Croydon West (UK Parliament constituency)

Croydon West
Croydon West
Borough constituency; for the House of Commons
County	Greater London
Major settlements	Croydon, South Norwood, Thornton Heath, Waddon
Current constituency
Created	Next United Kingdom general election
Member of Parliament	None
Seats	One
Created from	Croydon Central, Croydon North and Croydon South
1950–1955
Created from	Croydon North, Croydon South and East Surrey
Replaced by	Croydon North West and Croydon South

Croydon West was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 to 1955. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat will be re-established for the next general election. It will comprise primarily of the majority of the existing (to be abolished) constituency of Croydon North, with the addition of Croydon town centre and the community of Waddon.^[1]

Politics and history

Croydon West was a short-lived seat for the 1950 general election, creating three seats in the County Borough of Croydon from the previous two, also taking in areas from the East Surrey constituency to the south.

Croydon West took in areas of the former Croydon North and Croydon South constituencies, and East Surrey. It bordered Croydon East, Croydon North, East Surrey and Mitcham.

All three Croydon constituencies were abolished five years later at the 1955 general election, re-creating Croydon South and creating Croydon North East and Croydon North West seats.

For all of its history, Croydon West's Member of Parliament was Conservative Richard Thompson. It was contested in two elections: the 1950 general election and the 1951 general election. Prior to 1950, Croydon South had been held by Labour and most of the Labour voters were re-drawn into Croydon West, making it a marginal seat.

Dates	Local authority	Wards
1950–1955	County Borough of Croydon	Broad Green, Central, South, Waddon, and Whitehorse Manor.
Next United Kingdom general election	London Borough of Croydon	Bensham Manor, Broad Green, Fairfield, Selhurst, South Norwood, Waddon, West Thornton, Woodside (polling district WDS1)^[2]

Election		Member	Party
	1950	Richard Thompson	Conservative
1955		constituency abolished

General election 1951: Croydon West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard Thompson	23,484	52.2	+4.9
	Labour	Gerald Gardiner	21,534	47.8	+2.7
Majority			1,950	4.3	+2.1
Turnout			45,018
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.1

General election 1950: Croydon West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Richard Thompson	21,411	47.3
	Labour	David Rees-Williams	20,424	45.1
	Liberal	Arthur Russell Mayne	3,101	6.8
	Communist	Bob Jarvie^[3]	336	0.7
Majority			987	2.2
Turnout			45,272
	Conservative win (new seat)