List of parliamentary constituencies in Kent
The ceremonial county of Kent, (which includes the unitary authority of Medway), is divided into 17 Parliamentary constituencies - one borough constituency and 16 county constituencies.
Constituencies
Conservative † Labour ‡ Liberal Democrats ¤
Boundary changes
| Name | Boundaries prior to 2010 |
|---|---|
|
 |
The Boundary Commission for England retained these 17 constituencies[when?], with changes to realign constituency boundaries with the boundaries of current local government wards, and to reduce the electoral disparity between constituencies.
They recommended two name changes: Gillingham to Gillingham and Rainham to reflect the similar stature of the two towns, and Medway to Rochester and Strood to avoid confusion with the larger Medway unitary authority. These changes were implemented at the 2010 United Kingdom general election.
| Proposed name | Current boundaries |
|---|---|
|
 |
Proposed boundary changes
The Boundary Commission for England submitted their final proposals in respect of the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster Constituencies (the 2018 review) in September 2018. Although the proposals were immediately laid before Parliament they were not brought forward by the Government for approval. Accordingly, they did not come into effect for the 2019 election which took place on 12 December 2019, and which was contested using the constituency boundaries in place since 2010.
Under the terms of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011, the Sixth Review was based on reducing the total number of MPs from 650 to 600 and a strict electoral parity requirement that the electorate of all constituencies should be within a range of 5% either side of the electoral quota.
On 24 March 2020, the Minister of State for the Cabinet Office, Chloe Smith, issued a written statement to Parliament setting out the Government's thinking with regard to parliamentary boundaries.[3] Subsequently, the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020[4] was passed into law on 14 December 2020. This formally removed the duty to implement the 2018 review and set out the framework for future boundary reviews. The Act provided that the number of constituencies should remain at the current level of 650, rather than being reduced to 600, while retaining the requirement that the electorate should be no more than +/- 5% from the electoral quota.
The Act specified that the next review should be completed no later than 1 July 2023 and the Boundary Commission formally launched the 2023 Review on 5 January 2021.[5] See 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies for further details.
Results history
Primary data source: House of Commons research briefing - General election results from 1918 to 2019[6]
2019
The number of votes cast for each political party who fielded candidates in constituencies comprising Kent in the 2019 general election were as follows:
| Party | Votes | % | Change from 2017 | Seats | Change from 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 532,342 | 60.1% |  3.7%
|
16 | 0 |
| Labour | 221,554 | 25.0% |  6.7%
|
1 | 0 |
| Liberal Democrats | 91,973 | 10.4% | 4.9%
|
0 | 0 |
| Greens | 28,264 | 3.2% | 1.0%
|
0 | 0 |
| Others | 11,063 | 1.3% | 2.9%
|
0 | 0 |
| Total | 885,196 | 100.0 | 17 |
Percentage votes
| Election year | 1974
(Feb) |
1974
(Oct) |
1979 | 1983 | 1987 | 1992 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 44.2 | 44.0 | 53.9 | 53.9 | 54.0 | 53.1 | 40.5 | 43.4 | 45.8 | 50.5 | 49.2 | 56.4 | 60.1 |
| Labour | 29.5 | 33.3 | 29.9 | 18.6 | 19.3 | 24.3 | 37.1 | 37.7 | 32.4 | 21.1 | 20.0 | 31.7 | 25.0 |
| Liberal Democrat1 | 25.7 | 21.8 | 15.1 | 26.9 | 26.1 | 21.3 | 17.0 | 15.5 | 17.3 | 20.9 | 6.3 | 5.5 | 10.4 |
| Green Party | - | - | - | - | * | * | * | * | * | 1.0 | 3.6 | 2.2 | 3.2 |
| UKIP | - | - | - | - | - | - | * | * | * | 3.9 | 20.3 | 3.6 | * |
| Other | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 5.4 | 3.4 | 4.4 | 2.6 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 1.3 |
11974 & 1979 - Liberal Party; 1983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance
* Included in Other
Seats
| Election year | 1974
(Feb) |
1974
(Oct) |
1979 | 1983 | 1987 | 1992 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 13 | 12 | 15 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 16 |
| Labour | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 15 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 |
Maps
-
Feb 1974 -
Oct 1974 -
1979 -
1983 -
1987
-
1992
-
1997 -
2001
-
2005 -
2010 -
2015
-
2017 -
2019
Historic representation by party
A cell marked → (with a different colour background to the preceding cell) indicates that the previous MP continued to sit under a new party name.
1885 to 1918
Conservative Independent Conservative Independent Liberal Labour Liberal Liberal Unionist National Party
1918 to 1950
Coalition Liberal (1918-22) / National Liberal (1922-23) Conservative Constitutionalist Independent Labour Liberal National Labour
1950 to 1974
1974 to present
Conservative Independent Labour UKIP
See also
Notes
References
- ^ Baker, Carl; Uberoi, Elise; Cracknell, Richard (28 January 2020). "General Election 2019: full results and analysis".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ a b c "Constituencies A-Z - Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ "Update: Strengthening Democracy:Written statement - HCWS183". UK Parliament. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
- ^ "Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "2023 Review launched | Boundary Commission for England". Retrieved 8 January 2021.
- ^ Watson, Christopher; Uberoi, Elise; Loft, Philip (17 April 2020). "General election results from 1918 to 2019".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help)