Crawley (UK Parliament constituency)
51°06′47″N 0°10′59″W / 51.113°N 0.183°W
Crawley | |
---|---|
Borough constituency for the House of Commons | |
![]() Boundary of Crawley in West Sussex | |
![]() Location of West Sussex within England | |
County | West Sussex |
Electorate | 74,207 (December 2019)[1] |
Major settlements | Crawley |
Current constituency | |
Created | 1983 |
Member of Parliament | Henry Smith (Conservative) |
Seats | One |
Created from | Horsham and Crawley and Mid Sussex[2] |
Crawley is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Henry Smith of the Conservative Party.[n 2]
Boundaries
1983–1997: The Borough of Crawley, and the District of Mid Sussex wards of Balcombe, Copthorne and Worth, Crawley Down, Slaugham, and Turners Hill.
1997–present: The Borough of Crawley.
The constituency covers the whole of the town and borough of Crawley in West Sussex which includes London Gatwick Airport. Crawley borders Horsham in the same county on all sides other than the north, where it borders a part of East Surrey.
The Boundary Commission analysed population increase and recommended that changes to the constituency be made for the 2010 general election so the seat is now coterminous with the borough.
History
Contents and context
Before the 1983 general election, Crawley had been part of the Horsham & Crawley, Horsham, and Horsham & Worthing constituencies at times. Due to the growth of Crawley, which was a small town, into a substantial new town in the 1960s and 70s, the Boundary Commission took the decision to separate it from Horsham in 1983 and create a new seat.
Political history
Labour majorities in 1997 and 2001 on the size of majority yardstick, but not yet the longevity measure, suggested a safe seat. The seat saw the most knife-edge result in 2005: a 37-vote margin. Psephologists and editors have long identified the marginality of most of the largest new towns and outer satellite cities in Southern England as to those seats with a workforce across diverse sectors (e.g. Bristol, Exeter, Gloucester, Milton Keynes, Hemel Hempstead, Reading, Southampton, Portsmouth, Dover). Few communities in these seats are rooted in Victorian villa toryism nor in Labour's heartlands that for decades depended on heavy industry (the main coalfields, the Lancashire Mill Towns, the Potteries/Black Country, steelworking, dockworking and shipbuilding areas).
In the 2010 election Conservative, Smith, won the seat having twice failed, by 5,928 votes. He gained a not unprecedented (averaged two-party) swing of 6.3%.[3] Smith's later majorities have been 6,526 in 2015; and 2,459 in 2017, elections where the Liberal Democrats, Scepanovic and Yousuf, along with the 2017 candidate for East Worthing and Shoreham in West Sussex lost their deposits by failing to attract 5% of the vote.
Members of Parliament
Election | Member[4] | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | 1983 | Nicholas Soames | Conservative |
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | | 1997 | Laura Moffatt | Labour |
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | 2010 | Henry Smith | Conservative |
Elections
Elections in the 2010s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Henry Smith | 27,040 | 54.2 | +3.6 | |
Labour | Peter Lamb | 18,680 | 37.4 | −8.3 | |
Liberal Democrats | Khalil Yousuf | 2,728 | 5.5 | +1.7 | |
Green | Iain Dickson | 1,451 | 2.9 | +2.9 | |
Majority | 8,360 | 16.8 | +11.9 | ||
Turnout | 49,899 | 67.2 | −1.2 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +5.9 |
The Brexit Party announced Wayne Bayley as their candidate, but he was withdrawn as part of the UK-wide Brexit Party decision not to oppose sitting Conservative candidates. [6]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Henry Smith [7] | 25,426 | 50.6 | +3.6 | |
Labour | Tim Lunnon | 22,969 | 45.7 | +12.1 | |
Liberal Democrats | Marko Scepanovic | 1,878 | 3.7 | +1.0 | |
Majority | 2,457 | 4.9 | −8.5 | ||
Turnout | 50,273 | 68.5 | +2.8 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | -4.25 |
The Green Party announced Richard Kail as their candidate, but he did not stand. UKIP also decided not to stand a candidate for the first time since 1997.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Henry Smith [7] | 22,829 | 47.0 | +2.3 | |
Labour | Chris Oxlade [7] | 16,303 | 33.6 | +1.3 | |
UKIP | Christopher Brown[9] | 6,979 | 14.4 | +11.5 | |
Liberal Democrats | Sarah Osborne[10] | 1,339 | 2.8 | −11.6 | |
Green_Party_of_England_and_Wales | Guy Hudson[11] | 1,100 | 2.3 | +1.0 | |
Majority | 6,526 | 13.4 | +2.3 | ||
Turnout | 48,550 | 65.7 | +0.4 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +0.5 |
The Christian Peoples Alliance announced Katherine Mills as candidate,[12] but she did not stand.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Henry Smith | 21,264 | 44.8 | +5.8 | |
Labour | Chris Oxlade | 15,336 | 32.3 | −6.8 | |
