Walthamstow (UK Parliament constituency)

Walthamstow
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Walthamstow in .
County	Greater London
Electorate	64,482 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1974 (1974)
Member of parliament	Stella Creasy (Labour Co-op)
Number of members	One
Created from	Walthamstow East Walthamstow West
1885–1918
Number of members	One
Type of constituency	County constituency
Replaced by	Walthamstow East and Walthamstow West, Leyton East, Leyton West, and Epping
Created from	South Essex
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	London

Walthamstow (Contemp. and Cons. RP) /wɔːlθm̩stəʊ/, (Est. Eng.) /wɔːwfm̩stəʊ/ is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Stella Creasy, a member of the Labour Party and of the Cooperative Party.

Boundaries

The Walthamstow constituency from 1885-1918, shown within Essex

1885–1918

The South-Western or Walthamstow Division of the parliamentary county of Essex was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, when the existing seat of South Essex was divided into three single-member constituencies.

The constituency consisted of the three civil parishes of Leyton, Wanstead and Walthamstow. The area lay on the periphery of the London conurbation and became increasingly suburban over its existence.

The seat was abolished under the Representation of the People Act 1918. Two new constituencies were created with Walthamstow Urban District divided between Walthamstow East and Walthamstow West.

1974 – date

A Walthamstow constituency was again formed in 1974, covering five wards as they stood as defined by local government at the time.

Parliament accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which moved no electors here for the 2010 general election since which it has electoral wards:

• Chapel End, Higham Hill, High Street, Hoe Street, Lea Bridge, Markhouse, William Morris and Wood Street in the Walthamstow area of the London Borough of Waltham Forest.

The only intermediate general election boundary change took place in 1997.

History

The seat has been represented by the Labour Party since 1992, before which it was won on a marginal majority in 1987 by a Conservative, having until then (since its 1974 recreation as a seat) been served by one Labour MP, Eric Deakins.

The 2010 result was unusual in defying the national swing, producing a greater than 1% one-party swing to the new Labour candidate, Stella Creasy. She took the candidature from Neil Gerrard who was placed on the left of the Labour party. The Liberal Democrat, Farid Ahmed, has been the runner-up since 2005.

Prominent frontbenchers

Stella Creasy, the present member, is the Shadow Minister for Crime Prevention.

Constituency profile

The seat is that part of Outer London closest to Stratford, with its international rail connections, major city shopping centre and London's Olympic Park. While the seat does not quite adjoin Epping Forest it does border the Lea Valley to its west. The eponymous district had as its open space feature a greyhound racing track, which is set for redevelopment into a modernist housing and green space scheme. Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 significantly higher than the national average of 3.8% and Greater London average of 4%, at 7.2% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.

Member of Parliament

MPs 1885–1918

Election		Member	Party
1885		Constituency created
	1885	Edward North Buxton	Liberal
	1886	William Thomas Makins	Conservative
	1892	Edmund Widdrington Byrne	Conservative
	1897 by-election	Sam Woods	Liberal-Labour
	1900	David John Morgan	Conservative
	1906	John Simon	Liberal
1918		Constituency abolished: see Walthamstow East and Walthamstow West

MPs 1974–present

Election		Member	Party
Feb 1974		Constituency re-created
	Feb 1974	Eric Deakins	Labour
	1987	Hugo Summerson	Conservative
	1992	Neil Gerrard	Labour
	2010	Stella Creasy	Labour Co-op

Election results

General Election 2015: Walthamstow

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Stella Creasy	28,779	68.9	+17.0
	Conservative	Molly Samuel-Leport	5,584	13.4	−0.6
	Green	Michael Gold	2,661	6.4	+4.5
	UKIP	Paul Hillman	2,507	6.0	+4.0
	Liberal Democrat	Steven Dominique Cheung	1,661	4.0	−24.7
	TUSC	Nancy Taaffe	394	0.9	+0.3
	Independent	Ellie Merton	129	0.3	n/a
	Workers Revolutionary	Jonty Leff	81	0.2	n/a
Majority			23,195	55.5	+32.4
Turnout			41,796	62.4	-1.0
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	+8.8

