Luton South | |
---|---|
Borough constituency for the House of Commons | |
Local government in England | Bedfordshire |
Electorate | 66,055 (2018) [1] |
Major settlements | Luton |
Current constituency | |
Created | 1983 |
Member of Parliament | Rachel Hopkins (Labour Party) |
Seats | One |
Created from | Luton East, Luton West and Bedfordshire South [2] |
Luton South is a constituency [n 1] in Bedfordshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Rachel Hopkins, a member of the Labour Party. [n 2]
Under the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the constituency will only be subject to minor boundary changes, but is to be renamed Luton South and South Bedfordshire - to be first contested at the next general election. [3]
The constituency covers the southern and eastern areas of Luton, inclusive of the town centre and Luton Airport. It also comprises the rural country house estate of Luton Hoo, in addition to the late medieval Someries Castle, and the villages/hamlets, extending south to the border of Hertfordshire and the town of Harpenden. The areas of Luton it spans include Stopsley, Wigmore, Butterfield Green, Hart Hill, Wardown Park, Bury Park, Dallow, Farley Hill, New Town, and Stockwood Park.
Outside of the actual Borough of Luton, it also encompasses the small village of East Hyde on the Hertfordshire border, as well as Slip End and Caddington, which are near the M1 motorway.
Demographically, the constituency is mixed, with large southern Asian communities in the Bury Park and Farley Hill areas. The largest community is White British, though Africans and Afro-Caribbeans, as well as newer immigrant arrivals from Eastern Europe, form substantial parts of the population.
The town centre features The Mall Luton (the town's main shopping centre), the University of Bedfordshire Luton campus, and various amenities such as The Galaxy entertainment complex, and Luton railway station on the Midland Main Line. Luton Town FC, currently of the Premier League, is within the constituency, as would be their intended new home stadium at Power Court (to the immediate east of The Mall Luton). The railway station serving London Luton Airport, Luton Airport Parkway, is also within the constituency. A new rail link is being constructed between this station and the airport, which is due to be opened in 2021.
Vauxhall still makes vehicles in this area, although the operations have reduced greatly since a large part of the facility closed in the early 2000s.
This seat was created in 1983, primarily from the former seat of Luton East.
The constituency and its predecessors the Luton East and Luton constituencies were long considered a bellwether (they had elected an MP from the winning party in each election since the 1951 general election). Margaret Moran, who was the Labour MP from 1997, stood down at the 2010 general election after falsifying claims for her expenses. [4]
Bellwether status ended in the 2010 general election, when the constituency elected a Labour MP while the Conservatives were the largest party in the House of Commons. As a result, its new MP Gavin Shuker became one of just two Labour MPs elected in 2010 in the East of England, alongside Kelvin Hopkins, the MP for the Luton North seat. Shuker and Hopkins served as MPs for the two divisions of Luton at the two subsequent elections with increasing majorities, although the majority in South has not been larger than that of North since 2001.
In the 2019 general election, Shuker stood as an independent but was defeated by the Labour Party candidate, Rachel Hopkins - the daughter of Kelvin, who did not stand in Luton North after losing the Labour whip in 2017.
This was a new constituency incorporating the abolished constituency of Luton East. It also included the southernmost parts of the abolished constituency of Luton West and a small part from the south-east of the abolished constituency of South Bedfordshire.
The Saints ward was transferred to Luton North.
Marginal changes due to revision of local authority wards.
NB: the wards of the district of South Bedfordshire now form the majority of the Caddington ward of the Central Bedfordshire unitary authority, the former wards having been abolished following the conversion to unitary councils in Bedfordshire in 2009.
Election | Member [8] | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
1983 | Graham Bright | Conservative | |
1997 | Margaret Moran | Labour | |
2010 | Gavin Shuker | Labour Co-op | |
2019 | Change UK | ||
Independent | |||
The Independents | |||
2019 | Rachel Hopkins | Labour |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Reform UK | Norman Maclean [9] | ||||
