List of Parliamentary constituencies in Essex
The county of Essex (which includes the unitary authorities of Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock) is divided into 18 Parliamentary constituencies (sub-classified into six of borough type and twelve of county status affecting the level of expenses permitted and status of returning officer). The county saw the majority of its population and seats removed on the creation of the county of Greater London in 1965. Since then, the Conservatives have won a majority of the seats in the revised county, with all of Essex's seats being won by Conservative MPs by more than 50% of the vote at the 2019 United Kingdom general election.
Constituencies[]
Conservative† Labour‡ Liberal Democrat¤
Constituency[nb 1] | Electorate[1] | Majority[2][nb 2] | Majority (percentage) |
Member of Parliament[2] | Nearest opposition[2] | Map | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Basildon and Billericay BC | 69,906 | 20,412 | 46.3% | John Baron † | Andrew Gorgon ‡ | |||
Braintree CC | 75,208 | 24,673 | 49.1% | James Cleverly † | Joshua Garfield ‡ | |||
Brentwood and Ongar CC | 75,255 | 29,065 | 54.9% | Alex Burghart † | Oliver Durose ‡ | |||
Castle Point BC | 69,608 | 26,634 | 60.1% | Rebecca Harris † | Katie Curtis ‡ | |||
Chelmsford BC | 80,394 | 17,621 | 30.8% | Vicky Ford † | Marie Goldman ¤ | |||
Clacton CC | 70,930 | 24,702 | 56.8% | Giles Watling † | Kevin Bonavia‡ | |||
Colchester BC | 82,625 | 9,423 | 17.6% | Will Quince † | Tina McKay ‡ | |||
Epping Forest CC | 74,304 | 22,173 | 44.1% | Eleanor Laing † | Vicky Ashworth Te Velde ‡ | |||
Harlow CC | 68,078 | 14,063 | 32.5% | Robert Halfon † | Laura McAlpine ‡ | |||
Harwich and North Essex CC | 74,153 | 20,182 | 38.9% | Bernard Jenkin † | Stephen Rice ‡ | |||
Maldon CC | 72,438 | 30,041 | 59.6% | John Whittingdale † | Stephen Capper ‡ | |||
Rayleigh and Wickford CC | 78,930 | 31,000 | 56.5% | Mark Francois † | David Flack ‡ | |||
Rochford and Southend East CC | 75,624 | 12,286 | 26.7% | James Duddridge † | Ashley Dalton ‡ | |||
Saffron Walden CC | 87,017 | 27,594 | 43.8% | Kemi Badenoch † | Mike Hibbs ¤ | |||
South Basildon and East Thurrock CC | 74,441 | 19,922 | 44.0% | Stephen Metcalfe † | Jack Ferguson ‡ | |||
Southend West BC | 69,043 | 14,459 | 31.1% | Vacancy[nb 3] | Aston Line ‡ | |||
Thurrock BC | 79,659 | 11,482 | 24.4% | Jackie Doyle-Price † | John Kent ‡ | |||
Witham CC | 70,402 | 24,082 | 48.8% | Priti Patel † | Martin Edobor ‡ |
2010 boundary changes[]
Under the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the Boundary Commission for England increased Essex's representation from 17 to 18 MPs, with the creation of the constituency of Witham. This had a significant impact on the boundaries of the majority of the existing constituencies and also resulted in several name changes.
Former name | Boundaries 1997-2010 | Current name | Boundaries 2010–present |
---|---|---|---|
|
|
Proposed boundary changes[]
See 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies for further details.
