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). 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, with all of Essex's seats being won by Conservative MPs by more than 50% of the vote at the 2019 United Kingdom general election.

Constituencies

Further information: 2019 United Kingdom general election

   Conservative†    Labour‡    Liberal Democrat¤

Constituency [nb 1]	Electorate [1]	Majority [2] [nb 2]	Majority (percentage)	Member of Parliament [2]		Nearest opposition [2]		Map
Basildon and Billericay BC	69,906	20,412	46.3%		John Baron †		Andrew Gorgon ‡
Braintree CC	75,208	24,673	49.1%		James Cleverly †		Joshua Garfield ‡
Brentwood and Ongar CC	75,255	29,065	54.9%		Alex Burghart †		Oliver Durose ‡
Castle Point BC	69,608	26,634	60.1%		Rebecca Harris †		Katie Curtis ‡
Chelmsford BC	80,394	17,621	30.8%		Vicky Ford †		Marie Goldman ¤
Clacton CC	70,930	24,702	56.8%		Giles Watling †		Kevin Bonavia‡
Colchester BC	82,625	9,423	17.6%		Will Quince †		Tina McKay ‡
Epping Forest CC	74,304	22,173	44.1%		Eleanor Laing †		Vicky Ashworth Te Velde ‡
Harlow CC	68,078	14,063	32.5%		Robert Halfon †		Laura McAlpine ‡
Harwich and North Essex CC	74,153	20,182	38.9%		Bernard Jenkin †		Stephen Rice ‡
Maldon CC	72,438	30,041	59.6%		John Whittingdale †		Stephen Capper ‡
Rayleigh and Wickford CC	78,930	31,000	56.5%		Mark Francois †		David Flack ‡
Rochford and Southend East CC	75,624	12,286	26.7%		James Duddridge †		Ashley Dalton ‡
Saffron Walden CC	87,017	27,594	43.8%		Kemi Badenoch †		Mike Hibbs ¤
South Basildon and East Thurrock CC	74,441	19,922	44.0%		Stephen Metcalfe †		Jack Ferguson ‡
Southend West BC	69,043	12,280	82.7%		Anna Firth †		Jason Pilley
Thurrock BC	79,659	11,482	24.4%		Jackie Doyle-Price †		John Kent ‡
Witham CC	70,402	24,082	48.8%		Priti Patel †		Martin Edobor ‡

2010 boundary changes

Under the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the Boundary Commission for England increased Essex's representation from 17 to 18 MPs, with the creation of the constituency of Witham. This had a significant impact on the boundaries of the majority of the existing constituencies and also resulted in several name changes.

Former name	Boundaries 1997-2010	Current name	Boundaries 2010–present
Basildon BC Billericay CC Braintree CC Brentwood and Ongar CC Castle Point BC Colchester BC Epping Forest CC Harlow CC Harwich CC Maldon and East Chelmsford CC North Essex CC Rayleigh CC Rochford and Southend East CC Saffron Walden CC Southend West BC Thurrock BC West Chelmsford CC		Basildon and Billericay BC Braintree CC Brentwood and Ongar CC Castle Point BC Chelmsford BC Clacton CC Colchester BC Epping Forest CC Harlow CC Harwich and North Essex CC Maldon CC Rayleigh and Wickford CC Rochford and Southend East CC Saffron Walden CC South Basildon and East Thurrock CC Southend West BC Thurrock BC Witham CC

Proposed boundary changes

See 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies for further details.

