The constituency was formed as a result of the
European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999, replacing a number of single-member constituencies. These were
Bristol,
Cornwall and West Plymouth,
Devon and East Plymouth,
Dorset and East Devon,
Somerset and North Devon,
Wiltshire North and Bath, and parts of
Cotswolds. Before the
2004 election, it was expanded to include
Gibraltar. This was the result of a 1999
European Court of Human Rights case, which argued that Gibraltar should be entitled to vote in European elections. Spain took a complaint about non-EU
Commonwealth citizens resident in Gibraltar participating in European elections to the
European Court of Justice, but their case was unsuccessful. The number of seats was reduced from seven to six for the 2009 election. ==Returned members==