Following the abandonment of the Sixth Periodic Review (the 2018 review), the Boundary Commission for England formally launched the 2023 Review on 5 January 2021 and published their initial proposals on 8 June.[3]
The Commission has proposed that Essex be combined with Suffolk as a sub-region of the Eastern Region, with the creation of the cross-county boundary constituency of Haverhill and Halstead, which would have a significant impact on the Braintree constituency. Brentwood and Ongar would be renamed Brentwood.[4][5] The following constituencies are proposed:
Containing electoral wards from Basildon
- Basildon and Billericay
- Rayleigh and Wickford (part)
- South Basildon and East Thurrock (part)
Containing electoral wards from Braintree
Containing electoral wards from Brentwood
- (part)
Containing electoral wards from Castle Point
- Castle Point (part)
Containing electoral wards from Chelmsford
- Braintree (part)
- Chelmsford
- Maldon (part)
Containing electoral wards from Colchester
- Colchester
- Harwich and North Essex (part)
- Witham (part)
Containing electoral wards from Epping Forest
- Brentwood (part)
- Epping Forest
- Harlow (part)
- Saffron Walden (part)
Containing electoral wards from Harlow
- Harlow (part)
Containing electoral wards from Maldon
- Maldon (part)
- Witham (part)
Containing electoral wards from Rochford
- Rayleigh and Wickford (part)
- Rochford and Southend East (part)
Containing electoral wards from Southend-on-Sea
- Castle Point (part)
- Rochford and Southend East (part)
- Southend West
Containing electoral wards from Tendring
- Clacton
- Harwich and North Essex (part)
Containing electoral wards from Thurrock
- South Basildon and East Thurrock (part)
- Thurrock
Containing electoral wards from Uttlesford
- Saffron Walden (part)
Revised proposals will be published in late 2022 and the final report is to be submitted in June 2023.
Results history[]
Primary data source: House of Commons research briefing - General election results from 1918 to 2019[6]
2019[]
The number of votes cast for each political party who fielded candidates in constituencies comprising Essex in the 2019 general election were as follows:
Party | Votes | % | Change from 2017 | Seats | Change from 2017 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | 577,118 | 64.5% | 6.0% | 18 | 0 |
Labour | 189,471 | 21.2% | 7.8% | 0 | 0 |
Liberal Democrats | 95,078 | 10.6% | 4.8% | 0 | 0 |
Greens | 20,438 | 2.3% | 0.8% | 0 | 0 |
Others | 12,502 | 1.4% | 3.8% | 0 | 0 |
Total | 894,607 | 100.0 | 18 |
Percentage votes[]
Election year | 1974
(Feb) |
1974
(Oct) |
1979 | 1983 | 1987 | 1992 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | 40.3 | 40.9 | 52.5 | 51.9 | 54.1 | 53.9 | 40.3 | 42.8 | 46.0 | 49.2 | 50.3 | 58.5 | 64.5 |
Labour | 32.9 | 35.2 | 28.9 | 17.8 | 18.9 | 23.5 | 36.4 | 34.7 | 28.9 | 18.6 | 18.4 | 29.0 | 21.2 |
Liberal Democrat1 | 26.7 | 23.8 | 17.7 | 29.7 | 26.6 | 21.7 | 18.2 | 16.7 | 19.1 | 21.3 | 6.7 | 5.8 | 10.6 |
Green Party | - | - | - | - | * | * | * | * | * | 1.0 | 3.0 | 1.5 | 2.3 |
UKIP | - | - | - | - | - | - | * | * | * | 4.1 | 20.5 | 4.6 | * |
Other | - | 0.1 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 5.8 | 6.0 | 5.8 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 1.4 |
11974 & 1979 - Liberal Party; 1983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance
* Included in Other
Seats[]
Election year | 1974
(Feb) |
1974
(Oct) |
1979 | 1983 | 1987 | 1992 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | 11 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 16 | 15 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 18 |
Labour | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Liberal Democrat1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
UKIP | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Total | 14 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 |
11974 & 1979 - Liberal Party; 1983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance
Maps[]
Feb 1974
Oct 1974
1979
1983
1987
1992
1997
2001
2005
2010
2015
2017
2019
Historical representation by party[]
A cell marked → (with a different colour background to the preceding cell) indicates that the previous MP continued to sit under a new party name.
Key: bulk or all of areas marked † form part of present-day Greater London.
