Editing Shropshire (section)

==Politics==
{{See also|Shropshire local elections|Telford and Wrekin local elections}}
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| image1            = ShropshireParliamentaryConstituency2001Results.svg
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| caption1          = Election results 2001
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| caption2          = Election results 2005 & 2010
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===Parliamentary constituencies===
The county has five [[Parliamentary constituencies in Shropshire|parliamentary constituencies]].  In the July 2024 General Election, two returned Conservatives MPS, two Labour and one Liberal Democrat.

At the 2005 general election, four returned Conservative MPs, Telford, returned a Labour MP. This is a marked change from the 2001 general election result, where the county returned only one Conservative, three Labour and a Liberal Democrat MP to the House of Commons (see maps to the right) (Labour = Red, Conservatives = Blue and
Liberal Democrats = Orange).

The current MPs of Shropshire, following the 2024 General Election, are:
* [[Shaun Davies (politician)|Shaun Davies]], Labour, [[Telford (UK Parliament constituency)|Telford]] (covering the town of [[Telford]])
* [[Helen Morgan (politician)|Helen Morgan]], Liberal Democrat, [[North Shropshire (UK Parliament constituency)|North Shropshire]] (covering the former [[North Shropshire]] and [[Oswestry (borough)|Oswestry]] districts, now coextensive with the North area committee)
* [[Stuart Anderson (politician)|Stuart Anderson]], Conservative, [[South Shropshire (UK Parliament constituency)|South Shropshire]] (covering the former [[Ludlow]] and (the majority of) Bridgnorth districts; now co-extensive with the South area committee except for the part covered by The Wrekin constituency)
* [[Julia Buckley]], Labour, [[Shrewsbury (UK Parliament constituency)|Shrewsbury]] (covering the former [[Shrewsbury and Atcham (UK Parliament constituency)|Shrewsbury and Atcham]] district; now co-extensive with the Central area committee)
* [[Mark Pritchard (politician)|Mark Pritchard]], Conservative, [[The Wrekin (UK Parliament constituency)|The Wrekin]] (covering [[Telford and Wrekin]] borough, minus Telford, and including a small area of the former Bridgnorth district/South area committee)

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Constituency
! 1992
! 1997
! 2001
! 2005
! 2010
! 2015
! 2017
! 2021
|-
| Ludlow
| colspan=2 | {{color box|blue|CON}} Christopher Gill
| {{color box|orange|[[Liberal Democrats (UK)|LD]]}} Matthew Green
| colspan=5 | {{color box|blue|CON}} '''Philip Dunne'''
|-
| North Shropshire
| {{color box|blue|CON}} John Biffen
| colspan=6 | {{color box|blue|CON}} Owen Paterson
| colspan=1 |  {{color box|orange|[[Liberal Democrats (UK)|LD]]}} '''Helen Morgan'''
|-
| Shrewsbury & Atcham
| {{color box|blue|CON}} Derek Conway
| {{color box|red|LAB|white}} Paul Marsden
| {{color box|orange|LD}} Paul Marsden
| colspan=5 | {{color box|blue|CON}} '''Daniel Kawczynski'''
|-
| Telford
| rowspan=2 | {{color box|red|LAB|white}} Bruce Grocott*
| {{color box|red|LAB|white}} Bruce Grocott
| colspan=3| {{color box|red|LAB|white}} David Wright
| colspan=3 | {{color box|blue|CON}} '''Lucy Allan'''
|-
| The Wrekin
| colspan=2| {{color box|red|LAB|white}} Peter Bradley
| colspan=5| {{color box|blue|CON}} '''Mark Pritchard'''
|}
*Note (*), [[The Wrekin (historic UK Parliament constituency)]] was split at the 1997 election.

2021 refers to the by election in North Shropshire only.

===Divisions and environs===
{{See also|List of civil parishes in Shropshire}}
Most of the [[Ceremonial counties of England|ceremonial county]] of Shropshire is covered for purposes of local government by [[Shropshire Council]], a [[unitary authority]] established in 2009. [[Telford and Wrekin]] is a unitary authority, with [[borough status]], which forms part of the county for various functions such as [[Lord Lieutenant]] but is a separate local authority from Shropshire Council. Many services are shared by both authorities, such as the [[Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service|fire and rescue service]], and the two authorities co-operate on some projects such as mapping flood risk.

