Epping Forest (UK Parliament constituency)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Epping Forest
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Outline map
Boundary of Epping Forest in Essex.
Outline map
Location of Essex within England.
County Essex
Electorate 72,212 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements Waltham Abbey
Current constituency
Created 1974 (1974)
Member of Parliament Eleanor Laing (Conservative)
Number of members One
Created from Epping
Chigwell
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency East of England

Epping Forest is a parliamentary constituency[n 1] in Essex represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by Eleanor Laing, a Conservative.[n 2]

Contents

Boundaries [edit]

The constituency of Epping Forest comprises Loughton, Epping, Waltham Abbey, Chigwell, Buckhurst Hill, Theydon Bois, part of North Weald, small intermediate villages and almost the whole of the ancient Forest itself.

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Essex, the Boundary Commission has created a modified Epping Forest constituency with the following electoral wards:

  • Broadley Common, Epping Upland and Nazeing, Buckhurst Hill East, Buckhurst Hill West, Chigwell Row, Chigwell Village, Epping Hemnall, Epping Lindsey and Thornwood Common, Grange Hill, Loughton Alderton, Loughton Broadway, Loughton Fairmead, Loughton Forest, Loughton Roding, Loughton St John’s, Loughton St Mary’s, Theydon Bois, Waltham Abbey High Beach, Waltham Abbey Honey Lane, Waltham Abbey North East, Waltham Abbey Paternoster, and Waltham Abbey South West.

Other wards of Epping Forest have been used in the creation of a modified Harlow seat.

Historic wards [edit]

Redrawn boundaries of the Epping Forest constituency in use since 2010

In the boundaries in place from the February 1974 general election to the 1983 general election the constituency was made up of:

Political geography [edit]

When Epping Forest was first created, it was more favourable to the Conservative than the old Epping seat, as it lost the new town of Harlow (inside the old Epping Rural District) and gained the more Conservative Chigwell Urban District. During the Thatcher period the Labour Party's vote was crushed. Even though the Liberals managed to move into second place, their vote did little more than follow national trends and as soon as 1987 there votes dropped away as well.

Two former candidates in the Epping Forest constituency have also stood for election as Mayor of London: Steve Norris (Conservative; MP 1988-97) and Julian Leppert (British National Party).

Members of Parliament [edit]

The constituency was created in 1974 from the seats of Epping & Chigwell — the former was represented by Winston Churchill throughout his tenure as Prime Minister during World War II. The present MP is the Conservative Eleanor Laing.

Election Member [2] Party
Feb 1974 Sir John Biggs-Davison Conservative
1988 by-election Steve Norris Conservative
1997 Eleanor Laing Conservative

Elections [edit]

Elections in the 2010s [edit]

General Election 2010: Epping Forest[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Eleanor Laing 25,131 54.0 1.2
Liberal Democrat Ann Haigh 10,017 21.5 +3.4
Labour Katie Curtis 6,641 14.3 −7.2
BNP Patricia Richardson 1,982 4.3 +0.2
UKIP Andrew Smith 1,852 4.0 +1.7
Green Simon Pepper 659 1.4 N/A
English Democrats Kim Sawyer 285 0.6 −0.9
Majority 15,131 32.5 +1.2
Turnout 46,584 64.5 +2.8
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 2000s [edit]

General Election 2005: Epping Forest
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Eleanor Laing 23,783 53.0 +3.9
Labour Bambos Charalambous 9,425 21.0 −8.3
Liberal Democrat Michael Heavens 8,279 18.5 −0.1
BNP Julian Leppert 1,728 3.9 N/A
UKIP Andrew Smith 1,014 2.2 −0.7
English Democrats Robin Tilbrook 631 1.4 N/A
Majority 14,358 32.0
Turnout 44,860 61.6 +3.2
Conservative hold Swing +6.1
General Election 2001: Epping Forest
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Eleanor Laing 20,833 49.1 +3.6
Labour Christopher Naylor 12,407 29.3 −6.3
Liberal Democrat Michael Heavens 7,884 18.6 +5.2
UKIP Andrew Smith 1,290 3.0 N/A
Majority 8,426 19.8
Turnout 42,414 58.4 −14.5
Conservative hold Swing +5.0

Elections in the 1990s [edit]

