Croydon Central (UK Parliament constituency)
Croydon Central | |
---|---|
Borough constituency for the House of Commons | |
Boundary of Croydon Central in Greater London. | |
County | Greater London |
Electorate | 76,980 (December 2010)[1] |
Current constituency | |
Created | 1974 |
Member of parliament | Gavin Barwell (Conservative) |
Number of members | One |
Created from | Croydon South |
Overlaps | |
European Parliament constituency | London |
Croydon Central is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The current MP is Conservative Gavin Barwell.
Constituency profile
Croydon Central covers a wedge of the London Borough of Croydon to the east of central Croydon and is much more marginal than the other two seats within the borough, Croydon South (which is safely Conservative) and Croydon North (Labour). The northern parts are characterised by terraced houses and urban areas, with small council estates. Labour gains much support from in particular Addiscombe, Fieldway, Woodside and Ashburton. The southern area, largely Conservative, consists of suburban semi-detached houses, populated by commuters, surrounded by golf courses and parkland. The wards of Shirley, Heathfield and Fairfield give large Conservative votes. In the south east corner, there is a large former council estate, New Addington, with two electoral wards for the more than 10,000 rather isolated residents. The estate is largely white and there have been strong British National Party showings, although Labour has traditionally won the bulk of the votes on the estate.
Most of the office blocks and shopping centres of Croydon town centre, as well as the mainline railway stations are within this seat.
History
The constituency that preceded Croydon Central in this area, Croydon South (not to be confused with the current Croydon South constituency), had twice seen Croydon's only Labour MPs before the 1990s. David Rees-Williams had held the seat from the 1945 Labour landslide until unfavourable boundary changes in 1950. David Winnick won the seat in 1966 before losing in 1970 (he has been MP for the much safer seat of Walsall North in Staffordshire since 1979). Otherwise the seat had been firm Conservative territory.
Historically, Labour's strength in the area had been on the council estates, particularly New Addington. However, there were important demographic changes across Croydon that saw greater numbers of ethnic minorities and residents of inner London move to Croydon from the 1970s onwards, making the area, especially north west Croydon, more favourable for Labour.
In 1997, Croydon's seats were reduced from four to three and the displaced Conservative Members had to face one another for the right to stand in the new Croydon Central seat (Croydon North by then a Labour-held seat). The MP for Croydon North East, David Congdon, beat off Sir Paul Beresford, the MP for the former Croydon Central seat. However, three years after Labour had taken control of Croydon Council, Labour's Geraint Davies saw off Congdon with a majority of 4,000. He held the seat with a similar majority in 2001 but lost by just 75 votes to Conservative Andrew Pelling in 2005, with the Liberal Democrats and Green Party gaining some 7,000 votes between them.
Boundaries
1974–1983: The London Borough of Croydon wards of Broad Green, Central, New Addington, Shirley, and Waddon.
1983–1997: The London Borough of Croydon wards of Fairfield, Fieldway, Heathfield, New Addington, Spring Park, and Waddon.
1997–2010: The London Borough of Croydon wards of Addiscombe, Ashburton, Fairfield, Fieldway, Heathfield, Monks Orchard, New Addington, Rylands, Spring Park, and Woodside.
2010–present: The London Borough of Croydon wards of Addiscombe, Ashburton, Fairfield, Fieldway, Heathfield, New Addington, Shirley, and Woodside.
Croydon Central covers the central and eastern parts of the London Borough of Croydon, one of the Borough's three seats. It is bordered by Croydon North and Croydon South, as well as Beckenham to the east.
The seat was redrawn in the 1997 redistribution, taking in territory from most of the pre-1997 Croydon Central constituency (losing Waddon ward to the redrawn Croydon South) and part of the abolished Croydon North East constituency. It covers an area that was Croydon South constituency until 1974 when part of Surrey East was incorporated into a new Croydon South constituency, following the creation of the London Borough of Croydon in 1965.
