,045	15.30	New
Majority			23,778	51.62	-2.62
Turnout			46,059	76.12	+3.37
Registered electors			60,505
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.31

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Worthing ^[2]^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Terence Higgins	30,203	61.02	-7.14
	Liberal	Paul L Rose	11,320	22.87	+7.57
	Labour	Russell L Butler	7,976	16.11	-0.43
Majority			18,883	38.15	-13.48
Turnout			49,499	79.93	+3.81
Registered electors			61,931
	Conservative hold		Swing	-7.36

General election 1966: Worthing ^[2]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Terence Higgins	29,903	59.59	-1.43
	Labour	Anthony Lester	10,281	20.49	+4.38
	Liberal	Robert Roberts	8,955	17.84	-5.03
	Ind. Conservative	Edward Moloney	1,044	2.08	New
Majority			19,622	39.10	+0.95
Turnout			50,183	75.71	-4.22
Registered electors			66,279
	Conservative hold		Swing	-2.91

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Worthing
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Terence Higgins	33,051	65.61
	Labour	Suzanne M Bartlett	8,989	17.84
	Liberal	Michael J Rooke	8,336	16.55
Majority			24,062	47.77
Turnout			50,376	69.99
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Worthing
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Terence Higgins	33,613	59.41
	Liberal	MHC Foley	14,683	25.95
	Labour	Michael Neves	8,286	14.64
Majority			18,930	33.46
Turnout			56,582	78.43
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Worthing
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Terence Higgins	30,036	58.19
	Liberal	MHC Foley	12,691	24.59
	Labour	Michael Neves	8,890	17.22
Majority			17,345	33.60
Turnout			51,617	71.10
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1979: Worthing
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Terence Higgins	33,624	61.22
	Liberal	B Sudbury	13,244	24.11
	Labour	K Underwood	7,163	13.04
	National Front	A Hough	893	1.63	New
Majority			20,380	37.11
Turnout			54,924	73.27
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Worthing^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Terence Higgins	32,807	60.9	-0.3
	Alliance	Bob Clare	17,554	32.6	+8.5
	Labour	Ashley Minto	3,158	5.7	-6.3
	National Front	Martin Wingfield	292	0.5	New
	BNP	D Monks	103	0.2	New
Majority			15,253	28.3	-8.8
Turnout			53,914	71.2	-2.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1987: Worthing^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Terence Higgins	34,579	61.7	+0.8
	Alliance	Bob Clare	16,072	28.7	-3.9
	Labour	Jim L.W. Deen	5,387	9.6	+3.9
Majority			18,501	33.0	+4.7
Turnout			56,032	72.8	+1.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Worthing^[12]^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Terence Higgins	34,198	57.0	-4.7
	Liberal Democrats	Sue Bucknall	17,665	29.4	+0.7
	Labour	Jim L.W. Deen	6,679	11.1	+1.5
	Green	P.J. Beever	806	1.3	New
	Liberal	Nicholas J. Goble	679	1.1	New
Majority			16,533	27.5	-5.5
Turnout			60,027	77.4	+4.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	-2.7

Notes and references

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