Incumbent MP Gavin Shuker (formerly Labour) unsuccessfully sought reelection as an Independent candidate. On 2 November 2019, the Liberal Democrats decided not to stand a candidate and endorsed Shuker. [10]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Rachel Hopkins | 21,787 | 51.8 | 10.6 | |
Conservative | Parvez Akhtar | 13,031 | 31.0 | 1.3 | |
Independent | Gavin Shuker | 3,893 | 9.2 | N/A | |
Brexit Party | Garry Warren | 1,601 | 3.8 | New | |
Green | Ben Foley | 995 | 2.4 | 1.4 | |
Independent | Mohammed Ashraf | 489 | 1.2 | New | |
Best4Luton | John French | 268 | 0.6 | New | |
Majority | 8,756 | 20.8 | 9.3 | ||
Turnout | 42,064 | 60.7 | 8.1 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | 4.7 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour Co-op | Gavin Shuker | 28,804 | 62.4 | +18.2 | |
Conservative | Dean Russell | 14,879 | 32.3 | +1.6 | |
Liberal Democrats | Andy Strange | 1,056 | 2.3 | -5.2 | |
UKIP | Ujjawal Ub | 795 | 1.7 | -10.4 | |
Green | Marc Scheimann | 439 | 1.0 | -2.0 | |
Independent | Abid Ali | 160 | 0.3 | New | |
Majority | 13,925 | 30.1 | +16.6 | ||
Turnout | 46,233 | 68.8 | +6.0 | ||
Labour Co-op hold | Swing | +8.3 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour Co-op | Gavin Shuker | 18,660 | 44.2 | +9.3 | |
Conservative | Katie Redmond | 12,949 | 30.7 | +1.3 | |
UKIP | Muhammad Rehman | 5,129 | 12.1 | +9.8 | |
Liberal Democrats | Ashuk Ahmed | 3,183 | 7.5 | −15.2 | |
Green | Simon Hall | 1,237 | 2.9 | +2.0 | |
Independent | Attiq Malik | 900 | 2.1 | New | |
Liberty GB | Paul Weston | 158 | 0.4 | New | |
Majority | 5,711 | 13.5 | +8.0 | ||
Turnout | 42,216 | 62.8 | −2.0 | ||
Labour Co-op hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour Co-op | Gavin Shuker | 14,725 | 34.9 | −7.9 | |
Conservative | Nigel Huddleston | 12,396 | 29.4 | +1.3 | |
Liberal Democrats | Qurban Hussain | 9,567 | 22.7 | +0.1 | |
Independent | Esther Rantzen | 1,872 | 4.4 | New | |
BNP | Tony Blakey | 1,299 | 3.1 | New | |
UKIP | Charles Lawman | 975 | 2.3 | −0.1 | |
Independent | Stephen Rhodes | 463 | 1.1 | New | |
Green | Marc Scheimann | 366 | 0.9 | −1.2 | |
Independent | Joe Hall | 264 | 0.6 | New | |
Independent | Faruk Choudhury | 130 | 0.3 | New | |
Independent | Stephen Lathwell | 84 | 0.2 | New | |
Workers Revolutionary | Frank Sweeney | 75 | 0.2 | −0.1 | |
Majority | 2,329 | 5.5 | -9.0 | ||
Turnout | 42,216 | 64.8 | +11.0 | ||
Labour Co-op hold | Swing | −4.6 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Margaret Moran | 16,610 | 42.7 | −12.5 | |
Conservative | Richard Stay | 10,960 | 28.2 | −1.2 | |
Liberal Democrats | Qurban Hussain | 8,778 | 22.6 | +11.7 | |
UKIP | Charles Lawman | 957 | 2.5 | +1.0 | |
Green | Marc Scheimann | 790 | 2.0 | 0.0 | |
Respect | Mohammed Ilyas | 725 | 1.9 | New | |
Workers Revolutionary | Arthur Lynn | 98 | 0.3 | 0.0 | |
Majority | 5,650 | 14.5 | -11.3 | ||
Turnout | 38,918 | 54.1 | −1.0 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −5.6 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Margaret Moran | 21,719 | 55.2 | +0.4 | |
Conservative | Gordon Henderson | 11,586 | 29.4 | −2.0 | |
Liberal Democrats | Rabi Martins | 4,292 | 10.9 | +1.3 | |
Green | Marc Scheimann | 798 | 2.0 | +1.3 | |
UKIP | Charles Lawman | 578 | 1.5 | +0.7 | |
Socialist Alliance | Joseph Hearne | 271 | 0.7 | New | |
Workers Revolutionary | Robert Bolton | 107 | 0.3 | New | |
Majority | 10,133 | 25.8 | +2.4 | ||
Turnout | 39,351 | 55.1 | −15.3 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Margaret Moran | 26,428 | 54.8 | +11.6 | |
Conservative | Graham Bright | 15,109 | 31.4 | −12.9 | |
Liberal Democrats | Keith Fitchett | 4,610 | 9.6 | −1.6 | |
Referendum | Clive Jacobs | 1,205 | 2.5 | New | |
UKIP | Charlie Lawman | 390 | 0.8 | New | |
Green | Marc Scheimann | 356 | 0.7 | −0.3 | |
Natural Law | Claire Perrin | 86 | 0.2 | −0.1 | |
Majority | 11,319 | 23.4 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 48,184 | 70.4 | -8.7 | ||
Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Graham Bright | 25,900 | 44.8 | −1.4 | |
Labour | Bill McKenzie | 25,101 | 43.5 | +6.8 | |
Liberal Democrats | David W. Rogers | 6,020 | 10.4 | −6.7 | |
Green | Lyn Bliss | 550 | 1.0 | New | |
Natural Law | David Cooke | 191 | 0.3 | New | |
Majority | 799 | 1.3 | −8.2 | ||
Turnout | 57,762 | 79.1 | +3.9 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | −4.1 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Graham Bright | 24,762 | 46.2 | +4.3 | |
Labour | Bill McKenzie | 19,647 | 36.7 | +3.4 | |
Liberal | Peter Chapman | 9,146 | 17.1 | −7.8 | |
Majority | 5,115 | 9.5 | +0.9 | ||
Turnout | 53,555 | 75.2 | −0.6 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Graham Bright | 22,531 | 41.9 | ||
Labour | Ivor Clemitson | 17,910 | 33.3 | ||
Liberal | David Franks | 13,395 | 24.9 | ||
Majority | 4,621 | 8.6 | |||
Turnout | 53,836 | 75.8 | |||
Conservative win (new seat) |
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