1885 to 1918[]
Conservative Independent Labour Independent Labour Party Labour Liberal Liberal-Labour
Constituency | 1885 | 1886 | 88 | 92 | 1892 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 1895 | 97 | 1900 | 01 | 1906 | 08 | Jan 1910 | Dec 1910 | 11 | 12 | 17 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chelmsford | Beadel | Usborne | Rasch | Pretyman | |||||||||||||||
Colchester | Trotter | Greville | Naylor-Leyland | Pearson | Worthington-Evans | ||||||||||||||
Epping | Selwin-Ibbetson | Lockwood | Colvin | ||||||||||||||||
Essex South East | Makins | Rasch | Tufnell | Whitehead | Kirkwood | Guinness | |||||||||||||
Harwich | Round | Lever | Newton | ||||||||||||||||
Maldon | Kitching | Gray | Dodd | Strutt | T. Bethell | Flannery | |||||||||||||
Saffron Walden | Gardner | Gold | Wodehouse | Pease | Proby | Beck | |||||||||||||
Romford† | Westlake | Theobald | Money-Wigram | Sinclair | J. Bethell | ||||||||||||||
Walthamstow† | Buxton | Makins | Byrne | Woods | Morgan | Simon | |||||||||||||
West Ham North† | Cook | Fulton | Grove | Gray | Masterman | de Forest | |||||||||||||
West Ham South† | Leicester | Banes | Hardie | → | Banes | Thorne |
1918 to 1945[]
British Socialist (1919-20) / Communist (1920-22) Coalition Liberal (1918-22) / National Liberal (1922-23) Coalition National Democratic & Labour Common Wealth Conservative Constitutionalist Independent Labour Liberal National Liberal (1931-68) National Socialist
Constituency | 1918 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | 24 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 1929 | 31 | 1931 | 34 | 1935 | 37 | 40 | 42 | 45 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chelmsford | Pretyman | Robinson | Curtis-Bennett | Howard-Bury | Henderson | Macnamara | Millington | ||||||||||||||
Colchester | Worthington-Evans | Lewis | |||||||||||||||||||
Epping | Colvin | Lyle | Churchill | → | |||||||||||||||||
Essex South East | Hilder | Hoffman | Looker | Oldfield | Raikes | ||||||||||||||||
Harwich | Newton | Hillary | Rice | Pybus | → | Holmes | |||||||||||||||
Maldon | Flannery | Ruggles-Brise | Crittall | Ruggles-Brise | Driberg | ||||||||||||||||
Saffron Walden | Beck | → | → | Mitchell | Butler | ||||||||||||||||
Southend | R. Guinness | G. Guinness | H. Channon | ||||||||||||||||||
Romford† | Martin | Rhys | Muggeridge | Hutchison | Parker | ||||||||||||||||
Walthamstow East† | Johnson | Greenwood | → | Wallace | Beauchamp | ||||||||||||||||
Walthamstow West† | Jesson | McEntee | Crawfurd | McEntee | |||||||||||||||||
Leyton East† | Malone | → | → | Alexander | Church | Alexander | Brockway | Mills | |||||||||||||
Leyton West† | Wrightson | Newbould | Cassels | Sorensen | Sugden | Sorensen | |||||||||||||||
Silvertown† | Jones | → | Hollins | ||||||||||||||||||
Stratford† | Lyle | Groves | |||||||||||||||||||
East Ham North† | Bethell | Crook | Lawrence | Crook | Lawrence | Mayhew | |||||||||||||||
East Ham South† | Edwards | Barnes | Campbell-Jn | Barnes | |||||||||||||||||
Ilford† | Griggs | Wise | Hamilton | Hutchinson | |||||||||||||||||
Plaistow† | Thorne | ||||||||||||||||||||
Upton† | Wild | Margesson | Gardner | Holt | Gardner | Chotzner | Gardner |
1945 to 1974[]
Common Wealth Conservative Labour Independent Group (1949-50) Labour National Liberal (1931-68)
Constituency | 1945 | 46 | 49 | 1950 | 1951 | 54 | 1955 | 56 | 57 | 59 | 1959 | 61 | 1964 | 1966 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 1970 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Leyton East† | Bechervaise | |||||||||||||||||
Silvertown† | Comyns | |||||||||||||||||
Stratford† | Nicholls | |||||||||||||||||
Chelmsford | Millington | → | Ashton | St John-Stevas | ||||||||||||||
Colchester | Smith | Alport | Buck | |||||||||||||||
East Ham North† | Daines | Prentice | ||||||||||||||||
East Ham South† | Barnes | Oram | ||||||||||||||||
Epping | Manning | Davies | Finlay | Newens | Tebbit | |||||||||||||
Essex South East | Gunter | Braine | ||||||||||||||||