Elections since 1992

Election	Political result		Candidate		Party	Votes	%	±%
General election, May 2010  Electorate: 64,625 Turnout: 40,994 (63.4%) +8.8		Labour Co-op hold Majority: 9,478 (23.1%) Swing: 0.04% from Lab Co-op to Lib Dem		Stella Creasy	Labour Co-op	21,252	51.8	+1.5
				Farid Ahmed	Liberal Democrat	11,774	28.7	+1.6
				Andy Hemsted	Conservative	5,734	14.0	−4.2
				Judith Chisholm-Benli	UKIP	823	2.0	−0.3
				Daniel Perrett	Green	767	1.9	+1.9
				Nancy Taaffe	TUSC	279	0.7	+0.7
				Ashar Mall	Christian	248	0.6	+0.6
				Paul Warburton	Independent	117	0.3	+0.3
General election, May 2005  Electorate: 63,079 Turnout: 34,444 (54.6%) +1.1		Labour hold Majority: 7,993 (23.2%) −20.9 Swing: 12.2% from Lab to Lib Dem		Neil Gerrard	Labour	17,323	50.3	−11.9
				Farid Ahmed	Liberal Democrat	9,330	27.1	+12.5
				Jane Wright	Conservative	6,254	18.2	+0.1
				Robert Brock	UKIP	810	2.4	+1.5
				Nancy Taaffe	Socialist Alternative	727	2.1	−0.2
General election, June 2001  Electorate: 64,403 Turnout: 34,429 (53.5%) −9.3		Labour hold Majority: 15,181 (44.1%) +1.3 Swing: 0.6% from Lab to Con		Neil Gerrard	Labour	21,402	62.2	−1.0
				Nicholas Boys Smith	Conservative	6,221	18.1	−2.2
				Peter Dunphy	Liberal Democrat	5,024	14.6	+0.9
				Simon Donovan	Socialist Alternative	806	2.3	n/a
				William Phillips	BNP	389	1.1	n/a
				Gerda Mayer	UKIP	298	0.9	n/a
				Barbara Duffy	ProLife Alliance	289	0.8	n/a
General election, May 1997  Electorate: 63,818 Turnout: 40,055 (62.8%)		Labour hold Majority: 17,149 (42.8%)		Neil Gerrard	Labour	25,287	63.1	+17.4
				Jill Andrew	Conservative	8,138	20.3	−16.9
				Jane Jackson	Liberal Democrat	5,491	13.7
				Rev George Hargreaves	Referendum	1,139	2.8
General election, April 1992  Electorate: 49,140 Turnout: 34,863 (72.4%)		Labour gain from Conservative Majority: 3,022 (8.5%)		Neil Gerrard	Labour	16,251	45.7	6.7
				Hugo Summerson	Conservative	13,229	37.2	−1.8
				Peter Leighton	Liberal Democrat	5,142	14.5
				Vernon Wilkinson	Liberal	241	0.7	n/a

Elections 1974–1987

Election	Political result		Candidate		Party	Votes	%	±%
General Election, June 1987  Electorate: 48,691 Turnout: 35,232 (72.4%) +3.6		Conservative gain from Labour Majority: 1,512 (4.29%)		Hugo Summerson	Conservative	13,748	39.02	+3.3
				Eric Deakins	Labour	12,236	34.73	−5.1
				Peter Leonard Leighton	Social Democratic	8,852	25.1	+3.5
				Dr Zafar I. Malik	Independent	396	1.12	n/a
General election, June 1983  new boundaries Electorate: 48,324 Turnout: 68.8%		Labour hold Majority: 1,305 (3.9%)		Eric Deakins	Labour	13,241	39.8
				Alan Amos	Conservative	11,936	35.9
				Peter Leonard Leighton	Social Democratic	7,192	21.6
				P Mitchell	National Front	444	1.3
				Stephen William Lambert	Ecology	424	1.3
General election, May 1979  Electorate: 49,315 Turnout: 35,135 (71.3%) +5.1		Labour hold Majority: 4,403 (12.5%) Swing: 9.2% from Lab to Con		Eric Deakins	Labour	17,651	50.2	−4.9
				S Eyres	Conservative	13,248	37.7	+13.4
				Mervyn Peter O'Flanagan	Liberal	3,117	8.9	−6.1
				G Flaxton	National Front	1,119	3.2	−2.3
General election, October 1974  Electorate: 52,280 Turnout: 34,622 (66.2%) −8.7		Labour hold Majority: 10,664 (30.8%) +8.3 Swing: 4.2% from Con to Lab		Eric Deakins	Labour	19,088	55.1	+4.4
				D Arnold	Conservative	8,424	24.3	−4.0
				Mervyn Peter O'Flanagan	Liberal	5,199	15.0	−6.0
				R Adde	National Front	1,911	5.5	n/a
General election, February 1974  new constituency Electorate: 51,907 Turnout: 38,875 (74.9%)		Labour win Majority: 8,374 (22.5%)		Eric Deakins	Labour	19,726	50.7
				P S Gill	Conservative	10,992	28.3
				Mervyn Peter O'Flanagan	Liberal	8,157	21.0