Following the abandonment of the Sixth Periodic Review (the 2018 review), the Boundary Commission for England formally launched the 2023 Review on 5 January 2021 and published their initial proposals on 8 June. ^[3]

The commission has proposed that Essex be combined with Suffolk as a sub-region of the Eastern Region, with the creation of the cross-county boundary constituency of Haverhill and Halstead, which would have a significant impact on the Braintree constituency. Brentwood and Ongar would be renamed Brentwood. ^{[4] [5]} The following constituencies are proposed:

Containing electoral wards from Basildon

• Basildon and Billericay
• Rayleigh and Wickford (part)
• South Basildon and East Thurrock (part)

Containing electoral wards from Braintree

• Braintree (part)
• Haverhill and Halstead (part also in District of West Suffolk)
• Witham

Containing electoral wards from Brentwood

• Brentwood (part)

Containing electoral wards from Castle Point

• Castle Point (part)

Containing electoral wards from Chelmsford

• Braintree (part)
• Chelmsford
• Maldon (part)

Containing electoral wards from Colchester

• Colchester
• Harwich and North Essex (part)
• Witham (part)

Containing electoral wards from Epping Forest

• Brentwood (part)
• Epping Forest
• Harlow (part)
• Saffron Walden (part)

Containing electoral wards from Harlow

• Harlow (part)

Containing electoral wards from Maldon

• Maldon (part)
• Witham (part)

Containing electoral wards from Rochford

• Rayleigh and Wickford (part)
• Rochford and Southend East (part)

Containing electoral wards from Southend-on-Sea

• Castle Point (part)
• Rochford and Southend East (part)
• Southend West

Containing electoral wards from Tendring

• Clacton
• Harwich and North Essex (part)

Containing electoral wards from Thurrock

• South Basildon and East Thurrock (part)
• Thurrock

Containing electoral wards from Uttlesford

• Saffron Walden (part)

Revised proposals will be published in late 2022 and the final report is to be submitted in June 2023.

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 Essex in the 2019 general election were as follows:

Party	Votes	%	Change from 2017	Seats	Change from 2017
Conservative	577,118	64.5%	6.0%	18	0
Labour	189,471	21.2%	7.8%	0	0
Liberal Democrats	95,078	10.6%	4.8%	0	0
Greens	20,438	2.3%	0.8%	0	0
Others	12,502	1.4%	3.8%	0	0
Total	894,607	100.0		18

Percentage votes

Election year	1974 (Feb)	1974 (Oct)	1979	1983	1987	1992	1997	2001	2005	2010	2015	2017	2019
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
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
Liberal Democrat 1	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
Green Party	-	-	-	-	*	*	*	*	*	1.0	3.0	1.5	2.3
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

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	11	11	12	15	16	15	10	11	13	17	17	18	18
Labour	3	3	2	1	0	1	6	5	3	0	0	0	0
Liberal Democrat 1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	0	0	0
UKIP	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Total	14	14	14	16	16	16	17	17	17	18	18	18	18

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

Maps

• 
  Feb 1974
• 
  Oct 1974
• 
  1979
• 
  1983
• 
  1987
• 
  1992
• 
  1997
• 
  2001
• 
  2005
• 
  2010
• 
  2015
• 
  2017
• 
  2019

Historical 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.

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

1885 to 1918

   Conservative    Independent Labour    Independent Labour Party    Labour    Liberal    Liberal-Labour

Constituency	1885	1886	88	92	1892	93	94	95	1895	97	1900	01	1906	08	Jan 1910	Dec 1910	11	12	17
Chelmsford	Beadel			Usborne							Rasch			Pretyman
Colchester	Trotter		Greville		Naylor-Leyland			Pearson							Worthington-Evans
Epping	Selwin-Ibbetson				Lockwood														Colvin
Essex South East	Makins	Rasch									Tufnell		Whitehead		Kirkwood			Guinness
Harwich	Round												Lever		Newton
Maldon	Kitching	Gray			Dodd				Strutt				T. Bethell		Flannery
Saffron Walden	Gardner								Gold		Wodehouse	Pease			Proby	Beck
Romford†	Westlake	Theobald					Money-Wigram			Sinclair			J. Bethell
Walthamstow†	Buxton	Makins			Byrne					Woods	Morgan		Simon
West Ham North†	Cook	Fulton			Grove				Gray				Masterman				de Forest
West Ham South†	Leicester	Banes			Hardie	→			Banes				Thorne

