Battersea | |
---|---|
Borough constituency for the House of Commons | |
County | Greater London |
Population | 106,709 (2011 census) [1] |
Electorate | 73,028 (December 2010) [2] |
Current constituency | |
Created | 1983 |
Member of Parliament | Marsha de Cordova (Labour) |
Seats | One |
Created from | Battersea North and Battersea South |
1885–1918 | |
Seats | One |
Type of constituency | Borough constituency |
Created from | Mid Surrey |
Replaced by | Battersea North and Battersea South |
Battersea is a constituency [n 1] in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It has been represented since 2017 by Marsha de Cordova of the Labour Party. [n 2] [n 3]
The seat has had two periods of existence (1885–1918 and 1983 to date). In the first Parliament after the seat's re-creation it was Labour-represented, bucking the national result, thereafter from 1987 until 2017 the affiliation of the winning candidate was that of the winning party nationally – a 30-year bellwether.
In the 2016 referendum to leave the European Union, the constituency voted remain by an estimated 77%, the highest by a constituency with a Conservative MP at the time. [3]
The seat covers the north-eastern third of the London Borough of Wandsworth. As drawn and redrawn since 1983, it includes central Wandsworth and in the same way as Chelsea on the opposite bank, it adjoins the Thames before it flows through central London.
It takes in all of the district of Battersea, including its large Battersea Park (which hosts frequent live entertainment events and seasonal festivals), riverside and London Heliport, and stretches eastwards to include Nine Elms. Surrounding Battersea Park, it includes Queenstown, large neighbourhoods of Battersea Town, [n 4] and, going westwards, it includes most of Wandsworth town, including the riverside, Town Hall and East Hill. [n 5] Battersea also stretches south between Wandsworth Common and Clapham Common to include Balham Ward and the eastern end of Balham (the west, for general elections, being placed since 1983 in Tooting).
1885–1918: Wards 2 and 3 of Battersea Parish, and that part of No. 4 Ward bounded on the south by Battersea Rise, and on the east by St John's Road. [4]
1983–2010: The London Borough of Wandsworth wards of Balham, Fairfield, Latchmere, Northcote, Queenstown, St John, St Mary's Park and Shaftesbury.
St John Ward was abolished for the 2002 Wandsworth elections. [5] [6] St John was thus not in use at the next general election in 2005.
For that general election, the seat included a small part of Wandsworth Town (the majority being in Tooting constituency) and most of Fairfield (a small part being in Putney). [7]
2010–2024: The London Borough of Wandsworth wards of Balham, Fairfield, Latchmere, Northcote, Queenstown, St Mary's Park and Shaftesbury.
2024–present: Following to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which was based on the ward boundaries in place at 1 December 2020, and enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, the composition of the constituency from the 2024 general election was reduced to bring it in within the permitted electoral range by transferring the majority of the Fairfield ward (polling districts FFA, FFB and FFC) to Putney. Polling district FFD was retained. [8]
Following a local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2022, the Fairfield ward was largely replaced by the Wandsworth Town ward. [9] [10] The constituency comprises the following wards of the London Borough of Wandsworth from the 2024 general election:
A largely residential and ethnically diverse inner-city district of south London, the seat of Battersea includes half of Clapham Common, along with parts of Balham and Wandsworth. The iconic Battersea Power Station along with Nine Elms and the Patmore Estate. Battersea Power Station dominates the skyline, while Clapham Junction continues to be the busiest railway interchange in the UK.
Thanks to the influx of commuters, the constituency's social and demographic profile has changed considerably over the last quarter of a century. At 65.5%, it has the highest proportion of people with a degree-level qualification or above amongst constituencies in England and Wales, according to Office for National Statistics 2021 Census figures. More than one in five has an associate professional and technical occupation.
A former bellwether seat, Battersea's winner came from the winning party from the 1987 to the 2015 general elections inclusive.