The new unitary authority for Shropshire, [[Shropshire Council]], divides the county into three areas, each with its own [[area committee]]: North, Central and South. These area committees deal with town and country planning matters.

With the parishing of the formerly [[unparished area]] of Shrewsbury in 2008, the entire ceremonial county is now [[Civil parishes in England|parished]]. The sizes of parishes varies enormously in terms of area covered and population resident. Shrewsbury is the most populous parish in the county (and one of the most populous in England) with over 70,000 residents, whilst [[Boscobel, Shropshire|Boscobel]] is the smallest parish in Shropshire by geographical area and by population, with just 12 residents according to the 2001 census.<ref>[http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do?instanceSelection=03070&productId=0&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=4&containerAreaId=790501 National Statistics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613065021/http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do?instanceSelection=03070&productId=0&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=4&containerAreaId=790501 |date=13 June 2011 }} Bridgnorth district parishes</ref> The smaller parishes (with populations of less than 200) usually have a joint [[Parish councils in England|parish council]] with one or more neighbouring parishes, or in some instances, have a [[parish meeting]] (such as in [[Sibdon Carwood]]). The urban area of Telford is divided into many parishes, each covering a particular suburb, some of which are historic villages or towns (such as [[Madeley, Shropshire|Madeley]]). The parish remains an important sub-division and tier of local government in both unitary authority areas of Shropshire.

===Local government 1974–2009===
[[File:Shropshire Ceremonial Numbered.png|thumb|130px|right|The ceremonial county prior to the 2009 local government restructuring, with just Telford & Wrekin as a unitary authority (shown yellow)]]

In 1974 the [[non-metropolitan county]] of Salop was constituted, covering the entire county. After a local campaign, the council voted 48-5 to revert to Shropshire from 1 April 1980.<ref>Sunday Mercury 2 March 1980 "Shropshire Council scraps Salop title"</ref> There was a two-tier system of local government, constituting a [[county council]] (as the upper tier) and six [[non-metropolitan district|district]] councils – [[Bridgnorth (district)|Bridgnorth]], [[North Shropshire]], [[Oswestry (borough)|Oswestry]], [[Shrewsbury and Atcham]], [[South Shropshire]] and [[Telford and Wrekin|The Wrekin]]. In 1998 The Wrekin became a [[unitary authority]], administratively separate from the county council, and became Telford and Wrekin. The two-tier structure remained in the remainder of the county and was the least populated two-tier area in England.

Oswestry and Shrewsbury & Atcham were each granted borough status in 1974. Telford and Wrekin became a borough in 2002.

===2009 restructuring===
{{See also|2009 structural changes to local government in England}}
[[File:Shrewsbury Column.jpg|thumb|Shropshire's [[Shirehall, Shrewsbury|Shirehall]] is located opposite [[Lord Hill's Column]].]]

In 2006 a local government white paper supported proposals for new [[unitary authority|unitary authorities]] to be set up in England in certain areas. Existing [[non-metropolitan county|non-metropolitan counties]] with small populations, such as [[Cornwall]], Northumberland and Shropshire, were favoured by the government to be covered by unitary authorities in one form or another (the county either becoming a single unitary authority, or be broken into a number of unitary authorities). For the counties in the 2009 reorganisation, existing unitary authority areas within the counties' [[Ceremonial counties of England|ceremonial boundaries]] (such as Telford and Wrekin) were not to be affected and no boundary changes were planned.

Shropshire County Council, supported by South Shropshire District Council and Oswestry Borough Council, proposed to the government that the non-metropolitan county of Shropshire become a single unitary authority. This was opposed by the other three districts in the county, with Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council taking their objection to the High Court in a judicial review.

The proposal to create a Shropshire unitary authority, covering the area of the existing non-metropolitan county, was supported by the [[Department of Communities and Local Government|DCLG]] and 1 April 2009 was set as the date for the re-organisation to take place. The first elections to Shropshire Council took place on 4 June 2009, with the former Shropshire County Council being the continuing authority and its councillors became the first members of the new Shropshire Council on 1 April.

Part of the proposals include [[civil parish|parishing]] and establishing a [[town council]] for Shrewsbury. The parish was created on 13 May 2008 and is the second most populous [[civil parishes in England|civil parish]] in England (only [[Weston-super-Mare]] has a greater population) with a population of over 70,000.

===Political control of councils===
Shropshire Council has been under Conservative control since the first election held in 2009; [[Telford and Wrekin Council]] has been under [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] control since 2011.