Greenwich and Woolwich (UK Parliament constituency)

Greenwich and Woolwich
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Greenwich and Woolwich in Greater London.
County	Greater London
Electorate	66,982 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1997 (1997)
Member of Parliament	Nick Raynsford (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Greenwich, Woolwich
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	London

Greenwich and Woolwich is a borough 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.

History

The constituency was created in 1997 by the merger of the whole of the former seat of Greenwich and the western half of the former seat of Woolwich.

The Greenwich seat was a safe Labour seat for much of the twentieth century, though it had been a safe Liberal seat throughout most of the nineteenth century. In 1987 it was unexpectedly won by the Social Democratic Party at a by-election, but was narrowly regained by Labour at the 1992 general election.

The Woolwich seat (and its predecessor Woolwich East) was a similar safe-Liberal-seat-turned-safe-Labour-seat. Its Labour MP Christopher Mayhew defected to the Liberals in 1974 before being defeated, and his Labour successor, John Cartwright, defected to the SDP in 1981. He held the seat at the 1983 and 1987 general elections, but narrowly lost it to Labour in 1992, like the neighbouring Greenwich seat.

Boundaries

The constituency is made up of seven electoral wards from the London Borough of Greenwich:

• Blackheath Westcombe, Charlton, Glyndon, Greenwich West, Peninsula, Woolwich Common, Woolwich Riverside

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in South London, and as a consequence of changes to ward boundaries, the Boundary Commission for England recommended that part of Woolwich Common ward be transferred to Greenwich and Woolwich from the constituency of Eltham; that parts of Glyndon ward be transferred from Eltham and Erith and Thamesmead; and that parts of Kidbrooke with Hornfair ward, Eltham West ward, and Middle Park and Sutcliffe ward be transferred from Greenwich and Woolwich to Eltham.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1997	Nick Raynsford	Labour

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Greenwich and Woolwich
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Nick Raynsford	20,262	49.2	-3.3
	Conservative	Spencer Drury	10,109	24.5	+7.0
	Liberal Democrat	Joseph Lee	7,498	18.5	-1.5
	BNP	Lawrence Rustem	1,151	2.8	N/A
	Green	Andy Hewett	1,054	2.6	-1.9
	Christian	Edward Adeyele	443	1.1	N/A
	English Democrats	Raden Wresniwiro	339	0.8	-2.6
	Trade Unionist & Socialist	Onay Kasab	267	0.6	N/A
	No label	Tammy Alingham	61	0.2	N/A
Majority			10,153	24.7
Turnout			41,188	62.9	+9.6
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.1

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Greenwich and Woolwich
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Nick Raynsford	17,527	49.2	−11.3
	Liberal Democrat	Christopher Le Breton	7,381	20.7	+5.1
	Conservative	Alistair Craig	7,142	20.1	+0.9
	Green	David Sharman	1,579	4.4	N/A
	English Democrats	Garry Bushell	1,216	3.4	N/A
	UKIP	Stan Gain	709	2.0	−0.1
	Independent	Purvarani Nagalingam	61	0.2	N/A
Majority			10,146	28.5
Turnout			35,615	55.6	+1.5
	Labour hold		Swing	−8.2

General Election 2001: Greenwich and Woolwich
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Nick Raynsford	19,691	60.5	-2.9
	Conservative	Richard Forsdyke	6,258	19.2	+0.7
	Liberal Democrat	Russell Pyne	5,082	15.6	+3.1
	UKIP	Stan Gain	672	2.1	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	Kirstie Paton	481	1.5	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Margaret Sharkey	352	1.1	N/A
Majority			13,433	41.3
Turnout			32,536	54.1	-11.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Greenwich and Woolwich
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Nick Raynsford	25,630	63.4	N/A
	Conservative	Michael Mitchell	7,502	18.6	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Cherry Luxton	5,049	12.5	N/A
	Referendum Party	Douglas Ellison	1,670	4.1	N/A
	Fellowship	Ronald Mallone	428	1.1	N/A
	Constitutionalist	D. Martin-Eagle	124	0.3	N/A
Majority			18,128		N/A
Turnout				65.9	N/A

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London