Members of Parliament
Election results
Elections in the 2010s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Gavin Barwell | 22,753 | 43.0 | +3.6 | |
Labour | Sarah Jones | 22,588 | 42.7 | +9.1 | |
UKIP | Peter Staveley | 4,810 | 9.1 | +7.1 | |
Green | Esther Sutton[5] | 1,454 | 2.7 | +1.6 | |
Liberal Democrat | James Fearnley | 1,152 | 2.2 | -11.0 | |
TUSC | April Ashley | 127 | 0.2 | N/A | |
Progressive Democracy | Martin Camden | 57 | 0.1 | N/A | |
Majority | 165 | 0.3 | -5.91 | ||
Turnout | 52,941 | 67.7 | +2.2 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | -2.8 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Gavin Barwell | 19,657 | 39.5 | -0.9 | |
Labour Co-op | Gerry Ryan | 16,688 | 33.5 | -7.6 | |
Liberal Democrat | Peter Lambell | 6,553 | 13.2 | +0.4 | |
Independent | Andrew Pelling | 3,239 | 6.5 | N/A | |
BNP | Cliff le May | 1,448 | 2.9 | N/A | |
UKIP | Ralph Atkinson | 997 | 2.0 | -0.2 | |
Green | Bernice Golberg | 581 | 1.2 | -1.0 | |
Christian | James Gitau | 264 | 0.5 | N/A | |
Monster Raving Loony | John Sydney Cartwright | 192 | 0.4 | +0.0 | |
Independent | Michael Castle | 138 | 0.3 | N/A | |
Majority | 2,969 | 5.94 | |||
Turnout | 49,967 | 65.45 | +3.0 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +3.3 | |||
Elections in the 2000s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Andrew Pelling | 19,974 | 40.8 | +2.3 | |
Labour | Geraint Davies | 19,899 | 40.6 | −6.6 | |
Liberal Democrat | Jeremy Hargreaves | 6,384 | 13.0 | +1.8 | |
UKIP | Ian Edwards | 1,066 | 2.2 | +1.0 | |
Green | Bernice Golberg | 1,036 | 2.1 | N/A | |
Veritas | Marianne Bowness | 304 | 0.6 | N/A | |
Monster Raving Loony | John Sydney Cartwright | 193 | 0.4 | –0.5 | |
The People's Choice! Exclusively For All | Janet Stears | 101 | 0.2 | N/A | |
Majority | 75 | 0.2 | |||
Turnout | 48,957 | 60.6 | +1.5 | ||
Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | +4.4 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Geraint Davies | 21,643 | 47.2 | +1.6 | |
Conservative | David Congdon | 17,659 | 38.5 | –0.1 | |
Liberal Democrat | Paul Booth | 5,156 | 11.2 | +0.4 | |
UKIP | James Feisenberger | 545 | 1.2 | +0.7 | |
BNP | Linda Miller | 449 | 1.0 | N/A | |
Monster Raving Loony | John Sydney Cartwright | 408 | 0.9 | N/A | |
Majority | 3,984 | 8.7 | |||
Turnout | 45,860 | 59.1 | –10.5 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +0.8 | |||
Elections in the 1990s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Geraint Davies | 25,432 | 45.6 | +10.1 | |
Conservative | David Congdon | 21,535 | 38.6 | -16.8 | |
Liberal Democrat | George Schlich | 6,061 | 10.9 | -2.4 | |
Referendum | Charles Cook | 1,886 | 3.3 | ||
Green | Mario-Simon Barnsley | 595 | 1.1 | ||
UKIP | John Woollcott | 290 | 0.5 | ||
Majority | 3,897 | 7.0 | -8.2 | ||
Turnout | 55,799 | 69.6 | -1.9 | ||
Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | +15.5% | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Sir Paul Beresford | 22,168 | 55.4 | -1.2 | |
Labour | Geraint Davies | 12,518 | 31.3 | +6.9 | |
Liberal Democrat | Deborah J. Richardson | 5,342 | 13.3 | -5.7 | |
Majority | 9,650 | 24.1 | -8.2 | ||
Turnout | 40,028 | 71.5 | +1.0 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | -4.1 | |||
Elections in the 1980s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | John Moore | 22,133 | 56.63 | ||
Labour | Bridget Prentice | 9,516 | 24.35 | ||
Social Democratic | T. Burgess | 7,435 | 19.02 | ||
Majority | 12,617 | 32.28 | |||
Turnout | 70.54 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | John Moore | 20,866 | 53.81 | ||
Labour | Andrew MacKinlay | 9,045 | 23.33 | ||
Social Democratic | T. Burgess | 8,864 | 22.86 | ||
Majority | 11,821 | 30.49 | |||
Turnout | 68.59 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
Elections in the 1970s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | John Moore | 26,457 | 52.47 | ||
Labour | D.F. White | 18,499 | 36.69 | ||
Liberal | J.P. Johnson | 5,112 | 10.14 | ||
Independent Conservative | M.J. Soper | 238 | 0.47 | ||
Workers Revolutionary | P. Gibson | 116 | 0.23 | ||
Majority | 7,958 | 15.78 | |||
Turnout | 75.68 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | John Moore | 20,390 | 42.08 | ||
Labour | David Winnick | 20,226 | 41.75 | ||
Liberal | Ian Henry Maxwell | 7,834 | 16.17 | ||
Majority | 164 | 0.34 | |||
Turnout | 72.59 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | John Moore | 21,353 | 40.49 | ||
Labour | Richard Andrew Rosser | 20,039 | 38.00 | ||
Liberal | Ian Henry Maxwell | 11,346 | 21.51 | ||
Majority | 1,314 | 2.49 | |||
Turnout | 79.74 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
See also
Notes and references
- ↑ "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.
- ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 6)
- ↑ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ↑ https://www.croydon.gov.uk/sites/default/files/articles/downloads/Croydon-Central-election-results_1.pdf 19Aug15
- ↑ "Croydon Green Party – Croydon Green Party Announces Prospective Parliamentary Candidates". greenparty.org.uk.
- ↑ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ↑ General Election 2010 – Croydon Central BBC News
- ↑ Croydon Council
- ↑ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ↑ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ↑ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ↑ "Croydon Central (Archive)". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 17 November 2010. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
- ↑ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ↑ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
- ↑ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ↑ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
Coordinates: 51°22′08″N 0°03′14″W / 51.369°N 0.054°W