Oxford East (UK Parliament constituency)

Oxford East
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Oxford East in Oxfordshire.
Location of Oxfordshire within England.
County	Oxfordshire
Electorate	81,644 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	Oxford and Cowley
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of parliament	Andrew Smith (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Oxford, Mid Oxfordshire and Henley[2]
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South East England

Oxford East is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Andrew Smith of the Labour Party.^{[n 2]}

History

Until 1983, the whole of Oxford, including most of this seat, was part of the Oxford constituency. For the first four years, the constituency was served by Steven Norris, a Conservative, since his defeat at the hands of the current MP the seat has seen the Conservative share of the vote plummet to 18.8% in 2010. The seat has been since 2001 a Labour–Lib Dem marginal in terms of the majorities received by Labour's Andrew Smith.

Historic changes to boundaries

The 1997 boundary changes moved two semi-rural Conservative-leaning wards out of the seat, and incorporated the urban Oxford South ward that was strong for the Liberal Democrats and Labour.

Constituency profile

Oxford East parliamentary election 2010 candidates (Andrew Smith represented by a colleague) with hustings chair the Very Revd Bob Wilkes.

The constituency covers the eastern and southern parts of Oxford in Oxfordshire. It borders Oxford West and Abingdon to the West and Henley to the North, East and South.

The constituency includes Oxford city centre and the majority of the Oxford Colleges, Cowley (famous for its car factory) and the Blackbird Leys council estate, but there is a large percentage of student voters from both Oxford and Oxford Brookes Universities (the latter being based in the seat, in leafy suburban Headington).

Due to the high student and university-related vote, Smith came within a thousand votes of losing the seat to a Liberal Democrats at the 2005 election with such issues as the Iraq War and top-up fees losing many votes for the former Work and Pensions Secretary. At the end of 2010 unemployment claimant count was 2.3%, 45th of the 84 South East constituencies and close to the mean of 2.45%.^[3]

Boundaries

Oxford East candidates in the 2010 general election at a climate change hustings.

1983-1997: The City of Oxford wards of Blackbird Leys, East, Headington, Iffley, Marston, Quarry, St Clement's, Temple Cowley, and Wood Farm, and the District of South Oxfordshire wards of Littlemore, Marston, and Risinghurst.

1997-2010: The City of Oxford wards of Blackbird Leys, East, Headington, Iffley, Littlemore, Marston, Old Marston and Risinghurst, Quarry, St Clement's, South, Temple Cowley, and Wood Farm.

2010-present: The City of Oxford wards of Barton and Sandhills, Blackbird Leys, Carfax, Churchill, Cowley, Cowley Marsh, Headington, Headington Hill and Northway, Hinksey Park, Holywell, Iffley Fields, Littlemore, Lye Valley, Marston, Northfield Brook, Quarry and Risinghurst, Rose Hill and Iffley, St Clement's, and St Mary's.

Parliament accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which slightly altered this constituency for the General Election 2010. These changes added Carfax and Holywell wards from Oxford West and Abingdon. This means that Oxford city centre and the majority of Oxford Colleges now sit in Oxford East, whereas they had previously sat in Oxford West and Abingdon for the most part. It was expected that this would benefit the Liberal Democrats in this marginal constituency. However, in a shock result, when the seat was first contested on its new boundaries in 2010, the Labour incumbent Andrew Smith managed to quadruple his majority on various pro-Labour two-party swings defying the vast majority of those nationally. In 2008 on the constituency's previous boundaries Labour "won"^{[n 3]} 11 of the wards, Lib Dems 4, the Greens 3 and the Independent Working Class Association 1.

Members of Parliament

When created in 1983, the seat was won by the Conservative Steve Norris. In 1987 he was defeated by the current Labour incumbent, former Cabinet minister, Andrew Smith.

Election		Member[4]	Party
	1983	Steve Norris	Conservative
	1987	Andrew Smith	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Oxford East^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Andrew David Smith	25,356	50.0	+7.5
	Conservative	Melanie Magee	10,076	19.9	+1.0
	Green	Ann Duncan[6]	5,890	11.6	+9.2
	Liberal Democrat	Alasdair Murray[7]	5,453	10.8	-22.8
	UKIP	Ian Macdonald[8]	3,451	6.8	+4.5
	Independent	Chaka Artwell[9]	160	0.3	+0.3
	Monster Raving Loony	Mad Hatter[9]	145	0.3	+0.3
	TUSC	James Morbin[10]	108	0.2	+0.2
	Socialist (GB)	Kevin Parkin[11]	50	0.1	+0.1
Majority			15,280	30.1
Turnout				64.2[12]
	Labour hold		Swing

Oxford East parliamentary election 2010 candidates (Andrew Smith represented by a colleague) with hustings chair the Very Revd Bob Wilkes.