1918 to 1945

   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
Epping	Colvin						Lyle	Churchill	→
Essex South East	Hilder						Hoffman	Looker					Oldfield		Raikes
Harwich	Newton					Hillary		Rice					Pybus	→			Holmes
Maldon	Flannery					Ruggles-Brise	Crittall	Ruggles-Brise												Driberg
Saffron Walden	Beck		→		→	Mitchell							Butler
Southend	R. Guinness										G. Guinness						H. Channon
Romford†	Martin						Rhys						Muggeridge		Hutchison		Parker
Walthamstow East†	Johnson							Greenwood	→				Wallace		Beauchamp
Walthamstow West†	Jesson					McEntee		Crawfurd					McEntee
Leyton East†	Malone		→	→		Alexander	Church	Alexander					Brockway		Mills
Leyton West†	Wrightson		Newbould			Cassels							Sorensen		Sugden		Sorensen
Silvertown†	Jones	→																	Hollins
Stratford†	Lyle					Groves
East Ham North†	Bethell					Crook	Lawrence	Crook		Lawrence					Mayhew
East Ham South†	Edwards					Barnes									Campbell-Jn		Barnes
Ilford†	Griggs		Wise									Hamilton						Hutchinson
Plaistow†	Thorne
Upton†	Wild					Margesson	Gardner	Holt					Gardner		Chotzner	Gardner

1945 to 1974

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

1974 to present

   Conservative    Independent    Labour    Liberal Democrats    UKIP

Constituency	Feb 74	Oct 74	76	77	1979	80	1983	1987	88	1992	1997	2001	2005	08	08	2010	14	2015	17	2017	2019	22
Essex South East / Castle Point (1983)	Braine									Spink	Butler	Spink		→	→	Harris
Colchester (1974–83, 1997-) / Colchester North (1983-97)	Buck									Jenkin	Russell							Quince
Epping Forest	Biggs-Davison								Norris		Laing
Harlow	Newens						Hayes				Rammell					Halfon
Harwich / Clacton (2010)	Ridsdale									Sproat	Henderson		Carswell				→		→	Watling
Maldon (74-83, 2010-) / S Colchester & Maldon (83-97) / Maldon & East Chelmsford (1997)	Wakeham									Whittingdale
Southend East / Rochford & Southend East (1997)	McAdden					Taylor							Duddridge
Saffron Walden	Kirk			Haselhurst																Badenoch
Southend West	Channon										Amess											Firth
Thurrock	Delargy		McDonald					Janman		MacKinlay						Doyle-Price
Chelmsford (1974-97, 2010-) / West Chelmsford (1997-2010)	St John-Stevas							Burns												Ford
Billericay / Basildon & Billericay (2010)							Proctor	Gorman				Baron
Basildon / South Basildon & East Thurrock (2010)	Moonman				Proctor		Amess				Smith					Metcalfe
Braintree	Newton										Hurst		Newmark					Cleverly
Brentwood and Ongar	McCrindle									Pickles										Burghart
Rochford / Rayleigh (1997) / Rayleigh & Wickford (2010)							Clark					Francois
North Essex / Harwich & North Essex (2010)											Jenkin
Witham																Patel

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in the East of England (region)
• History of Parliamentary constituencies and boundaries in Essex
• Historical list of parliamentary constituencies in Essex
• List of former parliamentary constituencies in Essex

Notes

1. BC denotes borough constituency, CC denotes county constituency.
2. The majority is the number of votes the winning candidate receives more than their nearest rival.

References

1. Baker, Carl; Uberoi, Elise; Cracknell, Richard (28 January 2020). "General Election 2019: full results and analysis".
2. "Constituencies A-Z - Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
3. "2023 Review". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
4. Plans for new Halstead and Haverhill parliamentary constituency Essex County Standard
5. 2023 review Eastern Boundary Commission for England
6. Watson, Christopher; Uberoi, Elise; Loft, Philip (17 April 2020). "General election results from 1918 to 2019".