Editing Bath, Somerset (section)

===Parliamentary elections===
{{See also|Bath (UK Parliament constituency)}}
Bath is one of the oldest extant [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|parliamentary constituencies]] in the United Kingdom, being in continuous existence since the [[Model Parliament]] of 1295. Before the [[Reform Act 1832]], Bath elected two members to the [[unreformed House of Commons]], as an ancient parliamentary borough.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.election.demon.co.uk/prereform.html |title=Parliamentary Constituencies in the unreformed House |work=United Kingdom Election Results |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071105102205/http://www.election.demon.co.uk/prereform.html |archive-date=5 November 2007 |url-status=dead |access-date=2 May 2015 }}</ref> From 1832 until 1918 it elected two MPs and then was reduced to one.

Historically the constituency covered only the city of Bath; however, it was enlarged into some outlying areas between 1997 and 2010. The constituency since 2010 once again covers exactly the city of Bath and is currently represented by [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] [[Wera Hobhouse]] who beat [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[Ben Howlett (politician)|Ben Howlett]] at the [[2017 United Kingdom general election|2017 general election]] and retained her seat at the [[2019 United Kingdom general election|2019 general election.]] Howlett had replaced the retiring [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] [[Don Foster (politician)|Don Foster]] at the [[2015 United Kingdom general election|2015 general election]]. Foster's election was a notable result of the [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992 general election]], as [[Chris Patten]], the previous Member (and [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|Cabinet Minister]]) played a major part, as [[Chairman of the Conservative Party]], in re-electing the government of [[John Major]], but failed to defend his marginal seat.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bath MP Don Foster says he will not stand at 2015 electionk |url=http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/Bath-MP-Don-Foster-says-stand-2015-election/story-20414942-detail/story.html |access-date=3 May 2015 |work=Bath Chronicle |date=9 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518105830/http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/Bath-MP-Don-Foster-says-stand-2015-election/story-20414942-detail/story.html |archive-date=18 May 2015 }}</ref>