The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 provided that the Constituency was to consist of-
Battersea constituency was originally created in 1885. From 1892 to 1918 the seat was held by trade union leader John Burns who served as a Minister (of the Crown) in the Liberal Cabinets of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and H. H. Asquith from 1905 until 1914.
The constituency was split in 1918 into:
The two seats have been rejoined since 1983, such that some areas of Battersea South became part of the adjoining Tooting seat. Alf Dubs (Labour), before the election the incumbent for Battersea South, won Battersea in 1983. Conservative John Bowis won in the next elections, 1987 and 1992. Martin Linton, a Labour politician, took it back in 1997 and held the seat until 2010.
In 2001, the candidate T.E Barber used the candidate description "No fruit out of context party", and advocated the end of, amongst other crimes against food, pineapples on pizza. [13]
In the book Things Can Only Get Better: Eighteen Miserable Years in the Life of a Labour Supporter, John O'Farrell describes his experiences of being the secretary of Queenstown Branch of the Battersea Labour party, during which time the branch suffered a net loss at every local election and lost in 1987 their MP, Alf Dubs.
Benefiting from an exclusivity arrangement, the old Battersea North was one of two seats in London to have had a Communist MP: Shapurji Saklatvala represented the area from 1922 to 1929. A wealthy aristocratic Indian, he was among the five Communists elected to the national chamber in its history and was the third of the young Socialist Labour/Communist/Labour parties from an ethnic minority background. At first, Saklatvala had local Labour party support and was also a member of that party but then stood as a Communist in 1924 with local Labour party backing. The head office of the less radical Labour party mandated an official Labour candidate stand against him in 1929. The Battersea Labour Club (a drinking club not directly connected with the political party) had a notice on its notice board up until the 1980s banning Communists from admission to the club.
First elected | Member [14] | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
1885 | Octavius Vaughan Morgan | Liberal | |
1892 | John Burns | Independent Labour | |
1895 (new party) | Liberal-Labour | ||
see Battersea North and Battersea South for 1918–1983 | |||
1983 | Alf Dubs | Labour | |
1987 | John Bowis | Conservative | |
1997 | Martin Linton | Labour | |
2010 | Jane Ellison | Conservative | |
2017 | Marsha de Cordova | Labour |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rejoin EU | Georgina Burford-Connole | ||||
Liberal Democrats | Francis Chubb | ||||
SDP | Ed Dampier | ||||
Labour | Marsha de Cordova | ||||
Reform UK | Barry Edwards | ||||
Conservative | Tom Pridham | ||||
Workers Party | Daniel Smith | ||||
Green | Joe Taylor | ||||
Independent | Jake Thomas | ||||
Majority | |||||
Turnout | |||||
Swing | |||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Marsha de Cordova | 27,290 | 45.5 | 0.4 | |
Conservative | Kim Caddy | 21,622 | 36.1 | 5.4 | |
Liberal Democrats | Mark Gitsham | 9,150 | 15.3 | 7.3 | |
Green | Lois Davis | 1,529 | 2.5 | 0.9 | |
Brexit Party | Jake Thomas | 386 | 0.6 | New | |
Majority | 5,668 | 9.5 | 5.0 | ||
Turnout | 59,977 | 75.6 | 4.6 | ||
Registered electors | 79,309 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | 2.5 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Marsha de Cordova | 25,292 | 45.9 | +9.1 | |
Conservative | Jane Ellison | 22,876 | 41.5 | −10.9 | |
Liberal Democrats | Richard Davis | 4,401 | 8.0 | +3.6 | |
Independent | Chris Coghlan | 1,234 | 2.2 | New | |
Green | Lois Davis | 866 | 1.6 | −1.7 | |
UKIP | Eugene Power | 357 | 0.6 | −2.5 | |
Socialist (GB) | Daniel Lambert | 32 | 0.1 | New | |
