South West England is one of nine official regions of England, containing the counties of Gloucestershire, Bristol, Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, and the Isles of Scilly. The region included the West Country and much of the ancient kingdom of Wessex, and Bristol, Plymouth, Swindon, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Exeter, Bath, Torbay, Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch, Salisbury, Wells, and Truro are the major urban centers of the region. In 2011, South West England had a population of 5,289,000.
South West England was initially a hub of Royalism during the English Civil War and Toryism after the Restoration. From the 18th to early 19th centuries, the South West, traditionally a region of small-scale, subsistence farming, underwent a process of agricultural modernization and commercialization. This led to the rise of a more prosperous class of yeoman farmers and landowners who began to align with the Whig party's support for agricultural improvement and free trade. The South West, particularly areas like Bristol, Cornwall, and parts of Somerset, saw the growth of industries such as mining, metalworking, and textiles. These new commercial and industrial interests were more sympathetic to the Whig party's policies favoring economic liberalism and infrastructure development. Dissenting Protestant groups, especially Methodists, Baptists, and Congregationalists, gained a stronger foothold in the South West during the 18th and early 19th centuries. The Whigs' advocacy for religious toleration and opposition to the Anglican establishment appealed to these Nonconformist communities. The South West experienced increasing urbanization and population growth, especially in cities like Bristol, Plymouth, and Exeter. This influx of new residents, often with commercial or dissenting backgrounds, gradually diluted the traditional Tory support base. The Whig party actively worked to cultivate support in the South West, leveraging their connections to the region's emerging industrial and commercial interests. Whig politicians and supporters, such as Edmund Burke, built strong political machines and patronage networks in the region. The long period of Whig dominance in national politics during the 18th and early 19th centuries, particularly under the leadership of figures like the Earl of Shelburne and Lord John Russell, solidified the Whigs' influence in the South West. The Whigs' successors, the Liberal Party, continued to do well in Cornwall and the rest of the "Celtic fringe" during the 19th century, and the South West was a battleground for the Liberals (and their successors, the Liberal Democrats) and the Conservative Party into the 21st century, when the Labour Party acquired several seats in Cornwall in 2024.
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