Chingford and Woodford Green (UK Parliament constituency)

Chingford and Woodford Green
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Chingford and Woodford Green in Greater London.
County	Greater London
Electorate	64,770 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1997 (1997)
Member of Parliament	Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Chingford and Wanstead & Woodford
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	London

Chingford and Woodford Green is a borough constituency in Greater London which is 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.

Boundaries

The existing boundaries of Chingford and Woodford Green (changed for the 2010 general election) take in a large slice of the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The constituency includes Chingford in the north bordering Enfield down through Highams Park and Hatch Lane into Woodford. Two wards in the neighbouring London Borough of Redbridge, Church End and Monkhams, are included in the seat.

History

Wards of the constituency (not affected by 2010 election boundary changes)

The constituency was created in 1997 from parts of the former seats of Chingford and Wanstead & Woodford. Both seats previously had well-known MPs, namely Norman Tebbit and Winston Churchill respectively. Iain Duncan Smith had been MP for Chingford since 1992 and continued as MP for this constituency. Churchill had served from 1945 to 1964 as MP for the Woodford part of the new constituency; prior to 1945, both Woodford and Chingford were in the Epping county constituency, for which Churchill was also MP.

Political geography

Chingford and Woodford Green and its predecessors have been solid Conservative since the beginning of the Thatcher period. The Conservative victory over Labour in the constituency was less than might have been expected from the notional 1992 result relative to results nationally in the 1997 general election. The Conservatives retained the seat in 2001 with a majority little changed on a low turnout despite Duncan Smith being the Shadow Defence Secretary at the election, with a below average swing to the Conservatives. But in 2005 the Conservatives did better, getting twice as many votes as Labour with a swing to the Conservatives of 6.4% (over double that of the national swing) in the constituency.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	1997	Iain Duncan Smith	Conservative	MP for Chingford 1992-97

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Chingford and Woodford Green
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Iain Duncan Smith	22,743	52.8	-0.4
	Labour	Cath Arakelian	9,780	22.7	-3.0
	Liberal Democrat	Geoffrey Seeff	7,242	16.8	-0.9
	BNP	Julian Leppert	1,288	3.0	N/A
	UKIP	Nick Jones	1,133	2.6	-0.2
	Green	Lucy Craig	650	1.5	N/A
	Independent	None Of The Above	202	0.5	N/A
	Independent	Barry White	68	0.2	N/A
Majority			12,963	30.1
Turnout			43,106	66.5	+3.5

• None Of The Above (Independent) Original name Adam Osen.

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Chingford and Woodford Green
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Iain Duncan Smith	20,555	53.2	+5.0
	Labour	Simon Wright	9,914	25.7	−7.7
	Liberal Democrat	John Beanse	6,832	17.7	+2.2
	UKIP	Michael McGough	1,078	2.8	N/A
	Independent	Barry White	269	0.7	N/A
Majority			10,641	27.5
Turnout			38,648	63.0	+4.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	+6.4

General Election 2001: Chingford and Woodford Green
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Iain Duncan Smith	17,834	48.2	+0.7
	Labour	Jessica Webb	12,347	33.4	–1.2
	Liberal Democrat	John Beanse	5,739	15.5	0.0
	BNP	Jean Griffin	1,062	2.9	+0.5
Majority			5,487	14.8
Turnout			36,982	58.5	–12.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.0

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Chingford and Woodford Green
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Iain Duncan Smith	21,109	47.5
	Labour	Tommy Hutchinson	15,395	34.6
	Liberal Democrat	Geoffrey Seeff	6,885	15.5
	BNP	Alan Gould	1,059	2.4
Majority			5,714	12.9	New Seat
Turnout			44,448	70.7

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London

Sources

• Election result, 2005 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997 - 2001 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997 - 2005 (Election Demon)
• Election results, 1997 - 2005 (Guardian)

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Richmond, Yorks	Constituency represented by the Leader of the Opposition 2001–2003	Succeeded by Folkestone and Hythe