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Parliamentary constituencies in Essex

(Redirected from List of parliamentary constituencies in Essex)

The county of Essex (which includes the unitary authorities of Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock) is divided into 18 parliamentary constituencies (sub-classified into six of borough type and twelve of county status, affecting the level of expenses permitted and status of returning officer).

A large county in the east of the country.
The county of Essex in relation to England

The county saw the majority of its population and seats removed on the creation of the county of Greater London in 1965. Since then, the Conservatives have won a majority of the seats in the revised county. In the 2019 general election, all of Essex's seats were won by Conservative MPs by more than 50% of the vote. However, at the 2024 election, the Conservatives were reduced to ten seats, held on significantly reduced majorities. Labour won five seats, Reform UK two seats, and the Liberal Democrats one.[1]

Constituencies

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  Conservative†   Labour‡   Liberal Democrat¤   Reform#

Constituency[nb 1] Electorate[2] Majority[1] Member of Parliament[1] Nearest opposition[1] Map
Basildon and Billericay BC 76,993 20   Richard Holden †   Alex Harrison ‡
Braintree CC 75,662 3,670   James Cleverly †   Matthew Wright ‡
Brentwood and Ongar CC 74,937 5,980   Alex Burghart †   Paul Godfrey #
Castle Point BC 70,923 3,251   Rebecca Harris †   Keiron McGill #
Chelmsford BC 76,454 4,753   Marie Goldman ¤   Vicky Ford †
Clacton CC 75,959 – vacant
Colchester BC 76,843 8,250   Pam Cox ‡   James Cracknell †
Epping Forest CC 74,553 5,682   Neil Hudson †   Rosalind Doré ‡
Harlow CC 73,479 2,504   Chris Vince ‡   Hannah Ellis †
Harwich and North Essex CC 74,838 1,162   Bernard Jenkin †   Alex Diner ‡
Maldon CC 76,794 6,906   John Whittingdale †   Pamela Walford #
North West Essex CC 76,280 2,610   Kemi Badenoch †   Issy Waite ‡
Rayleigh and Wickford CC 76,422 5,621   Mark Francois †   Grant Randall #
South Basildon and East Thurrock CC 73,322 98   James McMurdock[nb 2]   Jack Ferguson ‡
Southend East and Rochford CC 70,094 4,027   Bayo Alaba ‡   Gavin Haran †
Southend West and Leigh BC 76,824 1,949   David Burton-Sampson ‡   Anna Firth †
Thurrock BC 73,347 6,474   Jen Craft ‡   Sophie Preston-Hall #
Witham CC 75,064 5,145   Priti Patel †   Rumi Chowdhury ‡

2024 Boundary changes

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Former nameBoundaries 2010–2024 Current nameBoundaries 2024-present
  1. Basildon and Billericay BC
  2. Braintree CC
  3. Brentwood and Ongar CC
  4. Castle Point BC
  5. Chelmsford BC
  6. Clacton CC
  7. Colchester BC
  8. Epping Forest CC
  9. Harlow CC
  10. Harwich and North Essex CC
  11. Maldon CC
  12. Rayleigh and Wickford CC
  13. Rochford and Southend East CC
  14. Saffron Walden CC
  15. South Basildon and East Thurrock CC
  16. Southend West BC
  17. Thurrock BC
  18. Witham CC
  1. Basildon and Billericay BC
  2. Braintree CC
  3. Brentwood and Ongar CC
  4. Castle Point BC
  5. Chelmsford BC
  6. Clacton CC
  7. Colchester BC
  8. Epping Forest CC
  9. Harlow CC
  10. Harwich and North Essex CC
  11. Maldon CC
  12. North West Essex CC
  13. Rayleigh and Wickford CC
  14. South Basildon and East Thurrock CC
  15. Southend East and Rochford CC
  16. Southend West and Leigh BC
  17. Thurrock BC
  18. Witham CC

For the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies, which redrew the constituency map ahead of the 2024 United Kingdom general election, the Boundary Commission for England retained the number of constituencies in Essex at eighteen, with minor boundary changes to reflect changes to electoral wards within the county and to bring the electorates within the statutory range. The commission opted to rename Southend West to Southend West and Leigh (although the town of Leigh-on-Sea had already been part of the Southend West constituency prior to the boundary changes), and rename Rochford and Southend East to Southend East and Rochford to acknowledge that Southend-on-Sea had achieved city status during the course of the review.[3] In addition, Saffron Walden was renamed North West Essex. These changes came into effect from the 2024 general election.

