Clacton (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 51°50′N 1°09′E / 51.83°N 1.15°E / 51.83; 1.15

Clacton
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Clacton in Essex for the 2010 general election
Location of Essex within England
County	Essex
Population	85,359 (2011 census)[1]
Electorate	67,447 (December 2010)[2]
Major settlements	Clacton, Frinton-on-Sea and Walton-on-the-Naze
Current constituency
Created	2010
Member of Parliament	Giles Watling (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Harwich

Clacton is a constituency^{[n 1]} in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, containing the town Clacton-on-Sea and also the towns of Frinton-on-Sea and Walton-on-the-Naze. It has been represented since 2017 by Giles Watling of the Conservative Party. It was created in 2010; Douglas Carswell, who was previously the Conservative MP for Harwich, won seat at the general election that year. In 2014, Carswell announced his defection to the UK Independence Party (UKIP); this triggered a by-election in the constituency, which Carswell won with a large majority, becoming UKIP's first elected MP. Carswell retained his seat at the 2015 general election; this was the only constituency won by UKIP at the election. In March 2017, Carswell left UKIP and became an independent MP; he did not stand for re-election in the 2017 general election, and the seat was gained by Watling for the Conservatives.

History[]

The seat was created for the 2010 general election following a review of the Parliamentary representation of Essex by the Boundary Commission for England. It was formed from the abolished Harwich constituency, excluding the town of Harwich itself and surrounding areas.

Boundaries[]

Map of current boundaries

The District of Tendring wards of Alton Park, Beaumont and Thorpe, Bockings Elm, Burrsville, Frinton, Golf Green, Hamford, Haven, Holland and Kirby, Homelands, Little Clacton and Weeley, Pier, Rush Green, St Bartholomews, St James, St Johns, St Marys, St Osyth and Point Clear, St Pauls and Walton.^[3]

The new seat consists essentially of the former Harwich constituency, minus the town of Harwich itself and a few nearby villages, plus St Osyth and Weeley, transferred from the old North Essex constituency. Apart from the North Sea it is surrounded by the Harwich and North Essex constituency on all other sides. It contains the towns of Clacton-on-Sea, Frinton-on-Sea and Walton-on-the-Naze, as well as surrounding villages.

Constituency profile[]

The new seat is almost completely coastal, comprising seaside resorts along the Tendring peninsula. It shares an inland border with just one constituency – Harwich and North Essex.

Like some other coastal seats, such as Christchurch in Dorset, the electorate is one of the oldest in the country, with a high proportion of retired people, and low numbers of non-White residents. The area has experienced a considerable influx of White British families from multicultural areas of East London such as Barking and Dagenham, leading to the town of Clacton becoming known as "Little Dagenham."^[4]

The village of Jaywick was, in both the Indices of deprivation 2010 and 2015, identified as the single most deprived LSOA in England, out of around 32,000, with unemployment estimated at almost 50%. Many homes are essentially beach huts and lack basic amenities. In the 2007 Index, this area was the third-most deprived in the country.

Members of Parliament[]

The constituency's Member of Parliament until 3 May 2017, was Douglas Carswell, who had previously sat for the Harwich constituency since gaining that seat for the Conservatives in 2005.^[5][6]

On 28 August 2014, Carswell announced his defection to UKIP.^[7] Although not required to seek re-election following a change of party allegiance, Carswell triggered a by-election, held on 9 October 2014, in which he was elected as the UKIP candidate.^[8] He became the first elected UKIP MP.^[9] Carswell retained the seat for UKIP at the 2015 general election, seeing his majority cut by roughly three-quarters, with an 11% swing to the Conservatives. Carswell then became UKIP's sole MP in the House of Commons, as Mark Reckless, a fellow Conservative defector, lost his seat.^[10]

On 25 March 2017, Carswell announced on his blog that he was quitting UKIP to sit as an independent MP,^[11] saying that "I switched to UKIP because I desperately wanted us to leave the EU. Now we can be certain that that is going to happen, I have decided that I will be leaving UKIP".^[12]

After Prime Minister Theresa May called a snap election on 19 April 2017, Carswell announced that he would not stand for re-election, and he endorsed the Conservative Party candidate Giles Watling.^[13] Watling was elected at the 2017 general election; at that election, UKIP's share of the vote fell by 36.8%, one of its largest declines in the country, and the subsequent Conservative victory in Clacton marked the first time every constituency in Essex had returned a Conservative MP since 1987.

Elections[]

General election 2019: Clacton^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Giles Watling	31,438	72.3	11.1
	Labour	Kevin Bonavia	6,736	15.5	9.9
	Liberal Democrats	Callum Robertson	2,541	5.8	3.8
	Green	Chris Southall	1,225	2.8	1.2
	Independent	Andy Morgan	1,099	2.5	New
	Independent	Colin Bennett	243	0.6	New
	Monster Raving Loony	Just-John Sexton	224	0.5	New
Majority			24,702	56.8	21.0
Turnout			43,506	61.3	2.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	10.5

General election 2017: Clacton^{[14][15][16][17]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Giles Watling	27,031	61.2	24.5
	Labour	Natasha Osben	11,203	25.4	11.0
	UKIP	Paul Oakley	3,357	7.6	36.8
	Liberal Democrats	David Grace	887	2.0	0.2
	Green	Chris Southall	719	1.6	1.1
	Independent	Caroline Shearer	449	1.0	New
	English Democrat	Robin Tilbrook	289	0.7	New
	Independent	Nick Martin	210	0.5	New
Majority			15,828	35.8	N/A
Turnout			44,145	63.7	0.4
	Conservative gain from UKIP		Swing	30.7

General election 2015: Clacton^[18][14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UKIP	Douglas Carswell	19,642	44.4	8.6
	Conservative	Giles Watling	16,205	36.7	16.3
	Labour	Tim Young	6,364	14.4	10.6
	Green	Chris Southall	1,184	2.7	1.5
	Liberal Democrats	David Grace	812	1.8	11.1
Majority			3,437	7.7	N/A
Turnout			44,207	64.1	0.1
	UKIP gain from Conservative		Swing	1.6

By-election 2014: Clacton^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UKIP	Douglas Carswell	21,113	59.7	6.7
	Conservative	Giles Watling	8,709	24.6	28.4
	Labour	Tim Young[20]	3,957	11.2	13.8
	Green	Chris Southall	688	1.9	0.7
	Liberal Democrats	Andy Graham	483	1.3	11.6
	Independent	Bruce Sizer	205	0.6	New
	Monster Raving Loony	Alan "Howling Laud" Hope[21]	127	0.4	New
	Independent	Charlotte Rose	56	0.2	New
Majority			12,404	35.1	N/A
Turnout			35,338	51.2	13.0
	UKIP gain from Conservative		Swing	44.1

General election 2010: Clacton^[22][23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Douglas Carswell	22,867	53.0	8.6
	Labour	Ivan Henderson	10,799	25.0	10.9
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Green	5,577	12.9	0.6
	BNP	Jim Taylor	1,975	4.6	New
	Tendring First	Terry Allen	1,078	2.5	New
	Green	Chris Southall	535	1.2	New
	Independent	Chris Humphrey	292	0.7	New
Majority			12,068	28.0	19.5
Turnout			43,123	64.2	1.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	9.7

See also[]

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Essex

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

• nomis Constituency Profile for Clacton – presenting data from the ONS annual population survey and other official statistics.