Clacton (UK Parliament constituency)

Clacton
Clacton
County constituency; for the House of Commons
	Boundary of Clacton in Essex for the 2010 general election
	Location of Essex within England
County	Essex
Population	85,359 (2011 census)
Electorate	67,447 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Clacton, Frinton-on-Sea and Walton-on-the-Naze
Current constituency
Created	2010
Member of Parliament	Giles Watling (Conservative)
Seats	One
Created from	Harwich

51°50′N 1°09′E / 51.83°N 1.15°E / 51.83; 1.15

Clacton is a constituency^{[n 1]} in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, represented by Giles Watling of the Conservative Party.

Boundaries

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Essex, the Boundary Commission created this as a new seat, consisting of essentially the former Harwich constituency, minus the town of Harwich itself and a few nearby villages, plus St. Osyth and Weeley, moved from the old North Essex constituency. Apart from the North Sea it is surrounded by the Harwich and North Essex constituency on all other sides.

This new seat contains the towns of Clacton-on-Sea, Frinton-on-Sea and Walton-on-the-Naze, as well as surrounding villages.

The electoral wards used to form the Clacton constituency are entirely within the district of Tendring

Alton Park, Beaumont and Thorpe, Bockings Elm, Burrsville, Frinton, Golf Green, Hamford, Haven, Holland and Kirby, Homelands, Little Clacton and Weeley, Peter Bruff, Pier, Rush Green, St Bartholomews, St James, St Johns, St Marys, St Osyth and Point Clear, St Pauls and Walton.

Constituency profile

The new seat is almost completely coastal, comprising seaside resorts along the Tendring peninsula. It shares an inland border with just one constituency – Harwich and North Essex.

Like some other coastal seats, such as Christchurch in Dorset, the electorate is one of the oldest in the country, with a high proportion of retirees, and low numbers of non-white residents. The area has experienced a considerable influx of White British families from areas of East London such as Barking and Dagenham, leading to the town of Clacton becoming known as "Little Dagenham."^[3]

The stark exception is the village of Jaywick, which suffers from extremely high levels of deprivation.

In Both the Indices of deprivation 2010 and 2015 an area of Jaywick was identified as the single most deprived LSOA in all of England, out of around 32,000, with unemployment estimated at almost 50%. Many homes are essentially beach huts and lack basic amenities. In the 2007 Index, this area was the third most deprived in the country.

Members of Parliament

The constituency's member of parliament until 3 April 2017 was Douglas Carswell, who had previously sat for the Harwich constituency since gaining that seat for the Conservatives in 2005.

On 28 August 2014, Carswell announced his defection to UKIP.^[4] Although not required to seek re-election following a change of party allegiance, Carswell triggered a by-election, held on 9 October 2014, in which he was elected as the UKIP candidate.^[5] Carswell retained the seat for UKIP at the 2015 general election, seeing his majority cut by roughly three-quarters, an 11% swing to the Conservatives. Mr Carswell then became UKIP's only MP in the Commons, as Mark Reckless, a fellow Conservative defector, lost his seat.

On 25 March 2017, Carswell announced that he was quitting UKIP to sit as an independent MP,^[6] saying that "I switched to UKIP because I desperately wanted us to leave the EU. Now we can be certain that that is going to happen, I have decided that I will be leaving UKIP".^[7]

After Prime Minister Theresa May called a snap election on 19 April 2017, Carswell announced that he would not stand for re-election, and he endorsed the Conservative candidate Giles Watling.^[8] Watling was elected in the 2017 general election; in that election, UKIP's share of the vote fell by 36.8%, one of its largest falls in the country, and Clacton turning blue marked the first time every seat in Essex has voted Conservative since 1987.

Election		Member	Party
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	2010	Douglas Carswell	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:UKIP/meta/color" \|	2014 by-election		UKIP
style="background-color: Template:Independent/meta/color" \|	Mar 2017		Independent
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	2017	Giles Watling	Conservative

Elections

General Election 2017: Clacton^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Giles Watling^[10]	27,031	61.2	+24.6
	Labour	Natasha Osben	11,203	25.4	+11.0
	UKIP	Paul Oakley	3,357	7.6	-36.8
	Liberal Democrats	David Grace	887	2.0	+0.2
	Green	Chris Southall	719	1.6	-1.0
	Independent	Caroline Shearer^[11]	449	1.0	N/A
	English Democrat	Robin Tilbrook	289	0.7	N/A
	Independent	Nick Martin	210	0.5	N/A
Majority			15,828	35.8	N/A
Turnout			44,145	63.7
	Conservative gain from UKIP		Swing	30.7

General Election 2015: Clacton^[12]^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UKIP	Douglas Carswell	19,642	44.4	N/A
	Conservative	Giles Watling	16,205	36.7	-16.3
	Labour	Tim Young	6,364	14.4	-10.6
	Green	Chris Southall	1,184	2.7	+1.5
	Liberal Democrats	David Grace	812	1.8	-11.2
Majority			3,437	7.8
Turnout			44,207	64.1	+0.1
	UKIP hold		Swing

