 Wansdyke derives its name from Woden's Dyke (Woden being a god of the Saxons), the ancient defensive ditch that stretches from near Bristol to beyond Marlborough. The constituency is mainly a residential area from which people commute into Bristol or Bath but it includes the picturesque Chew Valley to the south of Bristol and parts of South Gloucestershire.
The northern edge of the constituency includes parts of Bristol, moving across to Bath and down to the old Somerset coalfields. One of the main towns is Keynsham. The electorate in Wansdyke is evenly split between rural and urban areas. The constituency is at present the only Labour seat in Somerset. The constituency also contains the old Somerset coalfield centred around Midsomer Norton and Radstock where Labour has always been strong, and Labour had spread their roots at a local level before the 1997 election. Dan Norris was elected Labour MP for Wansdyke in 1997, with a majority of 4,799 over the Conservative Party. The result of a swing of 14.4% to Labour from the Tories, and the biggest increase in Labour’s share of the vote in the South West.
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