Cities of London and Westminster (UK Parliament constituency)

Cities of London and Westminster
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Cities of London and Westminster in Greater London.
County	Greater London
Electorate	65,140 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1950 (1950)
Member of Parliament	Mark Field (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	London

Cities of London and Westminster is a borough constituency covering the area comprising the City of London and southern portion of the City of Westminster in Central London. It returns one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Boundaries

Cities of London and Westminster in the Parliamentary County of London, showing boundaries used from 1950 to 1974

The constituency was created in 1950 by the merger of the former seats of City of London and Westminster Abbey. It was named 'City of London and Westminster South' from 1974 to 1997.

From 1983 to 1997 the following twelve wards of the City of Westminster were part of the constituency: Baker Street, Belgrave, Bryanston, Cavendish, Churchill, Hyde Park, Knightsbridge, Millbank, St George’s, St James’s, Victoria, and West End.

The seat covers the entire City of London and most of the City of Westminster lying South of the Marylebone Road and the Westway. In Westminster it covers the areas of Westminster, Pimlico, Victoria, Belgravia, Knightsbridge, St. James's, Soho, parts of Covent Garden, parts of Fitzrovia, Marylebone, Edgware Road, Paddington and Bayswater.

The electoral wards used in the creation of the modified Cities of London and Westminster constituency are:

• The entire City of London
• From the City of Westminster: Bryanston and Dorset Square; Churchill; Hyde Park; Knightsbridge and Belgravia; Marylebone High Street; St James'; Tachbrook; Vincent Square; Warwick; West End

In the London Assembly, the area of the seat in the City of London is covered by the City and East constituency, and the area in Westminster by the West Central constituency.

Constituency profile

The constituency covers much of the commercial, historical and touristic heart of London, including the Square Mile, St. Paul's Cathedral, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park.

Few people actually live in the City of London's financial district and in the West End. Mayfair, Belgravia and Knightsbridge rank among Europe's wealthiest residential districts but around half the electorate are in the more socially mixed areas of Bayswater and Pimlico, or the former council estates of Westminster proper.

Proposed changes

As part of the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which began in 2011, the Boundary Commission for England have proposed linking the City of London with Holborn, St Pancras and southern Islington in a newly formed 'The City of London and Islington South' constituency. Westminster is paired with Kensington in a new 'Westminster and Kensington' seat.

Members of Parliament

This seat has been represented by Mark Field since the 2001 general election.

Election		Member	Party
	1950	Sir Harold Webbe	Conservative
	1959	Sir Harry Hylton-Foster	Conservative
	1959		Speaker
	1965 by-election	John Smith	Conservative
	1970	Christopher Tugendhat	Conservative
February 1974		constituency renamed 'City of London and Westminster South'
	February 1974	Christopher Tugendhat	Conservative
	1977 by-election	Peter Brooke	Conservative
1997		constituency renamed 'Cities of London and Westminster'
	1997	Peter Brooke	Conservative
	2001	Mark Field	Conservative

Election results

General Election 2010: Cities of London and Westminster
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Field	19,264	52.2	+3.9
	Labour	Dave Rowntree	8,188	22.2	-3.1
	Liberal Democrat	Naomi Smith	7,574	20.5	+2.0
	Green	Derek Chase	778	2.1	-2.2
	UKIP	Paul Weston	664	1.8	+0.7
	English Democrats	Frank Roseman	191	0.5	N/A
	Independent	Dennis Delderfield	98	0.3	N/A
	Pirate	Jack Nunn	90	0.2	N/A
	Independent	Mad Cap'n Tom	84	0.2	N/A
Majority			11,076	30.0
Turnout			36,931	55.5	+4.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.5

General Election 2005: Cities of London and Westminster
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Field	17,260	47.3	+1.0
	Labour	Hywel Lloyd	9,165	25.1	−8.0
	Liberal Democrat	Marie-Louise Rossi	7,306	20.0	+4.6
	Green	Tristan Smith	1,544	4.2	+0.3
	UKIP	Colin Merton	399	1.1	–0.3
	Independent	Brian Haw	298	0.8	N/A
	Christian Peoples	Jillian McLachlan	246	0.7	N/A
	Veritas	David Harris	218	0.6	N/A
	Independent	Cass Cass-Horne	51	0.1	N/A
Majority			8,095	22.2
Turnout			36,487	50.3	+3.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	+4.5

General Election 2001: Cities of London and Westminster
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Field	15,737	46.3	–0.9
	Labour	Mike Katz	11,238	33.1	–2.0
	Liberal Democrat	Martin Horwood	5,218	15.4	+3.1
	Green	Hugo Charlton	1,318	3.9	N/A
	UKIP	Colin Merton	464	1.4	+0.8
Majority			4,499	13.2
Turnout			33,975	47.2	–7.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.5

General Election 1997: Cities of London and Westminster
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Brooke	18,981	47.3	N/A
	Labour	Kate Green	14,100	35.1	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Michael Dumigan	4,933	12.3	N/A
	Referendum Party	Alan Walters	1,161	2.9	N/A
	Independent	P. Wharton	266	0.7	N/A
	UKIP	Colin Merton	215	0.5	N/A
	Natural Law	R. Johnson	176	0.4	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	N. Walsh	138	0.3	N/A
	Hemp Coalition	G. Webster	112	0.3	N/A
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Jerry Sadowitz	73	0.2	N/A
Majority			4,881		N/A
Turnout				58.2	N/A

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London

References

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Cirencester and Tewkesbury	Constituency represented by the Speaker 1959–1965	Succeeded by Southampton Itchen