Crawley (UK Parliament constituency)

For other uses of "Crawley", see Crawley (disambiguation).

Crawley
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Crawley in West Sussex.
Location of West Sussex within England.
County	West Sussex
Electorate	71,793 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1983 (1983)
Member of Parliament	Henry Smith (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Horsham and Crawley
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South East England

Crawley is a parliamentary 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.

Boundaries

The constituency covers the whole of the town of Crawley in West Sussex, as well as London Gatwick Airport. Crawley borders Horsham to the East, South and West and Mole Valley and East Surrey to the North.

The Boundary Commission for England recommended that no changes to the constituency are made for the 2010 general election. The Crawley constituency continues to be co-terminous with the District boundaries.

History

Prior to the 1983 General Election, Crawley had been a part of the Horsham & Crawley, Horsham, and Horsham & Worthing constituencies at various times. Due to the growth of the Crawley as a new town in the 1960s and 70s, the Boundary Commission took the decision to separate it from Horsham in 1983. It looked safely Labour after comfortable victories in 1997 and 2001, but the sometimes volatile nature of New Town voters, especially in South-East England, has made the seat highly marginal again: Labour had a majority of 37 votes in the 2005 election, making this seat the most marginal in the UK. The 2010 election saw Henry Smith win the seat at the third attempt, beating Labour's Chris Oxlade by 5,928, with a swing of 6.3%.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1983	Nicholas Soames	Conservative
	1997	Laura Moffatt	Labour
	2010	Henry Smith	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Crawley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Smith	21,264	44.8	+5.8
	Labour	Chris Oxlade	15,336	32.3	−6.8
	Liberal Democrat	John Vincent	6,844	14.4	−1.1
	BNP	Richard Trower	1,672	3.5	+0.5
	UKIP	Chris French	1,382	2.9	+0.7
	Green	Phil Smith	598	1.3	N/A
	Justice Party	Arshad Khan	265	0.6	+0.1
	Independent	Andrew Hubner	143	0.3	N/A
Majority			5,928	12.5	+12.6
Turnout			47,504	65.3	+6.9
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+6.3

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Crawley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Laura Moffatt	16,411	39.1	-10.2
	Conservative	Henry Smith	16,374	39.0	+6.8
	Liberal Democrat	Rupert Sheard	6,503	15.5	+2.8
	BNP	Richard Trower	1,277	3.0	N/A
	UKIP	Ronald Walters	935	2.2	-0.7
	Democratic Socialist Alliance - People Before Profit	Robin Burnham	263	0.6	N/A
	Justice Party	Arshad Khan	210	0.5	-0.2
Majority			37	0.1
Turnout			41,973	58.4	+3.2
	Labour hold		Swing	-8.5

General Election 2001: Crawley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Laura Moffatt	19,488	49.3	-5.7
	Conservative	Henry Smith	12,718	32.2	+0.4
	Liberal Democrat	Linda Seekings	5,009	12.7	+4.5
	UKIP	Brian Galloway	1,137	2.9	+2.2
	Monster Raving Loony	Claire Staniford	383	1.0	N/A
	Justice Party	Arshad Khan	271	0.7	+0.2
	Socialist Labour	Karl Stewart	260	0.7	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	Muriel Hirsch	251	0.6	N/A
Majority			6,770	17.1	-6.2
Turnout			39,517	55.2	-17.7
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.1

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Crawley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Laura Moffatt	27,750	55.1	+14.7
	Conservative	Josephine Crabb	16,043	31.8	-12.1
	Liberal Democrat	Harold De Souza	4,141	8.2	-6.3
	Referendum Party	Ronald Walters	1,931	3.8	N/A
	UKIP	Eric Saunders	322	0.6	N/A
	Justice Party	Arshad Khan	230	0.5	N/A
Majority			11,707	23.3
Turnout			50,417	72.9
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

This constituency underwent boundary changes between the 1992 and 1997 general
elections and thus change in share of vote is based on a notional calculation.

General Election 1992: Crawley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Soames	30,204	48.8	-0.7
	Labour	Laura Moffatt	22,439	36.2	+7.2
	Liberal Democrat	Gordon Seekings	8,558	13.8	-7.7
	Green	M. Wilson	766	1.2	N/A
Majority			7,765	12.6	−7.9
Turnout			61,967	79.2	+2.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	-4.0

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Crawley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Soames	29,259	49.5	+1.4
	Labour	P. J. Leo	17,121	29.0	+2.8
	Social Democrat	D. N. Simmons	12,674	21.5	-4.2
Majority			12,138	20.5
Turnout			59,054	77.1	+0.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	-0.7

General Election 1983: Crawley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Soames	25,963	48.1
	Labour	Les Allen	14,149	26.2
	Social Democrat	T. Forrester	13,900	25.7
Majority			11,814	21.9
Turnout			54,012	76.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in West Sussex

Sources

• Election result, 2005 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997 - 2001 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997 - 2001 (Election Demon)
• Election results, 1983 - 1992 (Election Demon)
• Election results, 1992 - 2005 (Guardian)