Lewisham East (UK Parliament constituency)

Lewisham East
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Lewisham East in Greater London.
County	Greater London
Electorate	65,508 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1974 (1974)
Member of Parliament	Heidi Alexander (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Lewisham North and Lewisham South
1918 (1918)–1950 (1950)
Replaced by	Lewisham North and Lewisham South
Created from	Lewisham
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	London

Lewisham East 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. Heidi Alexander of the Labour Party was elected as the constituency's MP in the General Election of 6 May 2010.

Constituency profile

Lewisham East is set of neighbourhoods in the inner London Borough of Lewisham, though collectively they have swung a long way against the Conservatives since the 1980s when the then Sports minister Colin Moynihan represented the seat - the Tories now find themselves in third place having lost it at the 1992 general election.

The relatively leafy former village of Blackheath is in the North-East of the borough, and has much more in common with Greenwich than the remainder of Lewisham - indeed some of the area considered to be Blackheath is in Greenwich borough. Extending further south, Lewisham East then takes in some areas of high social deprivation fairly close to Lewisham town centre, and part of Rushey Green, a traditional working class area famous for opening one of the first indoor shopping malls in England.

At the southern end of the seat is Grove Park, one of the quieter and more upmarket parts of Lewisham Borough, which, unlike the rest of Lewisham, generally elects Conservative councillors.

Boundaries

The constituency is in east of the London Borough of Lewisham, covering areas such as Lee Green, Blackheath, Hither Green and Grove Park. It is made up of seven electoral wards from the borough:

• Blackheath, Catford South, Downham, Grove Park, Lee Green, Rushey Green, Whitefoot

Boundary review

The new wards and boundaries of the Lewisham East UK Parliament constituency (red) shown within the London Borough of Lewisham (yellow)

Following their review of parliamentary representation in South London, the Boundary Commission for England created a new cross-border constituency Lewisham West and Penge, which meant consequential changes to other existing Lewisham seats. In Lewisham East the Commission made changes following a review of ward boundaries. Catford South ward, and parts of Rushey Green ward and Whitefoot ward were transferred from the former constituency of Lewisham West. Part of Rushey Green ward was transferred to Lewisham East from Lewisham, Deptford, and part of Lewisham Central ward was transferred from Lewisham East to Lewisham, Deptford.

Members of Parliament

Lewisham East in the Parliamentary County of London from 1918 to 1949.

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Assheton Pownall	Conservative
	1945	Herbert Morrison	Labour
1950		constituency abolished
1974		constituency recreated
	Feb 1974	Roland Moyle	Labour
	1983	Colin Moynihan	Conservative
	1992	Bridget Prentice	Labour
	2010	Heidi Alexander	Labour

Election results

Elections in 2010s

General Election 2010: Lewisham East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Heidi Alexander	17,966	43.1	-2.7
	Liberal Democrat	Pete Pattisson	11,750	28.2	+6.4
	Conservative	Jonathan Clamp	9,850	23.6	-0.7
	UKIP	Roderick Reed	771	1.8	-0.4
	Green	Priscilla Cotterell	624	1.5	-2.7
	English Democrats	James Rose	426	1	+1
	Community Need Before Private Greed	George Hallam	332	0.8	+0.8
Majority			6216	14.9
Turnout			41719	63.3	+8.5

Elections in 2000s

General Election 2005: Lewisham East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bridget Prentice	14,263	45.8	−7.9
	Conservative	James Cleverly	7,512	24.1	+0.3
	Liberal Democrat	Richard Thomas	6,787	21.8	+5.4
	Green	Anna Baker	1,243	4.0	N/A
	UKIP	Arnold Tarling	697	2.2	+1.0
	National Front	Bernard Franklin	625	2.0	N/A
Majority			6,751	21.7
Turnout			31,127	52.6	−0.5
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.1

General Election 2001: Lewisham East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bridget Prentice	16,160	53.7	-4.6
	Conservative	David McInnes	7,157	23.8	-2.1
	Liberal Democrat	David Buxton	4,937	16.4	+5.2
	BNP	Barry Roberts	1,005	3.3	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	Jean Kysow	464	1.5	N/A
	UKIP	Maurice Link	361	1.2	N/A
Majority			9,003	29.9
Turnout			30,084	53.1	-13.3
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in 1990s

General Election 1997: Lewisham East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bridget Prentice	21,821	58.33
	Conservative	Philip Hollobone	9,694	25.91
	Liberal Democrat	D Buxton	4,178	11.17
	Referendum Party	S Drury	910	2.43
	National Front	Robert Croucher	431	1.15
	Liberal	P White	277	0.74
	Independent	K Rizz	97	0.26
Majority			12,127	32.42
Turnout			37,410	66.41

General Election 1992: Lewisham East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bridget Prentice	19,576	45.39
	Conservative	Colin Moynihan	18,481	42.85
	Liberal Democrat	J Hawkins	4,877	11.31
	Natural Law	G Mansour	196	0.45
Majority			1,095	2.54
Turnout			43,128	74.78

Elections in 1980s

General Election 1987: Lewisham East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Colin Moynihan	19,873	45.11
	Labour	MR Profitt	15,059	34.19
	SDP–Liberal Alliance	SC Titley	7,247	15.94
Majority			4,814	10.93
Turnout			44,052	73.88

General Election 1983: Lewisham East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Colin Moynihan	17,168	40.36
	Labour	R Moyle	15,259	35.87
	SDP–Liberal Alliance	Polly Toynbee	9,351	21.98
	BNP	Richard Edmonds	288	0.68
	Ecology	A Hassard	270	0.63
	Communist	G Roberts	135	0.32
	Workers Revolutionary	P Gibson	71	0.17
Majority			1,909	4.49
Turnout			42,538	69.49

Elections in 1970s

General Election 1979: Lewisham East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Roland Moyle	22,916	45.96
	Conservative	Humfrey Malins	21,323	42.76
	Liberal	J Forrest	4,265	8.55
	National Front	M Ellis	1,168	2.34
	Workers Revolutionary	H Harewood	190	0.38
Majority			1,593	3.19
Turnout			49,863	74.35

General Election October 1974: Lewisham East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Roland Moyle	24,350	50.92
	Conservative	D Mahony	15,398	32.20
	Liberal	M Minter	8,069	16.87
Majority			8,952	18.72
Turnout			47,815	68.76

General Election February 1974: Lewisham East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Roland Moyle	24,339	45.59
	Conservative	JL Marshall	18,033	33.78
	Liberal	M Minter	10,543	19.75
	Independent	C Carey	269	0.5
	John Hampden New Freedom Party	Frank Hansford-Miller	203	0.38
Majority			6,306	11.81
Turnout			53,389	77.53

Elections in 1940s

General Election 1945: Lewisham East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Herbert Morrison	37,361	61.82
	Conservative	Assheton Pownall	22,142	36.64
	Independent	F Russell	931	1.54
Majority			15,219	25.18
Turnout			60,434	76.19
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London

References

• Iain Dale, ed. (2003). The Times House of Commons 1929, 1931, 1935. Politico's (reprint). ISBN 1-84275-033-X. 
• The Times House of Commons 1945. 1945.