Streatham (UK Parliament constituency)

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Streatham Borough constituency

Streatham shown within Greater London
Created:	1918
MP:	Keith Hill
Party:	Labour
Type:	House of Commons
County:	Greater London
EP constituency:	London

Streatham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

1 Boundaries
- 1.1 Boundary review
2 History
3 Members of Parliament
4 Election results
5 Reference
6 See also

[edit] Boundaries

Streatham is a long, thin constituency running down the western side of the London Borough of Lambeth. The town of Streatham constitutes only the four wards in the southern half of the constituency.

At its north-western tip it includes half of Clapham Common, while in the north-east it takes in part of the district of Brixton which is also split between neighbouring Vauxhall and Dulwich and West Norwood.

The northern boundary follows Clapham Park Road, Acre Lane and Coldharbour Lane through Clapham and Brixton. The current eastern boundary is more complex, following the pre-2004 local government ward boundaries - roughly including those parts of Brixton west of Brockwell Park, veering east to include the areas around Tulse Hill station and then heading southwest along the railway line and then south along Leigham Court Road. The southern and western constituency boundaries follow Lambeth's borough boundaries with Croydon, Merton and Wandsworth.

[edit] Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in South London, the Boundary Commission for England has made minor changes to the existing Streatham constituency.

The electoral wards used in the creation of the seat are;

Brixton Hill, Clapham Common, St Leonard’s, Streatham Hill, Streatham South, Streatham Wells, Thornton and Tulse Hill.

[edit] History

The first 'Streatham' constituency was contested in 1918 and approximately followed the historic parish boundaries of Streatham, including a substantial part of Balham. The seat became a byword for solidly Tory suburbia.

The constituency was carved out of the former constituency of Wandsworth. The rest of the Wandsworth constituency was divided into Putney, Wandsworth Central and Tooting and Balham.

The 1918 boundaries of the Streatham constituency remained unchanged until the 1965 changes to Greater London local government were eventually reflected in the constituency boundaries fought at the February 1974 general election. This resulted in a net reduction in the size of the Streatham constituency . The western districts which were now in the London Borough of Wandsworth were divided between two new constituencies. The Balham wards became part of Battersea South while Streatham Park (location of the Streatham Conservative Club) and the remainder of Furzedown ward went into Tooting.

The rest of the constituency, including the town of Streatham was now in the London Borough of Lambeth, and Streatham became one of four Borough Constituency divisions of Lambeth, along with 'Vauxhall', 'Norwood' and 'Lambeth Central'. The Clapham constituency was abolished as part of the 1974 changes. The Clapham Park area and Hyde Farm (commonly thought of as part of Balham) came into the Streatham seat, whereas the rest of Clapham went into the Vauxhall seat - a split which continues to the present.

With the abolition of Lambeth Central at the 1983 election, the constituency gained much of southern Brixton. Following further population decline, Lambeth was paired with Southwark in the next boundary review, and from the 1997 election, Streatham constituency gained areas around Tulse Hill from the former Norwood constituency, the remainder of which became part of Dulwich and West Norwood.

Even more than other similar seats in South London (such as Croydon North, Dulwich, Lewisham East and West), Streatham has swung extremely heavily against the Conservative Party over the past fifteen years. The seat was previously so safe that the Conservatives still won it in disastrous years for them such as 1945 and 1966. However, demographic and voting pattern changes combined with unfavourable boundary changes conspired to turn Streatham first into a marginal and then into a very safe Labour seat. Having lost Streatham in 1992, the Conservatives were beaten narrowly into third place by the Liberal Democrats in 2001, and in 2005 fell into an even more distant third place, with the Lib Dems achieving a 10% swing from Labour to make the seat the site of a genuine contest with the Liberal Democrats at the next general election. Redrawn constituency boundaries are also expected to make the constituency less safe for Labour.

[edit] Members of Parliament

The Rt Hon Keith Hill was first elected in the 1992 General Election. Mr Hill is the first Labour MP for the Streatham constituency.

Previous Conservative MPs for Streatham were:

Sir William Shelton 1970 - 1992
Duncan Sandys 1950 - 1970
Sir David Robertson 1939 -1950
Sir William Lane Mitchell 1918 - 1939 - Sir William sat as a "Unionist"

The wartime by-election caused by Lane Mitchell's death was uncontested.