Liberal Democrats | John Vincent | 6,844 | 14.4 | −1.1 | |
BNP | Richard Trower | 1,672 | 3.5 | +0.5 | |
UKIP | Chris French | 1,382 | 2.9 | +0.7 | |
Green | Phil Smith | 598 | 1.3 | N/A | |
Justice Party | Arshad Khan | 265 | 0.6 | +0.1 | |
Independent | Andrew Hubner | 143 | 0.3 | N/A | |
Majority | 5,928 | 12.5 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 47,504 | 65.3 | +6.9 | ||
Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | +6.3 |
Elections in the 2000s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Laura Moffatt | 16,411 | 39.1 | −10.2 | |
Conservative | Henry Smith | 16,374 | 39.0 | +6.8 | |
Liberal Democrats | Rupert Sheard | 6,503 | 15.5 | +2.8 | |
BNP | Richard Trower | 1,277 | 3.0 | N/A | |
UKIP | Ronald Walters | 935 | 2.2 | −0.7 | |
Democratic Socialist Alliance - People Before Profit | Robin Burnham | 263 | 0.6 | N/A | |
Justice Party | Arshad Khan | 210 | 0.5 | −0.2 | |
Majority | 37 | 0.1 | −17.0 | ||
Turnout | 41,973 | 58.4 | +3.2 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −8.5 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Laura Moffatt | 19,488 | 49.3 | −5.7 | |
Conservative | Henry Smith | 12,718 | 32.2 | +0.4 | |
Liberal Democrats | Linda Seekings | 5,009 | 12.7 | +4.5 | |
UKIP | Brian Galloway | 1,137 | 2.9 | +2.2 | |
Monster Raving Loony | Claire Staniford | 383 | 1.0 | N/A | |
Justice Party | Arshad Khan | 271 | 0.7 | +0.2 | |
Socialist Labour | Karl Stewart | 260 | 0.7 | N/A | |
Socialist Alliance | Muriel Hirsch | 251 | 0.6 | N/A | |
Majority | 6,770 | 17.1 | −6.2 | ||
Turnout | 39,517 | 55.2 | −17.7 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −3.1 |
Elections in the 1990s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Laura Moffatt | 27,750 | 55.1 | +14.7 | |
Conservative | Josephine Crabb | 16,043 | 31.8 | −12.1 | |
Liberal Democrats | Harold De Souza | 4,141 | 8.2 | −6.3 | |
Referendum | Ronald Walters | 1,931 | 3.8 | N/A | |
UKIP | Eric Saunders | 322 | 0.6 | N/A | |
Justice Party | Arshad Khan | 230 | 0.5 | N/A | |
Majority | 11,707 | 23.3 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 50,417 | 72.9 | −6.3 | ||
Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | +13.4 |
This constituency underwent boundary changes between the 1992 and 1997 general
elections and thus change in share of vote is based on a notional calculation.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Nicholas Soames | 30,204 | 48.8 | −0.7 | |
Labour | Laura Moffatt | 22,439 | 36.2 | +7.2 | |
Liberal Democrats | Gordon Seekings | 8,558 | 13.8 | −7.7 | |
Green | Mark Wilson | 766 | 1.2 | N/A | |
Majority | 7,765 | 12.6 | −7.9 | ||
Turnout | 61,967 | 79.2 | +2.1 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | −4.0 |
Elections in the 1980s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Nicholas Soames | 29,259 | 49.5 | +1.4 | |
Labour | Paul Leo | 17,121 | 29.0 | +2.8 | |
SDP | David Simmons | 12,674 | 21.5 | −4.2 | |
Majority | 12,138 | 20.5 | −1.4 | ||
Turnout | 59,054 | 77.1 | +0.7 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | −0.7 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Nicholas Soames | 25,963 | 48.1 | N/A | |
Labour | Leslie Allen | 14,149 | 26.2 | N/A | |
SDP | Tom Forrester | 13,900 | 25.7 | N/A | |
Majority | 11,814 | 21.9 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 54,012 | 76.4 | N/A | ||
Conservative win (new seat) |
See also
Notes and references
- Notes
- ^ A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
- ^ As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
- References
- ^ "Crawley Parliamentary constituency". Retrieved 13 December 2019.
- ^ "'Crawley', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
- ^ a b "BBC News - Election 2010 - Constituency - Crawley". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
- ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 6)
- ^ "Crawley Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
- ^ "General election 2019: Brexit Party candidate Wayne Bayley's 'attack' on Nigel Farage exposed as a fraud".
- ^ a b c "CRAWLEY 2015". electionresults.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
- ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ^ "Website". Chris Brown. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
- ^ "Crawley Liberal Democrats have announced that Sarah Osborne will be their 2015 Parliamentary Candidate". crawley-libdems.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
- ^ "Meet the candidates". Archived from the original on April 2, 2015.
- ^ "CPA Candidates for the General Election". Christian Peoples Alliance. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
- ^ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
Sources
- Election result, 2005 (BBC)
- Election results, 1997 - 2001 (BBC)
- Election results, 1997 - 2001 (Election Demon)
- Election results, 1983 - 1992 (Election Demon)
- Election results, 1992 - 2005 (Guardian)