East Worthing and Shoreham (UK Parliament constituency)

East Worthing and Shoreham is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Tom Rutland of the Labour Party.[n 2]

East Worthing and Shoreham
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Map
Interactive map of boundaries from 1997
Map of constituency
Boundary of East Worthing and Shoreham in South East England
CountyWest Sussex
Electorate75,466 (2023)[1]
Major settlementsShoreham-by-Sea, Southwick, Lancing
Current constituency
Created1997
Member of ParliamentTom Rutland (Labour)
SeatsOne
Created from

Boundaries

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1997–present: The District of Adur, and the Borough of Worthing wards of Broadwater, Gaisford, Offington, and Selden.

The 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies left the boundaries unchanged.[2]

The constituency covers an eastern portion of Worthing, the town of Shoreham-by-Sea, Lancing and three nearby inland villages in the Adur valley, all communities within the county of West Sussex.

History

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Under the Boundary Commission's fourth review, enacted in time for the 1997 election, the larger Shoreham portion of this constituency was taken from the disbanded Shoreham seat and the minor East Worthing portion had been in the disbanded Worthing seat.

Before 1974, the Shoreham seat had been a part of the Arundel and Shoreham seat.

Between 1945 and 1950, the whole area was in the Worthing seat and between 1918 and 1945 (on which the Boundary Commission was formed and carried out its first periodic review), in the Horsham and Worthing seat.

Political history

The seat's first MP in 1997 was Tim Loughton who served until he stepped down for the 2024 general election. Although from 2001 to 2015 this was an unquestionably safe seat for the Conservative Party, its safety significantly declined after that, especially in 2017 when Labour reduced the Conservative percentage majority to single figures. It succeeded Crawley as Labour's principal target seat in the county of West Sussex, though still requiring a substantial swing, which it achieved in 2024 after the Conservative vote halved and Tom Rutland was elected.

Notable candidates

The competitive hustings in September 2007 of the local Labour Party selected Emily Benn, granddaughter of Tony Benn and niece of Hilary Benn, former Secretaries of State, then aged 17, to contest the 2010 general election, making her the youngest ever Labour parliamentary candidate: had she been elected, she would have been the youngest MP since the Reform Act 1832. Her father Stephen Benn is Viscount Stansgate, succeeding his father.[3]

Labour selected Latest TV newsreader Sophie Cook[4] to be its candidate in the 2017 general election.[5] Had she been elected, she would have been the United Kingdom's first transgender MP. Although she failed to win the seat, she achieved the best ever result of any non-Conservative Party candidate in any Worthing-based constituency, receiving 20,882 votes to the Conservatives' 25,988.[6]

Constituency profile

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Shoreham can be viewed with Worthing as less of an economic force than the neighbouring local government district, the City of Brighton and Hove, with a majority of houses with larger gardens, fewer listed buildings but Shoreham's large boat harbour facility an amenity for visitors, residents, – mooring and maintenance for people living close enough to the county, rival harbours being as far away as Chichester and Newhaven.[7] Much work is in the service sector, including a major presence of sharedealing and banking service and processing facilities in the borough (see Lancing, West Sussex) and a slightly greater proportion of people are retired compared to the national average (2.11% of the population greater, at 15.8%).[8]

Workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.6% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.[9]

Members of Parliament

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Worthing and Shoreham prior to 1997

Election Member[10] Party
1997 Tim Loughton Conservative
2024 Tom Rutland Labour

Elections

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Elections in the 2020s

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General election 2024: East Worthing and Shoreham[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Tom Rutland 22,120 45.1 +8.1
Conservative Leila Williams 12,601 25.7 −25.3
Reform UK Lionel Harman 7,169 14.6 N/A
Green Debbie Woudman 3,246 6.6 +2.8
Liberal Democrats David Batchelor 3,180 6.5 −1.3
Independent Frank Ward 320 0.7 N/A
Independent John Greenshields 273 0.6 N/A
Independent Ivana Forman 169 0.3 N/A
Majority 9,519 19.4 N/A
Turnout 49,078 65.7 −4.7
Registered electors 74,738
Labour gain from Conservative Swing  16.7

Elections in the 2010s

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General election 2019: East Worthing and Shoreham[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Tim Loughton 27,107 51.0 +2.1
Labour Lavinia O'Connor 19,633 37.0 –2.3
Liberal Democrats Ashley Ridley 4,127 7.8 +3.0
Green Leslie Williams 2,006 3.8 +1.4
Independent Sophie Cook 255 0.5 N/A
Majority 7,474 14.0 +4.4
Turnout 53,128 70.7 +0.4
Conservative hold Swing +2.2

