Rochford and Southend East (UK Parliament constituency)

Rochford and Southend East
Rochford and Southend East
County constituency; for the House of Commons
	Boundary of Rochford and Southend East in Essex
	Location of Essex within England
County	Essex
Electorate	71,131 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Prittlewell, Rochford, Shoeburyness, Southend, Thorpe Bay
Current constituency
Created	1997
Member of Parliament	Sir James Duddridge (Conservative)
Seats	One
Created from	Southend East, Rochford

Rochford and Southend East is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Sir James Duddridge, a Conservative.^{[n 2]}

Under the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the constituency will only be subject to relatively minor boundary changes (including the loss of St Luke's ward to Southend West), but is to be renamed Southend East and Rochford - to be first contested at the 2024 general election.^[2]

Constituency profile

Rochford and Southend East had a relatively marginal Conservative majority on its 1997 creation, as it had some of Labour's stronger wards in Southend, such as Kursaal, Milton, St. Luke's and Victoria, with the party nearly gaining its predecessor seat Southend East in a by-election in 1980, though in the elections since a much larger majority suggests a Conservative safe seat. In more recent elections, it had become more marginal however than other Essex constituencies that elected Labour MPs in the 21st century such as Harlow and Basildon.

Dependency on social housing^[3] and unemployment benefit in the constituency is low^[4] and in the Rochford local council only 14.5% of households do not have a car (band 5 of 5 in the 2011 census) whereas 27% of households in the Southend part lack a car (band 2 of 5).^[5]

The 2017 election saw a 5% swing to Labour, cutting Duddridge's majority by 3,928 votes. In the 2019 election however, a 7.4% swing from Labour to the Conservatives gave Duddridge a 12,286 majority; his largest ever majority under the seat's current boundaries.

Local government

Currently the 31 Council seats held in Rochford and Southend East are 7 Conservative (from Rochford), 10 Independent, 7 Labour, 5 Conservative and 2 UKIP (from Southend).

History

This seat was created for the 1997 general election primarily from the abolished constituency of Southend East, with the addition of Rochford and Great Wakering, which were previously in the abolished Rochford constituency.

It has been held by the Conservatives since its formation.

Boundaries

1997–2010

The Borough of Southend-on-Sea wards of Milton, St Luke's, Shoebury, Southchurch, Thorpe, and Victoria; and
The District of Rochford wards of Barling and Sutton, Foulness and Great Wakering East, Great Wakering Central, Great Wakering West, Rochford Eastwood, Rochford Roche, and Rochford St Andrews.^[6]

2010–present

The Borough of Southend-on-Sea wards of Kursaal, Milton, St Luke's, Shoeburyness, Southchurch, Thorpe, Victoria, and West Shoebury; and
The District of Rochford wards of Barling and Sutton, Foulness and Great Wakering, and Rochford.^[7]

Small reduction in electorate due to redistribution of local authority wards.

The constituency covers the town of Rochford and the town centre, main seafront and eastern part of Southend-on-Sea, such as Thorpe Bay and Shoeburyness.

Proposed

Map of boundaries from 2024

Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, the composition of the constituency from the 2024 United Kingdom general election will be (as they existed on 1^st December 2020):

The District of Rochford wards of: Foulness & The Wakerings; Roche North & Rural; Roche South.

The City of Southend-on-Sea wards of: Kursaal; Milton; Shoeburyness; Southchurch; Thorpe; Victoria; West Shoebury.^[8]

St Luke's ward transferred to the newly named constituency of Southend West and Leigh. Minor gain of sparsely populated area to the north of the constituency from Rayleigh and Wickford.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member^[9]	Party
	1997	Sir Teddy Taylor	Conservative
	2005	Sir James Duddridge	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Southend East and Rochford
Party		Candidate
	Labour	Bayo Alaba^[10]
	Green	Simon Cross^[11]
	Reform UK	Leslie Lillie^[12]
Majority
Turnout

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Rochford and Southend East^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Duddridge	27,063	58.7	+10.0
	Labour	Ashley Dalton	14,777	32.0	–5.0
	Liberal Democrats	Keith Miller	2,822	6.1	+3.4
	Independent	Navin Kumar	1,107	2.4	New
	Psychedelic Future	Jason Pilley	367	0.8	New
Majority			12,286	26.7	+15.0
Turnout			46,136	61.0	–3.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.4

General election 2017: Rochford and Southend East^[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Duddridge	23,013	48.7	+2.3
	Labour	Ashley Dalton	17,465	37.0	+12.3
	Independent	Ron Woodley	2,924	6.2	New
	UKIP	Neil Hookway	1,777	3.8	–16.7
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Gwizdala	1,265	2.7	–0.6
	Green	Simon Cross	804	1.7	–3.3
Majority			5,548	11.7	–10.0
Turnout			47,248	64.3	+3.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	–5.0

General election 2015: Rochford and Southend East^[15]^[16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Duddridge	20,241	46.4	-0.5
	Labour	Ian Gilbert	10,765	24.7	+4.4
	UKIP	Floyd Waterworth^[17]	8,948	20.5	+14.7
	Green	Simon Cross^[18]	2,195	5.0	+3.3
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Gwizdala	1,459	3.3	–16.1
Majority			9,476	21.7	–4.9
Turnout			43,608	60.6	+2.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	–2.4

General election 2010: Rochford and Southend East^[19]^[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Duddridge	19,509	46.9	+1.5
	Labour	Kevin Bonavia^[21]	8,459	20.3	-11.3
	Liberal Democrats	Graham Longley^[22]	8,084	19.4	+4.7
	UKIP	James Moyies^[23]	2,405	5.8	+0.9
	BNP	Geoff Strobridge^[24]	1,856	4.5	New
	Green	Andrew Vaughan^[25]	707	1.7	–1.8
	Independent	Anthony Chytry	611	1.5	New
Majority			11,050	26.6	+12.7
Turnout			41,631	58.5	+3.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	+6.4

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Rochford and Southend East^[26]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Duddridge	17,874	45.3	–8.3
	Labour	Fred Grindrod	12,384	31.4	–3.4
	Liberal Democrats	Graham Longley	5,967	15.1	+7.7
	UKIP	John Croft	1,913	4.8	New
	Green	Andrew Vaughan	1,328	3.4	+0.8
Majority			5,490	13.9	–4.9
Turnout			39,466	55.4	+2.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	–2.4

General election 2001: Rochford and Southend East^[27]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Teddy Taylor	20,058	53.6	+4.9
	Labour	Chris Dandridge	13,024	34.8	–4.9
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Newton	2,780	7.4	–2.0
	Green	Adrian Hedges	990	2.6	New
	Liberal	Brian Lynch	600	1.6	–0.6
Majority			7,034	18.8	+8.8
Turnout			37,452	52.7	–11.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Rochford and Southend East^[28]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Teddy Taylor	22,683	48.7
	Labour	Nigel Smith	18,458	39.7
	Liberal Democrats	Paula Smith	4,387	9.4
	Liberal	Brian Lynch	1,007	2.2
Majority			4,225	9.0
Turnout			46,535	63.7
	Conservative win (new seat)

Notes

References

51°33′N 0°49′E / 51.55°N 0.81°E / 51.55; 0.81

[n 1]

[n 2]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[27]

[28]

Search