Elections 1885–1918

Election	Political result		Candidate		Party	Votes	%	±%
General election, December 1910  Electorate: 39,117 Turnout: 30,273 (77.4%) −0.8		Liberal hold Majority: 3,723 (12.2%) +3.2 Swing: 1.6% from Con to Lib		John Simon	Liberal	16,998	56.1	+1.6
				Carlyon Bellairs	Conservative	13,275	43.9	−1.6
By-election, November 1910  Simon appointed as Solicitor General Electorate: 39,117 Turnout: 30,580 (78.2%) −6.8		Liberal hold Majority: 2,766 (9.0%) +2.4 Swing: 1.2% from Con to Lib		John Simon	Liberal	16,673	54.5	+1.2
				Stanley Johnson	Conservative	13,907	45.5	−1.2
General election, January 1910  Electorate: 39,117 Turnout: 33,257 (85.0%) +11.1		Liberal hold Majority: 2,195 (6.6%) −8.4 Swing: 4.,2% from Lib to Con		John Simon	Liberal	17,726	53.3	−4.2
				Stanley Johnson	Conservative	15,531	46.7	+4.2
General election, 1906  Electorate: 35,321 Turnout: 16,085 (73.9%) +3.0		Liberal gain from Conservative Majority: 3,937 (15.0%) Swing: 14.7% from Con to Lib		John Simon	Liberal	15,011	57.5	+14.7
				W. I. Shard	Conservative	11,074	42.5	−14.7
General election, 1900  Electorate: 24,187 Turnout: 17,149 (70.9%) +6.6		Conservative gain from Lib-Lab Majority: 2,465 (14.4%) Swing: 8.3% from Lib-Lab to Con		David John Morgan	Conservative	9,807	57.2	+8.3
				Sam Woods	Lib-Lab	7,342	42.8	−8.3
By-election, 1897  Resignation of Byrne Electorate: 19,845 Turnout: 12,757 (64.3%) +2.1		Lib-Lab gain from Conservative Majority: 279 (2.2%) Swing: 11.4% from Con to Lib-Lab		Sam Woods	Lib-Lab	6,518	51.1	+11.4
				Thomas Dewar	Conservative	6,239	48.9	−11.4
General election, 1895  Electorate: 17,747 Turnout: 11,399 (64.2%) −8.1		Conservative hold Majority: 2,353 (20.6%) +10.2 Swing: 5.1% from Lib to Con		Edmund Byrne	Conservative	6,876	60.3	+5.1
				A. J. H. Pollen	Liberal	4,423	39.7	−5.1
General election, 1892  Electorate: 15,323 Turnout: 11,080 (72.3%) +9.1		Conservative hold Majority: 1,150 (10.4%) −15.2 Swing: 7.6% from Con to Lib		Edmund Byrne	Conservative	6,155	55.2	−7.6
				W. B. Whittingham	Liberal	4,965	44.8	+7.6
General election, 1886  Electorate: 11,233 Turnout: 7,000 (63.2%) −11.8		Conservative gain from Liberal Majority: 1,822 (25.6%) Swing: 13.8% from Lib to Con		William Makins	Conservative	4,461	62.8	+13.8
				Albert Spicer	Liberal	2,639	37.2	−13.8
General election, 1885  new seat Electorate: 11,233 Turnout: 8,425 (75.0%)		Liberal win Majority: 175 (2.0%)		Edward Buxton	Liberal	4,300	51.0	n/a
				Thomas Baring	Conservative	4,125	49.0	n/a

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London

Notes and references

Notes

References

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Essex South	UK Parliament constituency 1885 – 1918	Succeeded by Walthamstow East
	UK Parliament constituency 1885 – 1918	Succeeded by Walthamstow West
Preceded by Walthamstow East	UK Parliament constituency 1974 – present	Incumbent
Preceded by Walthamstow West	UK Parliament constituency 1974 – present