Majority | 2,416 | 4.4 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 55,058 | 71.0 | +4.0 | ||
Registered electors | 77,574 | ||||
Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | +10.0 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Jane Ellison | 26,730 | 52.4 | +5.1 | |
Labour | Will Martindale | 18,792 | 36.8 | +1.7 | |
Liberal Democrats | Luke Taylor | 2,241 | 4.4 | −10.3 | |
Green | Joe Stuart | 1,682 | 3.3 | +2.2 | |
UKIP | Christopher Howe | 1,586 | 3.1 | +2.1 | |
Majority | 7,938 | 15.6 | +3.4 | ||
Turnout | 51,031 | 67.0 | +1.3 | ||
Registered electors | 76,111 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing | +1.6 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Jane Ellison | 23,103 | 47.3 | +7.3 | |
Labour | Martin Linton | 17,126 | 35.1 | −4.1 | |
Liberal Democrats | Layla Moran | 7,176 | 14.7 | −0.1 | |
Green | Guy Evans | 559 | 1.1 | −3.1 | |
UKIP | Christopher MacDonald | 505 | 1.0 | +0.2 | |
Hugh Salmon for Battersea Party | Hugh Salmon | 168 | 0.3 | New | |
Independent | Tom Fox | 155 | 0.3 | New | |
Majority | 5,977 | 12.2 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 48,792 | 65.7 | +6.5 | ||
Registered electors | 74,311 | ||||
Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | +6.5 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Martin Linton | 16,569 | 40.4 | −9.9 | |
Conservative | Dominic Schofield | 16,406 | 40.0 | +3.5 | |
Liberal Democrats | Norsheen Bhatti | 6,006 | 14.6 | +2.5 | |
Green | Hugo Charlton | 1,735 | 4.2 | New | |
UKIP | Terry Jones | 333 | 0.8 | New | |
Majority | 163 | 0.4 | −13.3 | ||
Turnout | 41,049 | 59.0 | +4.5 | ||
Registered electors | 69,548 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | −6.7 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Martin Linton | 18,498 | 50.3 | −0.4 | |
Conservative | Lucy Shersby | 13,445 | 36.5 | −2.9 | |
Liberal Democrats | Siobhan Vitelli | 4,450 | 12.1 | +4.7 | |
Independent | Thomas Barber | 411 | 1.1 | New | |
Majority | 5,053 | 13.8 | +2.5 | ||
Turnout | 36,804 | 54.5 | −16.3 | ||
Registered electors | 67,495 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | +2.1 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Martin Linton | 24,047 | 50.7 | +9.5 | |
Conservative | John Bowis | 18,687 | 39.4 | −11.1 | |
Liberal Democrats | Paula Keaveney | 3,482 | 7.4 | +0.4 | |
Referendum | Mark Slater | 804 | 1.7 | New | |
UKIP | Ashley Banks | 250 | 0.5 | New | |
Rainbow Dream Ticket | Joseph Marshall | 127 | 0.3 | New | |
Majority | 5,360 | 11.3 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 47,397 | 70.8 | −5.8 | ||
Registered electors | 66,895 | ||||
Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | +10.2 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | John Bowis | 26,390 | 50.5 | +6.3 | |
Labour | Alf Dubs | 21,550 | 41.2 | −1.2 | |
Liberal Democrats | Roger O'Brien | 3,659 | 7.0 | −4.9 | |
Green | Ian Wingrove | 584 | 1.1 | −0.1 | |
Natural Law | William Stevens | 98 | 0.2 | New | |
Majority | 4,840 | 9.3 | +7.5 | ||
Turnout | 52,281 | 76.6 | +5.9 | ||
Registered electors | 68,218 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing | +3.7 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | John Bowis | 20,945 | 44.2 | +7.8 | |
Labour | Alf Dubs | 20,088 | 42.4 | −1.4 | |
SDP | David Harries | 5,634 | 11.9 | −5.6 | |
Green | Sonia Willington | 559 | 1.2 | +0.3 | |
Workers Revolutionary | Anthony Bell | 116 | 0.3 | New | |
Majority | 857 | 1.8 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 47,342 | 70.7 | +4.1 | ||
Registered electors | 66,979 | ||||
Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | +4.6 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Alf Dubs | 19,248 | 43.8 | −6.4 | |
Conservative | Rupert Allason | 15,972 | 36.4 | −2.4 | |
SDP | Michael Harris | 7,675 | 17.5 | +9.4 | |
National Front | Michael Salt | 539 | 1.2 | −1.0 | |
