Basildon and Billericay (UK Parliament constituency)

Basildon and Billericay
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Basildon and Billericay in Essex.
Location of Essex within England.
County	Essex
Population	89,687 (2011 census)[1]
Electorate	65,373 (December 2010)[2]
Current constituency
Created	2010
Member of parliament	John Baron
Number of members	One
Created from	Basildon, Billericay
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	East of England

Basildon and Billericay /ˈbæzᵻldᵿn ənd ˈbᵻlərɪki/ is a constituency^{[n 1]} in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, represented since 2010 by the Conservative Party MP John Baron.^{[n 2]}

Boundaries

The seat merged a majority of the previous constituency of Billericay with parts of the former Basildon constituency – mostly around the centre of Basildon.

The Billericay constituency lost Wickford to the new Rayleigh and Wickford constituency, and Pitsea to the South Basildon and East Thurrock seat.

The electoral wards in the constituency are Billericay East, Billericay West, Burstead, Crouch, Fryerns, Laindon Park, Lee Chapel North and St Martin's.

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. The election was won by the Conservative Party by a large majority although it had a nominal Labour Party status based on its electoral wards.

History of former Basildon constituency

Basildon was one of the best known bellwether constituencies in the UK, having voted for the winning party in each election since 1974. The failure of the Labour Party to win it in the 1992 election – Basildon was the first marginal seat to declare a result – notably foreshadowed Labour's fourth straight defeat at the hands of the Conservative Party.

Basildon was a (famously) Conservative seat between 1979 (when the seat also included the towns of Billericay and Wickford) and from 1983 to1997 when the seat comprised the new town on its own. Much of its population has its origins in the East End of London, which as a group has traditionally voted for the Labour Party.

However, throughout the 1980s and until the Labour landslide victory of 1997 the seat was won by the Conservative Party. In 1983 the result was a controversial one with many attributing the Conservative success to the intervention of an SDP candidate (Sue Slipman) and certainly the result briefly turned the seat into a three way marginal. During this period the MP was David Amess, who himself originated from Plaistow in East London and now holds the safer seat of Southend West.

Labour took the seat in 1997 and 2001 with a large majority, and in 2005 with a reduced majority, following the national result as all bellwether seats.

History of former Billericay constituency

Billericay was not a bellwether: from 2001 until the 2010 boundary change it had a Conservative MP, John Baron, who secured re-election in the new seat at the 2010 election.

During the late 20th century the seat elected two non-conforming characters to Westminster: Harvey Proctor, a right-wing MP who resigned over gay sex charges with underage rent boys, for which he was prosecuted, and Teresa Gorman, anti-Maastricht rebel who stood down after accusing the Standards and Privileges Committee of the House of Commons of sexism over questions surrounding her registered business dealings.

Members of Parliament

The current MP is the Conservative John Baron.

Election		Member[3]	Party
	2010	John Baron	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Basildon and Billericay^[4][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Baron	22,668	52.7	−0.1
	Labour	Gavin Callaghan	10,186	23.7	+0.6
	UKIP	George Konstantinidis	8,538	19.8	+16.0
	Liberal Democrat	Martin Thompson	1,636	3.8	−11.9
Majority			12,482	29.0	−0.8
Turnout			43,028	62.9	−0.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.4

General Election 2010: Basildon and Billericay^[6][7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	John Baron*	21,982	52.8	+6.8
	Labour	Allan Davies	9,584	23.0	−11.8
	Liberal Democrat	Mike Hibbs	6,538	15.7	+2.5
	BNP	Irene Bateman	1,934	4.6	+1.1
	UKIP	Alan Broad	1,591	3.8	+1.4
Majority			12,398	29.8	+18.6
Turnout			41,629	63.6	+1.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	+9.3

* Served as an MP in the 2005–2010 Parliament

See also

• South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Essex

Notes and references

Notes

1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
2. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.

References

1. "Usual Resident Population, 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
2. "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
3. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 1)
4. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
5. Election result, BBC News, 8 May 2015
6. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
7. Election result, BBC News, 7 May 2010

Coordinates: 51°36′N 0°26′E / 51.60°N 0.44°E