Results history

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Primary data source: House of Commons research briefing - General election results from 1918 to 2019[4]

2024

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The number votes cast for each political party who fielded candidates in constituencies comprising Essex in the 2024 general election were as follows:[1]

Party Votes % Change from 2019 Seats Change from 2019
Conservative 270,382 32.9% Decrease31.6% 10 Decrease8
Labour 235,891 28.7% Increase7.5% 5 Increase5
Reform 179,977 21.9% New 2 Increase2
Liberal Democrats 78,238 9.5% Decrease1.1% 1 Increase1
Greens 42,582 5.2% Increase2.9% 0 Steady
Others 14,054 1.7% Increase0.3% 0 Steady
Total 821,124 100.0 18

2019

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The number of votes cast for each political party who fielded candidates in constituencies comprising Essex in the 2019 general election were as follows:

Party Votes % Change from 2017 Seats Change from 2017
Conservative 577,118 64.5% Increase6.0% 18 0
Labour 189,471 21.2% Decrease7.8% 0 0
Liberal Democrats 95,078 10.6% Increase4.8% 0 0
Greens 20,438 2.3% Increase0.8% 0 0
Others 12,502 1.4% Decrease3.8% 0 0
Total 894,607 100.0 18

Percentage votes

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Election year 1974

(Feb)

 1974

(Oct)

 1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015 2017 2019 2024
Conservative 40.3 40.9 52.5 51.9 54.1 53.9 40.3 42.8 46.0 49.2 50.3 58.5 64.5 32.9
Labour 32.9 35.2 28.9 17.8 18.9 23.5 36.4 34.7 28.9 18.6 18.4 29.0 21.2 28.7
Reform - - - - - - - - - - - - - 21.9
Liberal Democrat1 26.7 23.8 17.7 29.7 26.6 21.7 18.2 16.7 19.1 21.3 6.7 5.8 10.6 9.5
Green Party - - - - * * * * * 1.0 3.0 1.5 2.3 5.2
UKIP - - - - - - * * * 4.1 20.5 4.6 * *
Other - 0.1 0.9 0.6 0.3 1.0 5.0 5.8 6.0 5.8 1.1 0.6 1.4 1.7

11974 & 1979 - Liberal Party; 1983 & 1987 - SDP–Liberal Alliance

* Included in Other

Seats

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Election year 1974

(Feb)

 1974

(Oct)

 1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015 2017 2019 2024
Conservative 11 11 12 15 16 15 10 11 13 17 17 18 18 10
Labour 3 3 2 1 0 1 6 5 3 0 0 0 0 5
Reform - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2
Liberal Democrat1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1
UKIP - - - - - - 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Total 14 14 14 16 16 16 17 17 17 18 18 18 18 18

11974 & 1979 - Liberal Party; 1983 & 1987 - SDP–Liberal Alliance


Maps

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1885-1910

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1918-1945

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1950-1970

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1974-present

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Historical representation by party

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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.

Key: bulk or all of areas marked † form part of present-day Greater London.

1852 to 1885

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1885 to 1918

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1918 to 1945

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  British Socialist (1919-20) / Communist (1920-22)   Coalition Liberal (1918-22) / National Liberal (1922-23)   Coalition National Democratic & Labour   Common Wealth   Conservative   Constitutionalist   Independent   Labour   Liberal   National Liberal (1931-68)   National Socialist