Ecology | Sonia Willington | 377 | 0.9 | New | |
Campaign for Black & White Unity | T. Jackson | 86 | 0.2 | New | |
Community | K. Purie-Harwell | 22 | 0.1 | ±0.0 | |
Majority | 3,276 | 7.4 | -4.0 | ||
Turnout | 43,919 | 66.6 | −3.1 | ||
Registered electors | 65,938 | ||||
Labour win (new seat) |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | 14,909 | 50.2 | N/A | ||
Conservative | 11,505 | 38.8 | N/A | ||
Liberal | 2,412 | 8.1 | N/A | ||
National Front | 667 | 2.2 | N/A | ||
Workers Party | 104 | 0.4 | N/A | ||
Workers Revolutionary | 47 | 0.2 | N/A | ||
Community Party | 30 | 0.1 | N/A | ||
Majority | 3,404 | 11.4 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 29,674 | 69.7 | N/A | ||
Registered electors | |||||
Labour hold | Swing | N/A | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lib-Lab | John Burns | 7,836 | 52.8 | +1.1 | |
Conservative | John Lane Harrington | 6,544 | 44.0 | -4.3 | |
Ind. Labour Party | Charles Nathaniel Lowe Shaw | 477 | 3.2 | New | |
Majority | 1,292 | 8.8 | +5.4 | ||
Turnout | 18,927 | 78.5 | -8.8 | ||
Registered electors | 18,927 | ||||
Lib-Lab hold | Swing | +2.6 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lib-Lab | John Burns | 8,540 | 51.7 | -4.4 | |
Conservative | Arthur Benn | 7,985 | 48.3 | +4.4 | |
Majority | 555 | 3.4 | -8.8 | ||
Turnout | 18,927 | 87.3 | +1.6 | ||
Registered electors | 18,927 | ||||
Lib-Lab hold | Swing | -4.4 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lib-Lab | John Burns | 7,387 | 56.1 | +5.0 | |
Conservative | Arthur Benn | 5,787 | 43.9 | −5.0 | |
Majority | 1,600 | 12.2 | +10.0 | ||
Turnout | 13,174 | 85.7 | +6.2 | ||
Registered electors | 15,369 | ||||
Lib-Lab hold | Swing | +5.0 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lib-Lab | John Burns | 5,860 | 51.1 | -0.1 | |
Conservative | Richard Charles Garton | 5,606 | 48.9 | +0.1 | |
Majority | 254 | 2.2 | -0.2 | ||
Turnout | 11,466 | 79.5 | +3.6 | ||
Registered electors | 14,420 | ||||
Lib-Lab hold | Swing | -0.1 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lib-Lab | John Burns | 5,010 | 51.2 | -6.9 | |
Conservative | Charles Ridley Smith | 4,766 | 48.8 | +6.9 | |
Majority | 244 | 2.4 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 9,776 | 75.9 | -2.2 | ||
Registered electors | 12,880 | ||||
Lib-Lab gain from Independent Labour | Swing | -6.9 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Independent Labour | John Burns | 5,616 | 58.1 | New | |
Conservative | Walter Moresby Chinnery | 4,057 | 41.9 | -6.8 | |
Majority | 1,559 | 16.2 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 9,673 | 78.1 | +6.4 | ||
Registered electors | 12,381 | ||||
Independent Labour gain from Liberal | Swing | N/A | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | Octavius Morgan | 3,683 | 51.3 | -3.3 | |
Conservative | Edward Cooper Willis | 3,497 | 48.7 | +3.3 | |
Majority | 186 | 2.6 | -6.6 | ||
Turnout | 7,180 | 71.7 | -6.2 | ||
Registered electors | 10,019 | ||||
Liberal hold | Swing | -3.3 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | Octavius Morgan | Unopposed | |||
Registered electors | 10,019 | ||||
Liberal hold | |||||
Morgan sought re-election after questions arose about a government contract his firm held.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | Octavius Morgan | 4,259 | 54.6 | ||
Conservative | John Edward Cooke | 3,547 | 45.4 | ||
Majority | 712 | 9.2 | |||
Turnout | 7,806 | 77.9 | |||
Registered electors | 10,019 | ||||
Liberal win (new seat) |
Battersea was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in the County of London, England. In 1965, the borough was abolished and its area combined with parts of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth to form the London Borough of Wandsworth. The borough was administered from Battersea Town Hall on Lavender Hill. That building is now Battersea Arts Centre.
