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

Outline map

Boundary of Clacton in Essex for the 2010 general election.

Outline map

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 Douglas Carswell (UKIP)
Number of members One
Created from Harwich
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency East of England

Clacton is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament.

Clacton is currently represented by Douglas Carswell. Carswell defected to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) on 28 August 2014 from the Conservative Party. He resigned to force a by-election, held on 9 October 2014, in which he stood as the UKIP candidate and was re-elected.[3] Carswell retained the seat for UKIP at the subsequent general election.[n 2]

Boundaries

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Essex, the Boundary Commission created this as a new seat, consisting of essentially the former Harwich constituency, minus the town of Harwich itself and a few nearby villages, plus St. Osyth and Weeley, moved 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.

This new seat contains the towns of Clacton, Frinton-on-Sea and Walton-on-the-Naze, as well as surrounding villages.

The electoral wards used to form the Clacton constituency are entirely within the district of Tendring

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 retirees, and low numbers of non-white residents. The area has experienced a considerable influx of White British families from areas of East London such as Barking and Dagenham, leading to the town of Clacton becoming known as "Little Dagenham."[4]

The stark exception is the village of Jaywick, which suffers from extremely high levels of deprivation.

In the Indices of deprivation 2010 an area of Jaywick was identified as the single most deprived LSOA in all of 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 only member of parliament to date has been Douglas Carswell, who had previously sat for the Harwich constituency since gaining that seat for the Conservatives in 2005.

On 28 August 2014 Carswell announced his defection to UKIP.[5] Although not required to seek re-election following a change of allegiance, on 29 August, Carswell vacated his seat by taking up the appointment of Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead,[6] triggering a by-election on 9 October 2014 in which he was elected, standing as the UKIP candidate.[7] He was re-elected as MP in the 2015 general election, seeing his majority cut by roughly three-quarters, an 11% swing to the Conservatives. Mr Carswell then became UKIP's only MP in the Commons, as Mark Reckless, a fellow Conservative defector, lost his seat.

ElectionMember Party
2010 Douglas Carswell Conservative
2014 by-election UKIP
2015

Elections

Percentage change compared with the 2014 by-election in parenthesis.

General Election 2015: Clacton[8][9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
UKIP Douglas Carswell 19,642 44.4 N/A (-15.3)
Conservative Giles Watling 16,205 36.7 -16.3 (+12.1)
Labour Tim Young 6,364 14.4 -10.6 (+3.2)
Green Chris Southall[10] 1,184 2.7 +1.5 (+0.8)
Liberal Democrat David Grace[11] 812 1.8 -11.1 (+0.5)
Majority 3,437 7.8 N/A
Turnout 44,207 64.1 -0.1
UKIP gain from Conservative Swing +30.4
By-election 2014: Clacton[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
UKIP Douglas Carswell 21,113 59.7 New
Conservative Giles Watling 8,709 24.6 −28.4
Labour Tim Young[13] 3,957 11.2 −13.8
Green Chris Southall[14] 688 1.9 +0.7
Liberal Democrat Andy Graham[13] 483 1.3 −11.6
Independent Bruce Sizer 205 0.6 N/A
Monster Raving Loony Alan "Howling Laud" Hope[15] 127 0.4 N/A
Independent Charlotte Rose 56 0.2 N/A
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[16][17]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Douglas Carswell 22,867 53.0 +8.6
Labour Ivan Henderson 10,799 25.0 −10.9
Liberal Democrat Michael Green 5,577 12.9 −0.6
BNP Jim Taylor 1,975 4.6 N/A
Tendring First Terry Allen 1,078 2.5 N/A
Green Chris Southall 535 1.2 N/A
Independent Chris Humphrey 292 0.7 N/A
Majority 12,068 28.0 N/A
Turnout 43,123 64.2 +1.6
Conservative hold Swing +9.7

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ A county 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. ↑ "Clacton: Usual Resident Population, 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 2 March 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. ↑ "Tory MP Douglas Carswell defects to UKIP and forces by-election". BBC News.
  4. ↑ "Why have the white British left London?". BBC News.
  5. ↑ "Tory MP Douglas Carswell defects to UKIP and forces by-election". BBC News.
  6. ↑ http://www.hmtreasury.presscentre.com/Press-Releases/Manor-of-Northstead-69cab.aspx
  7. ↑ "Clacton by-election candidates". BBC News.
  8. ↑ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  9. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000642
  10. ↑ "Eastern Region Green Party - Green Party announces its candidates for the East of England's seaside towns". greenparty.org.uk.
  11. ↑ "List of selected candidates". Liberal Democrats. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  12. ↑ Lodge, Will (16 September 2014). "Clacton: Carswell strolls to victory for UKIP at Clacton by-election". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 12 Oct 2014.
  13. 1 2 Poll: Is Clacton a town that’s going nowhere?
  14. ↑ "Clacton environmentalist Chris Southall is Green Party's by-election candidate". Clacton and Frinton Gazette. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  15. ↑ Alan Hope Official Monster Raving Party Candidate, accessed 6 September 2014
  16. ↑ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  17. ↑ "Clacton". BBC News. 7 May 2010.

External links

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