General Election 1997: Epping Forest
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Eleanor Laing 24,117 45.5 −14.0
Labour Stephen Murray 18,865 35.6 +12.6
Liberal Democrat Stephen Robinson 7,074 13.3 −3.7
BNP Paul Henderson 743 1.4 N/A
Majority 5,252 9.9
Turnout 53,750
Conservative hold Swing −13.3
General Election 1992: Epping Forest[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Steve Norris 32,407 59.5 −1.4
Labour Stephen Murray 12,219 22.4 +4.0
Liberal Democrat Beryl Austen 9,265 17.0 −2.4
Epping Forest Residents Association Andrew O'Brien 552 1.0 N/A
Majority 20,188 37.1 −4.5
Turnout 54,443 80.5 +4.2
Conservative hold Swing −2.7

Elections in the 1980s [edit]

Epping Forest by-election, 1988
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Steven Norris 13,183 39.5 −21.5
Social and Liberal Democrats Andrew Thompson 8,679 26.0 +6.6
Labour Stephen Murray 6,261 18.7 +0.4
Social Democrat Michael Pettman 4,077 12.2 −7.2
Green Andrew Simms 672 2.0
National Front Tina Wingfield 286 0.6
Monster Raving Loony David Sutch 208 0.6
Rainbow Alliance - Change the World Jackie Moore 33 0.1
Vote no Belsen for South Africans Brian Goodier 16 0.0
Majority 4,504 13.5
Turnout 33,415 49.1 −27.2
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1987: Epping Forest
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Biggs-Davison 31,536 60.9 +4.4
Liberal A Humphris 10,023 19.4 -5.4
Labour S Murray 9,499 18.4 +1.3
Green R Denhard 695 1.3 N/A
Majority 21,513 41.6
Turnout 51,753 76.3
Conservative hold Swing +4.9
General Election 1983: Epping Forest
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Biggs-Davison 27,373 56.5 -1.2
Liberal M Pettman 11,995 24.8 +12.0
Labour H.J. Bryan 8,289 17.1 -10.3
Ecology R Boenke 452 0.9 N/A
BNP S Smith 330 0.7 N/A
Majority 15,378 31.8
Turnout 48,439 72.0
Conservative hold Swing -6.6

Elections in the 1970s [edit]

General Election 1979: Epping Forest
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Biggs-Davison 29,447 57.7 +10.0
Labour W D Shepherd 13,994 27.4 −5.9
Liberal D Kitching 6,528 12.8 −6.3
National Front B Wilkins 1,110 2.2 N/A
Majority 15,453 30.3
Turnout 51,079 76.6
Conservative hold Swing +8.0
General Election 1974 October: Epping Forest
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Biggs-Davison 22,392 47.7 +0.9
Labour S J Palfreman 15,618 33.3 +2.2
Liberal D F J Wood 8,952 19.1 −3.0
Majority 6,774 14.4
Turnout 46,962 73.3
Conservative hold Swing −0.7
General Election 1974 February: Epping Forest
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Biggs-Davison 24,290 46.8 −7.5
Labour W J Sheaff 16,123 31.1 −14.7
Liberal D F Wood 11,478 22.1 +22.1
Majority 8,167 15.7
Turnout 51,891 81.8 +8.7
Conservative hold Swing +3.6

Notional results (before 1974) [edit]

Notional General Election 1970: Epping Forest
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Biggs-Davison 35,010 54.3 +9.2
Labour 29,506 45.7 +4.3
Majority 5,504 8.5
Turnout 64,516 73.1
Conservative hold Swing +2.5
Notional General Election 1966: Epping Forest
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative 21,834 44.1
Labour 20,504 41.4
Liberal 7,202 14.5
Majority 1,330 2.7
Turnout 82.5
Conservative hold Swing

See also [edit]

Notes and References [edit]

Notes
  1. ^ A county 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.
References
  1. ^ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011. 
  2. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 2)[self-published source][better source needed]
  3. ^ 2010 election result
  4. ^ "UK General Election results April 1992". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-06. 
Preceded by
Epping (part)		 UK Parliament constituency
Epping, Theydon Bois, Waltham Abbey, Buckhurst Hill, Chigwell, Loughton
1974 – present		 Current boundaries
Preceded by
Chigwell (part)
Constituencies in the East of England (58)
Conservative (51)
Liberal Democrats (4)
Labour (2)
Independent (1)

Coordinates: 51°40′N 0°05′E / 51.67°N 0.09°E / 51.67; 0.09

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Epping_Forest_(UK_Parliament_constituency)&oldid=545940487"