Harwich | Holmes | Ridsdale | → | |||||||||||||||
Ilford North† | Ridealgh | Hutchinson | Iremonger | |||||||||||||||
Leyton West / Leyton (1950)† | Sorensen | |||||||||||||||||
Maldon | Driberg | Harrison | ||||||||||||||||
Romford† | Macpherson | Lockwood | Ledger | Leonard | ||||||||||||||
Saffron Walden | Butler | |||||||||||||||||
Southend / Southend W (1950) | H. Channon | P. Channon | ||||||||||||||||
Walthamstow E† | Wallace | Harvey | Robinson | McNair-Wilson | ||||||||||||||
Walthamstow W† | McEntee | Attlee | Redhead | Silvester | Deakins | |||||||||||||
West Ham S† | Elwyn Jones | |||||||||||||||||
West Ham N† | Lewis | |||||||||||||||||
Woodford / Woodford & Wanstead (1964)† | Churchill | Jenkin | ||||||||||||||||
Ilford South† | Ranger | Cooper | Shaw | Thorne | ||||||||||||||
Barking† | Hastings | Driberg | ||||||||||||||||
Dagenham† | Parker | |||||||||||||||||
Hornchurch† | Bing | Lagden | Lee Williams | Squire | ||||||||||||||
Thurrock | Solley | → | Delargy | |||||||||||||||
Southend East | McAdden | |||||||||||||||||
Billericay | Braine | Body | Gardner | Moonman | McCrindle | |||||||||||||
Chigwell | Biggs-Davison |
1974 to present[]
Conservative Independent Labour Liberal Democrats UKIP
Constituency | Feb 74 | Oct 74 | 76 | 77 | 1979 | 80 | 1983 | 1987 | 88 | 1992 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 08 | 08 | 2010 | 14 | 2015 | 17 | 2017 | 2019 | 22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Essex South East / Castle Point (1983) | Braine | Spink | Butler | Spink | → | → | Harris | |||||||||||||||
Colchester (1974–83, 1997-) / Colchester North (1983-97) | Buck | Jenkin | Russell | Quince | ||||||||||||||||||
Epping Forest | Biggs-Davison | Norris | Laing | |||||||||||||||||||
Harlow | Newens | Hayes | Rammell | Halfon | ||||||||||||||||||
Harwich / Clacton (2010) | Ridsdale | Sproat | Henderson | Carswell | → | → | Watling | |||||||||||||||
Maldon (74-83, 2010-) / S Colchester & Maldon (83-97) / Maldon & East Chelmsford (1997) |
Wakeham | Whittingdale | ||||||||||||||||||||
Southend East / Rochford & Southend East (1997) | McAdden | Taylor | Duddridge | |||||||||||||||||||
Saffron Walden | Kirk | Haselhurst | Badenoch | |||||||||||||||||||
Southend West | Channon | Amess | TBD | |||||||||||||||||||
Thurrock | Delargy | McDonald | Janman | MacKinlay | Doyle-Price | |||||||||||||||||
Chelmsford (1974-97, 2010-) / West Chelmsford (1997-2010) | St John-Stevas | Burns | Ford | |||||||||||||||||||
Billericay / Basildon & Billericay (2010) | Proctor | Gorman | Baron | |||||||||||||||||||
Basildon / South Basildon & East Thurrock (2010) | Moonman | Proctor | Amess | Smith | Metcalfe | |||||||||||||||||
Braintree | Newton | Hurst | Newmark | Cleverly | ||||||||||||||||||
Brentwood and Ongar | McCrindle | Pickles | Burghart | |||||||||||||||||||
Rochford / Rayleigh (1997) / Rayleigh & Wickford (2010) | Clark | Francois | ||||||||||||||||||||
North Essex / Harwich & North Essex (2010) | Jenkin | |||||||||||||||||||||
Witham | Patel |
See also[]
- List of Parliamentary constituencies in the East of England (region)
- History of Parliamentary constituencies and boundaries in Essex
- List of former parliamentary constituencies in Essex
Notes[]
References[]
- ^ Baker, Carl; Uberoi, Elise; Cracknell, Richard (28 January 2020). "General Election 2019: full results and analysis". Cite journal requires
|journal=
(help) - ^ a b c "Constituencies A-Z - Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
- ^ "2023 Review". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
- ^ Plans for new Halstead and Haverhill parliamentary constituency Essex County Standard
- ^ 2023 review Eastern Boundary Commission for England
- ^ Watson, Christopher; Uberoi, Elise; Loft, Philip (17 April 2020). "General election results from 1918 to 2019". Cite journal requires
|journal=
(help)
- Lists of constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom in England
- Parliamentary constituencies in the East of England
- Parliamentary constituencies in Essex
- Essex-related lists