Constituency 1918 18 19 20 21 1922 1923 1924 24 26 27 28 1929 31 1931 34 1935 37 40 42 45
Chelmsford Pretyman Robinson Curtis-Bennett Howard-Bury Henderson Macnamara Millington
Colchester Worthington-Evans Lewis
East Ham North† Bethell Crook Lawrence Crook Lawrence Mayhew
East Ham South† Edwards Barnes Campbell-Jn Barnes
Epping Colvin Lyle Churchill →
Essex South East Hilder Hoffman Looker Oldfield Raikes
Harwich Newton Hillary Rice Pybus → Holmes
Ilford† Griggs Wise Hamilton Hutchinson
Leyton East† Malone → → Alexander Church Alexander Brockway Mills
Leyton West† Wrightson Newbould Cassels Sorensen Sugden Sorensen
Maldon Flannery Ruggles-Brise Crittall Ruggles-Brise Driberg
Plaistow† Thorne
Saffron Walden Beck → → Mitchell Butler
Southend R. Guinness G. Guinness H. Channon
Romford† Martin Rhys Muggeridge Hutchison Parker
Silvertown† Jones → Hollins
Stratford† Lyle Groves
Upton† Wild Margesson Gardner Holt Gardner Chotzner Gardner
Walthamstow East† Johnson Greenwood → Wallace Beauchamp
Walthamstow West† Jesson McEntee Crawfurd McEntee

1945 to 1974

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  Common Wealth   Conservative   Labour Independent Group (1949-50)   Labour   National Liberal (1931-68)

Constituency 1945 46 49 1950 1951 54 1955 56 57 59 1959 61 1964 1966 67 68 69 1970
Leyton East† Bechervaise
Silvertown† Comyns
Stratford† Nicholls
South East Essex Gunter Braine
Barking† Hastings Driberg
Chelmsford Millington → Ashton St John-Stevas
Colchester Smith Alport Buck
Dagenham† Parker
East Ham North† Daines Prentice
East Ham South† Barnes Oram
Epping Manning Davies Finlay Newens Tebbit
Harwich Holmes Ridsdale →
Hornchurch† Bing Lagden Lee Williams Squire
Ilford North† Ridealgh Hutchinson Iremonger
Ilford South† Ranger Cooper Shaw Thorne
Leyton West / Leyton (1950)† Sorensen
Maldon Driberg Harrison
Romford† Macpherson Lockwood Ledger Leonard
Saffron Walden Butler
Southend / Southend W (1950) H. Channon P. Channon
Thurrock Solley → Delargy
Walthamstow E† Wallace Harvey Robinson McNair-Wilson
Walthamstow W† McEntee Attlee Redhead Silvester Deakins
West Ham S† Elwyn Jones
West Ham N† Lewis
Woodford / W & Wanstead (1964)† Churchill Jenkin
Billericay Braine Body Gardner Moonman McCrindle
Southend East McAdden
Chigwell Biggs-Davison

1974 to 2010

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  Conservative   Independent   Labour   Liberal Democrats   UKIP

Constituency Feb 74 Oct 74 76 77 1979 80 1983 1987 88 1992 1997 2001 2005 08 08
Basildon Moonman Proctor Amess Smith
Braintree Newton Hurst Newmark
Brentwood and Ongar McCrindle Pickles
Chelmsford / West Chelmsford (1997) St John-Stevas Burns
Colchester (1974−1983, 1997−) / Colc. N (1983−1997) Buck Jenkin Russell
Epping Forest Biggs-Davison Norris Laing
Harlow Newens Hayes Rammell
Harwich Ridsdale Sproat Henderson Carswell
Maldon / S Colchester & Maldon (1983)
/ Maldon & E Chelmsford (1997)		 Wakeham Whittingdale
Southend East / Rochford & S'end E (1997) McAdden Taylor Duddridge
Saffron Walden Kirk Haselhurst
South East Essex / Castle Point (1983) Braine Spink Butler Spink → →
Southend West Channon Amess
Thurrock Delargy McDonald Janman MacKinlay
Billericay Proctor Gorman Baron
Rochford / Rayleigh (1997) Clark Francois
North Essex Jenkin

2010 to present

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ↑ BC denotes borough constituency, CC denotes county constituency.
  2. ↑ Elected from Reform UK in 2024, McMurdock left the party in July 2025.

References

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