[edit] Election results

General Election 2005: Streatham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Keith Hill	18,950	46.7	−10.2
	Liberal Democrats	Darren Sanders	11,484	28.3	+10.0
	Conservative	James Sproule	7,238	17.8	−1.0
	Green	Shane Collins	2,245	5.5	+1.1
	UK Independence	Trevor Gittings	396	1.0	N/A
	Workers' Revolutionary	Billy Colvill	127	0.3	N/A
	Independent	Philippa Stone	100	0.2	N/A
	Independent	Robert West	40	0.1	N/A
	Independent	Sarah Acheng	35	0.1	N/A
Majority			7,466	18.4
Turnout			40,615	51.3	+2.6
	Labour hold		Swing	−10.1

General Election 2001: Streatham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Keith Hill	21,401	57.3	-5.5
	Liberal Democrats	Roger O’Brien	6,771	18.1	+4.6
	Conservative	Stephen Hocking	6,639	17.8	-4.0
	Green	Mohammed Sajid	1,641	4.4	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	Greg Tucker	906	2.4	N/A
Majority			14,630	39.2
Turnout			37,358	49.1	-11.0
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1997: Streatham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Keith Hill	28,181	62.8	+13.4
	Conservative	E. G. Noad	9,758	21.7	-16.7
	Liberal Democrats	Roger O’Brien	6,082	13.6	+3.6
	Referendum Party	J. J. Wall	864	1.9	N/A
Majority			18,423	41.1
Turnout			44,885	60.2
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1992: Streatham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Keith Hill	18,925	47.0
	Conservative	Sir William Shelton	16,608	41.3
	Liberal Democrats	M. J. Pindar	3,858	9.6
	Green	R. C. L. Baker	443	1.1
	Islamic Party	A. Hakin	154	0.4
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Cynthia Payne	145	0.4
	Natural Law	J. V. Parsons	97	0.2
Majority			2,317	5.7
Turnout			40,230	70.3
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1987: Streatham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	W. J. M. Shelton	18,916	45.0
	Labour	Mrs. E. A. Tapsall	16,509	39.2
	Liberal	M. W. Tuffrey	6,663	15.8
Majority			2,407	5.8
Turnout			42,088	69.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Streatham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	W. J. M. Shelton	18,264	46.5
	Labour	Miss M. M. Long	12,362	31.5
	Liberal	P. H. Billenness	8,321	21.2
	National Front	K. D. Handy	321	0.8
Majority			5,902	15.0
Turnout			39,268	65.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1979: Streatham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	W. J. M. Shelton	19,630	51.44
	Labour	T. P. C. Daniel	14,130	37.02
	Liberal	J. S. Pincham	3,779	9.9
	National Front	G. W. Bryant	523	1.37
	Providers Through Care	A. J. Hollander	102	0.27
Majority			5,500	14.41
Turnout			38,164	71.54
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Streatham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	W. J. M. Shelton	16,515	45.65
	Labour	J. Gaffin	13,648	37.73
	Liberal	R. Silver	4,987	13.79
	National Front	T. Lamb	817	2.26
	Independent	Miss T. E. Moore	210	0.58
Majority			2,867	7.92
Turnout			36,177	64.08
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Streatham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	W. J. M. Shelton	18,457	45.15
	Labour	J. Gaffin	13,982	34.21
	Liberal	R. Silver	7,456	18.24
	National Front	T. Lamb	937	2.29
	Independent	Bill Boaks	45	0.11
Majority			4,475	10.95
Turnout			40,877	72.78
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1966: Streatham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	D. E. Sandys	19,872	54.63
	Labour	J. L. Walker	16,505	45.37
Majority			3,367	9.26
Turnout			36,377	70.41
	Conservative hold		Swing

[edit] Reference

Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972 (ISBN 0-900178-09-4), F. W. S. Craig, Political Reference Publications 1972

[edit] See also

List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London

Constituencies in Greater London
Labour	Barking \| Battersea \| Brent North \| Brent South \| Brentford and Isleworth \| Camberwell and Peckham \| Croydon North \| Dagenham \| Dulwich and West Norwood \| Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush \| Ealing North \| Ealing Southall \| East Ham \| Edmonton \| Eltham \| Enfield North \| Erith and Thamesmead \| Feltham and Heston \| Finchley and Golders Green \| Greenwich and Woolwich \| Hackney North and Stoke Newington \| Hackney South and Shoreditch \| Hampstead and Highgate \| Harrow East \| Harrow West \| Hayes and Harlington \| Hendon \| Holborn and St. Pancras \| Ilford South \| Islington North \| Islington South and Finsbury \| Lewisham Deptford \| Lewisham East \| Lewisham West \| Leyton and Wanstead \| Mitcham and Morden \| Poplar and Canning Town \| Regent's Park and Kensington North \| Streatham \| Tooting \| Tottenham \| Vauxhall \| Walthamstow \| West Ham
Conservative	Beckenham \| Bexleyheath and Crayford \| Bromley and Chislehurst \| Chingford and Woodford Green \| Chipping Barnet \| Cities of London and Westminster \| Croydon Central \| Croydon South \| Enfield Southgate \| Hammersmith and Fulham \| Hornchurch \| Ilford North \| Kensington and Chelsea \| Old Bexley and Sidcup \| Orpington \| Putney \| Romford \| Ruislip-Northwood \| Upminster \| Uxbridge \| Wimbledon
Liberal Democrat	Brent East \| Carshalton and Wallington \| Hornsey and Wood Green \| Kingston and Surbiton \| Richmond Park \| North Southwark and Bermondsey \| Sutton and Cheam \| Twickenham
Respect	Bethnal Green and Bow
London European constituency: Conservative (3) \| Labour (3) \| Liberal Democrats (1) \| UKIP (1) \| Green (1)