By-election 2014: Clacton^[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UKIP	Douglas Carswell	21,113	59.7	N/A
	Conservative	Giles Watling	8,709	24.6	-28.4
	Labour	Tim Young^[15]	3,957	11.2	-13.8
	Green	Chris Southall	688	1.9	+0.7
	Liberal Democrats	Andy Graham	483	1.3	-11.6
	Independent	Bruce Sizer	205	0.6	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Alan "Howling Laud" Hope^[16]	127	0.4	N/A
	Independent	Charlotte Rose	56	0.2	N/A
Majority			12,404	35.1	N/A
Turnout			35,338	51.2	-13.0
	UKIP gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 2010: Clacton^[17]^[18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Douglas Carswell	22,867	53.0	+8.6
	Labour	Ivan Henderson	10,799	25.0	−10.9
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Green	5,577	12.9	−0.6
	BNP	Jim Taylor	1,975	4.6	N/A
	Tendring First	Terry Allen	1,078	2.5	N/A
	Green	Chris Southall	535	1.2	N/A
	Independent	Chris Humphrey	292	0.7	N/A
Majority			12,068	28.0	N/A
Turnout			43,123	64.2	+1.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	+9.7

Notes

^ A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)

References

^ "Clacton: Usual Resident Population, 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
^ "Electorate Figures – Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ "Why have the white British left London?". BBC News.
^ "Tory MP Douglas Carswell defects to UKIP and forces by-election". BBC News.
^ "Clacton by-election candidates". BBC News.
^ "Job done – thank UKIP!". talkcarswell.com. 25 March 2017.
^ "Douglas Carswell quitting UKIP to become independent MP for Clacton". 25 March 2017 – via bbc.co.uk.
^ "Douglas Carswell will not stand in general election". 20 April 2017 – via bbc.co.uk.
^ "Statement of Persons Nominated – Clacton Constituency" (PDF). Tendring District Council. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
^ "Norfolk North and Penistone & Stocksbridge choose their candidates. Latest selection news. – Conservative Home".
^ "Knife death mother in MP election bid for Clacton". 21 April 2017 – via bbc.com.
^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^ "Clacton parliamentary constituency – Election 2015 – BBC News" – via bbc.co.uk.
^ Lodge, Will (16 September 2014). "Clacton: Carswell strolls to victory for UKIP at Clacton by-election". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
^ "Poll: Is Clacton a town that's going nowhere?".
^ "Clacton on sea by election". 11 September 2014.
^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^ "Clacton". BBC News. 7 May 2010.

External links

nomis Constituency Profile for Clacton – presenting data from the ONS annual population survey and other official statistics.

[3] A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)

[1] "Clacton: Usual Resident Population, 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 2 March 2015.

[2] "Electorate Figures – Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[4] "Why have the white British left London?". BBC News.

[BBC_News-5] "Tory MP Douglas Carswell defects to UKIP and forces by-election". BBC News.

[6] "Clacton by-election candidates". BBC News.

[7] "Job done – thank UKIP!". talkcarswell.com. 25 March 2017.

[8] "Douglas Carswell quitting UKIP to become independent MP for Clacton". 25 March 2017 – via bbc.co.uk.

[9] "Douglas Carswell will not stand in general election". 20 April 2017 – via bbc.co.uk.

[10] "Statement of Persons Nominated – Clacton Constituency" (PDF). Tendring District Council. Retrieved 12 May 2017.

[11] "Norfolk North and Penistone & Stocksbridge choose their candidates. Latest selection news. – Conservative Home".

[12] "Knife death mother in MP election bid for Clacton". 21 April 2017 – via bbc.com.

[electoralcalculus2015-13] "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.

[14] "Clacton parliamentary constituency – Election 2015 – BBC News" – via bbc.co.uk.

[eadt-15] Lodge, Will (16 September 2014). "Clacton: Carswell strolls to victory for UKIP at Clacton by-election". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 12 October 2014.

[EADT_8-9-14-16] "Poll: Is Clacton a town that's going nowhere?".

[17] "Clacton on sea by election". 11 September 2014.

[electoralcalculus2010-18] "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.

[19] "Clacton". BBC News. 7 May 2010.

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v t e Constituencies in the East of England (61)
Conservative (43)	Basildon and Billericay Braintree Brentwood and Ongar Broadland and Fakenham Broxbourne Castle Point Chelmsford Clacton Colchester Epping Forest Great Yarmouth Harlow Harwich and North Essex Hemel Hempstead Hertford and Stortford Hertsmere Huntingdon Ipswich Maldon Mid Norfolk North East Cambridgeshire North East Hertfordshire North Norfolk North West Cambridgeshire North West Norfolk Norwich North Peterborough Rayleigh and Wickford South Basildon and East Thurrock South Cambridgeshire South Norfolk South Suffolk South West Hertfordshire South West Norfolk Southend East and Rochford Southend West and Leigh Stevenage Suffolk Coastal Thurrock Watford Welwyn Hatfield West Suffolk Witham
Labour (7)	Bedford Cambridge Central Suffolk and North Ipswich Luton North Luton South and South Bedfordshire Mid Bedfordshire Norwich South
Liberal Democrats (1)	St Albans
Not yet contested (10)	Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard Ely and East Cambridgeshire Harpenden and Berkhamsted Hitchin Lowestoft North Bedfordshire North West Essex St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire Waveney Valley
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