Devon South West
Conservative hold

In December 2000 the Conservative shadow spokesman Gary Streeter expressed a lack of faith in his party's chances in the next General Election, but he should personally win the battle in South West Devon, a mixture of Plymouth suburbs like Plymstock and Plympton, and more rural territory both around Tavistock and in the western South Hams (Newton Ferrers, Noss Mayo): not the Liberal Democrats' best ground in the West Country.

Gary Streeter, who as Tory spokesman on International Development is a dispatch box punchbag for Clare Short, came to Conservative politics via six years as an SDP councillor in Plymouth, where he denies he backed grammar school abolition, and followed Alan Clark as MP (for Plymouth Sutton) in 1992. Born 1955, educated at Tiverton Grammar School and King’s College London, he is a solicitor in the Plymouth law firm founded by Michael Foot’s father Isaac. As a self-confessed ‘Christian Conservative’ he rather naively predicted defeat in December 2000, by saying the Tories probably would not present themselves as ‘the party of the poor’ in time for the coming election.

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   Thriving Wealthy Achievers, Suburban Areas 15.86% 14.99% 105.81 Affluent Greys, Rural Communities 3.56% 2.13% 167.26 Prosperous Pensioners, Retirement Areas 2.76% 2.49% 110.99 Expanding Affluent Executives, Family Areas 14.66% 4.43% 331.21 Well-Off Workers, Family Areas 16.63% 7.27% 228.57 Rising Affluent Urbanites, Town & City Areas 0.50% 2.56% 19.52 Prosperous Professionals, Metropolitan Areas 0.00% 2.04% 0.00 Better-Off Executives, Inner City Areas 0.06% 3.94% 1.40 Settling Comfortable Middle Agers, Mature Home Owning Areas 30.07% 13.04% 230.62 Skilled Workers, Home Owning Areas 6.65% 12.70% 52.32 Aspiring New Home Owners, Mature Communities 6.68% 8.14% 82.04 White Collar Workers, Better-Off Multi Ethnic Areas 0.41% 4.02% 10.18 Striving Older People, Less Prosperous Areas 0.83% 3.19% 26.18 Council Estate Residents, Better-Off Homes 1.34% 11.31% 11.82 Council Estate Residents, High Unemployment 0.00% 3.06% 0.00 Council Estate Residents, Greatest Hardship 0.00% 2.52% 0.00 People in Multi-Ethnic, Low-Income Areas 0.00% 2.10% 0.00 Unclassified Unclassified 0.01% 0.06% 8.71

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   £0-5K 7.21% 9.41% 76.55 £5-10K 15.88% 16.63% 95.48 £10-15K 17.84% 16.58% 107.62 £15-20K 15.35% 13.58% 113.02 £20-25K 11.79% 10.39% 113.48 £25-30K 8.62% 7.77% 110.93 £30-35K 6.19% 5.79% 106.80 £35-40K 4.42% 4.33% 102.02 £40-45K 3.17% 3.27% 97.13 £45-50K 2.29% 2.48% 92.39 £50-55K 1.68% 1.90% 87.97 £55-60K 1.24% 1.47% 83.89 £60-65K 0.92% 1.15% 80.19 £65-70K 0.70% 0.91% 76.82 £70-75K 0.53% 0.72% 73.79 £75-80K 0.41% 0.57% 71.04 £80-85K 0.32% 0.46% 68.55 £85-90K 0.25% 0.37% 66.30 £90-95K 0.20% 0.31% 64.25 £95-100K 0.16% 0.25% 62.38 £100K + 0.73% 1.34% 54.05