General Election 2010: Oxford East^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Andrew David Smith	21,938	42.47	+6.5
	Liberal Democrat	Steve Goddard	17,357	33.6	−1.6
	Conservative	Ed Argar	9,727	18.8	+1.5
	Green	Sushila Dhall[14]	1,238	2.4	−2.1
	UKIP	Julia Gasper	1,202	2.3	+0.6
	Socialist Equality	David O'Sullivan	116	0.2	N/A
	Equal Parenting Alliance	Roger Crawford	73	0.1	N/A
Majority			4,581	8.9
Turnout			51,651	63.1	+5.6
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.45

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Oxford East^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Andrew David Smith	15,405	36.9	−12.5
	Liberal Democrat	Steve Goddard	14,442	34.6	+11.2
	Conservative	Virginia Morris	6,992	16.7	−2.0
	Green	Jacob Sanders	1,813	4.3	+0.5
	Independent ('New Loony')	Honest Blair	1,485	3.6	N/A
	Independent Working Class	Maurice Leen	892	2.1	N/A
	UKIP	Peter Gardner	715	1.7	+0.3
	Independent	Pathmanathan Sadchatheswaran Mylvaganam	46	0.1	−0.1
Majority			963	2.3
Turnout			41,790	57.9	+2.1
	Labour hold		Swing	−11.8

General Election 2001: Oxford East^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Andrew David Smith	19,681	49.4	−7.4
	Liberal Democrat	Steve Goddard	9,337	23.4	+8.7
	Conservative	Cheryl Potter	7,446	18.7	−3.3
	Green	Pritam Singh	1,501	3.8	+1.7
	Socialist Alliance	John Lister	708	1.8	N/A
	UKIP	Peter Philip Gardner	570	1.4	+0.9
	Socialist Labour	Fahim Ahmed	274	0.7	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	Linda Hodge	254	0.6	−0.1
	Independent	Pathmanathan Sadchatheswaran Mylvaganam	77	0.2	0.0
Majority			10,344	26.0
Turnout			39,848	55.8	−12.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Oxford East^{[17][18][19][20]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Andrew David Smith	27,205	56.8	+6.6
	Conservative	Jonathan Djanogly	10,540	22.0	−11.5
	Liberal Democrat	George Kershaw	7,038	14.7	+0.7
	Referendum	John Martin Baldwin Young	1,391	2.9	N/A
	Green	Craig Simmons	975	2.0	+0.0
	ProLife Alliance	William David Harper-Jones	318	0.7	N/A
	UKIP	Peter Philip Gardner	234	0.5	N/A
	Natural Law	John Charles Hunter Thompson	108	0.2	N/A
	Independent Anti-majority Democracy	Pathmanathan Sadchatheswaran Mylvaganam	68	0.2	N/A
Majority			16,665	34.8	+18.1
Turnout			47,877	68.4
	Labour hold		Swing	+9.1

General Election 1992: Oxford East^[21][22][23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Andrew David Smith	23,702	50.4	+7.4
	Conservative	Dr Mark Mayall	16,164	34.3	−6.1
	Liberal Democrat	Martin Horwood	6,105	13.0	−2.6
	Green	Caroline Lucas	933	2.0	+1.1
	Natural Law	Miss Ann Marie Wilson	101	0.2	N/A
	Revolutionary Communist	Keith Thompson	48	0.1	N/A
Majority			7,538	16.1	+13.5
Turnout			47,053	74.6	−4.3
	Labour hold		Swing	+6.8

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Oxford East^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Andrew David Smith	21,103	43.0	+5.7
	Conservative	Steven John Norris	19,815	40.4	+0.4
	Liberal	Margaret Godden	7,648	15.6	−7.1
	Green	Dave Dalton	441	0.9	N/A
	Independent	Pathmanathan Sadchatheswaran Mylvaganam	60	0.1	N/A
Majority			1,288	2.6	−0.1
Turnout			49,067	78.9	+5.0
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+2.7

General Election 1983: Oxford East^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Steven John Norris	18,808	40.0	N/A
	Labour	Andrew David Smith	17,541	37.3	N/A
	Liberal	Margaret Godden	10,690	22.7	N/A
Majority			1,267	2.7	N/A
Turnout			47,039	73.9	N/A
	Conservative win (new seat)

Neighbouring constituencies

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Oxfordshire
• Banbury
• Henley
• Oxford West and Abingdon
• Wantage
• Witney

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.
3. In Local Council Elections

References

1. "Electorate Figures". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
2. "'Oxford East', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
3. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
4. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "O"
5. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
6. "Ann Duncan". Oxfordshire Green Party.
7. McKenzie, Conor (2 March 2015). "Alasdair Murray to Take the Fight to Labour". Oxford East Lib Dems. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
8. "UK Polling Report".
9. Collie, Jason. "Oxford East candidates – who you can vote for". Oxford Mail. Newsquest. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
10. "TUSC parliamentary candidates in May 2015" (PDF). TUSC. 4 February 2015.
11. "General Election – Campaign News". Socialist Party of Great Britain. 15 January 2015.
12. total electorate 78978 email from Oxford City
13. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
14. Oxfordshire Green Party news release, 4 February 2010. Peter Tatchell was the prospective parliamentary candidate for the Green Party until withdrawing in December 2009 for health reasons.
15. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
16. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
17. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
18. "Politics Resources". Election 1997. Politics Resources. 1 May 1997. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
19. Rallings, C; Thrasher, M (1995). The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies. Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre. p. 131.
20. The 1997 election result is calculated relative to the notional, not the actual, 1992 result.
21. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
22. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
23. This was an unusual election, in which an incumbent was challenged by two people who later became MPs.
24. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
25. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

Sources

Election Result 2015 http://www.oxford.gov.uk/PageRender/decCD/Election_results_occw.htm

• Election result, 2015 (BBC)
• Election result, 2010 (BBC)
• Election result, 2005 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997–2001 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997–2001 (Election Demon)
• Election results, 1983–1992 (Election Demon)

Coordinates: 51°45′N 1°12′W / 51.75°N 1.20°W