Sheffield, Brightside was a parliamentary constituency in the City of Sheffield. Created for the 1885 general election, and replaced at the 2010 general election by the new constituency of Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, it elected one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, using the first-past-the-post voting system.
Islington North is a constituency in Greater London established for the 1885 general election. It has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1983 by Jeremy Corbyn, who was Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2015 to 2020. Since 2020, Corbyn has represented the seat as an independent, having been suspended for remarks he made after an investigation of antisemitism in the party. He will contest the seat in the 2024 United Kingdom general election as an independent candidate.
Liverpool, West Derby is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Ian Byrne of the Labour Party.
Bootle is a constituency which has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, since 2015 by Peter Dowd of the Labour Party.
Brighton Kemptown is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Lloyd Russell-Moyle, an Independent, after being suspended by the Labour Party in May 2024. The seat is often referred to as Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven by local political parties, and will formally adopt that name following the 2024 general election.
Stockton South was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament.
Wimbledon is a constituency in Greater London represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Since 2005, the seat has been held by Stephen Hammond of the Conservative Party.
Middlesbrough was a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, recreated in 1974, and represented since 2012 in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. An earlier version of the seat existed between 1868 and 1918.
North East Derbyshire is a constituency created in 1885 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Lee Rowley of the Conservative Party. This was the first time a Conservative candidate had been elected since 1935.
Putney is a constituency in Greater London created in 1918 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Fleur Anderson of the Labour Party. Putney was the sole Labour gain in the 2019 general election, amid the worst election results for the party since 1935.
Streatham was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament.
Tooting is a constituency created in 1974 in Greater London. It is represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2016 by Dr. Rosena Allin-Khan, a member of the Labour Party.
Hornchurch and Upminster is a constituency in Greater London represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Julia Lopez, a member of the Conservative Party, currently Minister of State for Media, Tourism and Creative Industries, who succeeded Angela Watkinson in 2017. Watkinson had been elected in 2010 as the constituency's first MP.
Dagenham and Rainham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Jon Cruddas of the Labour Party since its 2010 creation.
Balham and Tooting was a constituency in South London, which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 1918 general election and abolished for the 1950 general election.
Clapham was a borough constituency in South London which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It was created in time for the 1885 general election then altered in periodic national boundary reviews, principally in 1918, and abolished before the February 1974 general election. In its early years the seat was officially named Battersea and Clapham Parliamentary Borough: No. 2—The Clapham Division.
Battersea North was a parliamentary constituency in the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea, and then the London Borough of Wandsworth, in South London. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system.
Battersea South was a parliamentary constituency, originally in the County of London and later in Greater London. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament.
Wandsworth Central was a parliamentary constituency in the Wandsworth district of South London. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system.