Sophie Cook withdrew from the 2019 election, but she remained on the ballot paper as this decision was made after the statement of persons nominated was released.[13]

General election 2017: East Worthing and Shoreham[14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Tim Loughton 25,988 48.9 −0.6
Labour Sophie Cook 20,882 39.3 +19.8
Liberal Democrats Oli Henman 2,523 4.7 −2.0
UKIP Mike Glennon 1,444 2.7 −13.9
Green Leslie Williams 1,273 2.4 −2.8
NHA Carl Walker 575 1.1 −1.4
Independent Andy Lutwyche 432 0.8 N/A
Majority 5,106 9.6 −20.4
Turnout 51,673 70.7 +3.5
Conservative hold Swing -10.2
General election 2015: East Worthing and Shoreham[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Tim Loughton 24,686 49.5 +1.0
Labour Tim Macpherson 9,737 19.5 +2.8
UKIP Mike Glennon 8,267 16.6 +10.4
Liberal Democrats Bob Smytherman 3,360 6.7 −18.8
Green James Doyle 2,605 5.2 +2.9
NHA Carl Walker 1,243 2.5 N/A
Majority 14,949 30.0 +7.0
Turnout 49,898 67.2 +1.8
Conservative hold Swing
General election 2010: East Worthing and Shoreham[16][17]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Tim Loughton 23,458 48.5 +4.6
Liberal Democrats James Doyle 12,353 25.5 +1.2
Labour Emily Benn 8,087 16.7 −8.8
UKIP Mike Glennon 2,984 6.2 +1.5
Green Susan Board 1,126 2.3 N/A
English Democrat Clive Maltby 389 0.8 N/A
Majority 11,105 23.0 +4.6
Turnout 48,397 65.4 +3.8
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 2000s

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General election 2005: East Worthing and Shoreham[18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Tim Loughton 19,548 43.9 +0.7
Labour Daniel Yates 11,365 25.5 −3.5
Liberal Democrats James Doyle 10,844 24.3 +1.4
UKIP Richard Jelf 2,109 4.7 +1.9
Legalise Cannabis Christopher Baldwin 677 1.5 −0.6
Majority 8,183 18.4 +4.2
Turnout 44,543 61.6 +1.9
Conservative hold Swing +2.1
General election 2001: East Worthing and Shoreham[19]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Tim Loughton 18,608 43.2 +2.7
Labour Daniel Yates 12,469 29.0 +5.1
Liberal Democrats Paul Elgood 9,876 22.9 −7.7
UKIP James McCulloch 1,195 2.8 +1.0
Legalise Cannabis Christopher Baldwin 920 2.1 N/A
Majority 6,139 14.2 +4.3
Turnout 43,068 59.7 −13.2
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1990s

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General election 1997: East Worthing and Shoreham[20]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Tim Loughton 20,864 40.5
Liberal Democrats Martin King 15,766 30.6
Labour Mark Williams 12,335 23.9
Referendum James McCulloch 1,683 3.3
UKIP Rosemary Jarvis 921 1.8
Majority 5,098 9.9
Turnout 51,569 72.9
Conservative win (new seat)

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
  2. ^ 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

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  1. ^ "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition – South East". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  2. ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 1 Part 6 South East region.
  3. ^ "Benn's granddaughter runs for MP". BBC News Online. 25 September 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
  4. ^ "Sophie Cook first transgender newscaster on UK's Latest TV". The Latest. 9 June 2016.
  5. ^ "Labour candidate hopes to become first openly transgender MP". The Independent. 1 May 2017.
  6. ^ Duffy, Nick (9 June 2017). "The UK got closer than ever before to electing a transgender MP". PinkNews. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
  7. ^ OS Map with Listed Buildings and Parks marked Archived April 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ 2011 Census Archived 2003-02-11 at the Wayback Machine "Economically Inactive – see subcategories"
  9. ^ Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
  10. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 5)
  11. ^ "East Worthing and Shoreham - General election results 2024". BBC News. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  12. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 June 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ^ "Sophie Cook stepping down". Worthing Herald. ISABELLA CIPIRSKA. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  14. ^ "Election Data BBC 2017". BBC. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  15. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  16. ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  17. ^ "Worthing East & Shoreham". BBC News Online. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  18. ^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  19. ^ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  20. ^ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

Sources

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50°49′19″N 0°19′34″W / 50.822°N 0.326°W / 50.822; -0.326