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Surrey Heath (UK Parliament constituency)

Surrey Heath is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Al Pinkerton, a Liberal Democrat. The Home counties suburban constituency is in the London commuter belt, on the outskirts of Greater London. Surrey Heath is in the north west of Surrey and borders the counties of Berkshire and Hampshire.

History

The seat was created under the Fourth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies in 1997 from the most part of North West Surrey, a seat that was abolished, and smaller parts of Woking and Guildford, seats that remain.

On its creation, Nick Hawkins was elected to parliament as Surrey Heath's MP, after Michael Grylls, who had in 1992 achieved a majority of 28,392, retired.[2] One of Hawkins' opponents for selection was future Speaker John Bercow, selected for Buckingham the same day.[3]

In 1999 then-party chairman Michael Ancram intervened to prevent a move to deselect Hawkins following local party disquiet about him leaving his wife of 20 years for a local councillor.[4][5] In 2004, the Conservative constituency association, then the richest in the country, deselected Hawkins for the next election, following accusations of racism, in the hope of obtaining an MP of cabinet calibre.[6][7]

Until the 2019 general election, the constituency was seen as one of the Conservative Party's safest seats. This election saw an unexpected 11.1% swing to the Liberal Democrats' candidate Al Pinkerton, polling the second-highest second place since the constituency's creation, with Labour recording the lowest share of the vote since the seat's creation.

Boundaries

Map of 1997–2024 boundaries

Fourth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies

Surrey Heath as a seat and heath occupies much of the northwest corner of the county. From its inception in 1997 until 2024, it covered the Borough of Surrey Heath and the Guildford wards knows as 'The Ashes'.:[8]

2023 Boundary review

Since the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, the constituency from the 2024 United Kingdom general election has the following wards:

Surrey Heath Borough – all wards.

Guildford Borough – Normandy and Pirbright. (The two wards were amalgamated into one two-member ward, after the review began, so figure individually in the review and Statutory Instrument.)

The electorate is cut by one ward to bring it within the permitted range: by transferring the three Guildford Borough wards which constitute Ash to a new seat, Godalming and Ash; and adding the two small wards of Normandy and Pirbright that lay in the Woking seat.

Constituency profile

70% of homes were detached or semi-detached at the 2011 census. The detached percentage (45.2%) was at that time the second highest in the South East, behind the New Forest.[9] The area is well connected to London Heathrow Airport, IT, telecommunications and logistics centres of the M3 and M4 corridors, and to the military towns of Aldershot and Sandhurst. Farnborough, with its civil, private aviation base with certain military uses, is also nearby, as is Blackbushe Airport.

Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 1.7% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.[10]

According to the British Election Study, it was the most right-wing seat in the UK as at 2014.[11]

Constituents on balance voted to leave the European Union in 2016 but an analysis of YouGov polling by Focaldata suggested support for remain rose from 48% then to 50.2% in August 2018.[12]

Surrey Heath is seen as the Liberal Democrats' 60th target seat under new boundary changes,[13] having taken control in 2023 ending a 49 years of continuous Conservative administration[14] and pushed the Conservatives to the lowest number of councillors on Guildford Borough Council since its creation in 1973.[15]

Members of Parliament

North West Surrey, Guildford and Woking prior to 1997

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

See also

Notes

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

References

  1. ^ "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition – South East". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  2. ^ "General Election Results, 9 April 1992" (PDF). House of Commons Library. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 October 2010. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
  3. ^ "BBC NEWS - UK - UK Politics - The John Bercow story". news.bbc.co.uk. 24 June 2009. Archived from the original on 29 August 2017. Retrieved 24 June 2009.
  4. ^ "Tory MP deselected for 'neglect of voters'". The Independent. 9 April 2004. Archived from the original on 15 February 2022. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  5. ^ Kite, Melissa (3 April 2004). "A Surrey saga of intrigue as Tories in one of Britain's safest seats attempt to deselect their MP". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 1 March 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  6. ^ Melissa Kite (27 June 2004). "Surrey Heath members believe that their money ought to be able to buy a future prime minister". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  7. ^ "Senior Tory kicked out by party". 8 April 2004. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  8. ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1995". legislation.gov.uk. 28 June 1995. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  9. ^ "2011 census interactive maps". Archived from the original on 29 January 2016.
  10. ^ Unemployment claimants by constituency Archived 2 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine The Guardian
  11. ^ Wheeler, Brian (1 December 2014). "The strange truth about how and why we vote". BBC News. Archived from the original on 7 December 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  12. ^ Savage, Michael (11 August 2018). "More than 100 seats that backed Brexit now want to remain in EU". The Observer. Archived from the original on 18 August 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  13. ^ "Liberal Democrat Targets Seats 2024 - Election Polling". www.electionpolling.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 July 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  14. ^ "Michael Gove's local council 'faces bankruptcy within two years', due to Tories' 'horrific financial mismanagement'". LBC. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  15. ^ McKeon, Christopher (5 May 2019). "How Guildford's Tories collapsed under Brexit and Local Plan". getsurrey. Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  16. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 6)
  17. ^ "Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidates". Mark Pack. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  18. ^ Surrey Heath Conservatives [@SHCA_news] (4 June 2024). "We are delighted to announce the Ed McGuinness has been selected as the Parliamentary candidate for Surrey Heath…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  19. ^ "Surrey Heath Constituency". Reform UK. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  20. ^ Surrey Heath Labour [@LabourHeath] (17 May 2024). "Congratulations to the amazing Jess Hammersley-Rich (@JessHammersleyR) on being selected as our Labour candidate in Surrey Heath!…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  21. ^ Jon Campbell 🇺🇦 [@jcampbellffc] (24 May 2024). "Pleased to announce that I have been selected as the @TheGreenParty candidate for Surrey Heath" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  22. ^ "Surrey heath". BBC News. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  23. ^ "Notional results for a UK general election on 12 December 2019". Rallings & Thrasher, Professor David Denver (Scotland), Nicholas Whyte (NI) for Sky News, PA, BBC News and ITV News. UK Parliament. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  24. ^ "STATEMENT OF PERSONS NOMINATED, NOTICE OF POLL AND SITUATION OF POLLING STATIONS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  25. ^ "Loony Party Candidates". Archived from the original on 18 January 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  26. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  27. ^ webteam, Surrey Heath UKIP. "Leave the EU - Surrey Heath Constituency UKIP branch. News, articles, videos, policies, join, in.camberley, frimley, bagshot, chobham, bisley, mytchett". surreyheathukip.org.uk. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  28. ^ "Kimberley Lawson PPC page". Green Party of England and Wales. Archived from the original on 20 September 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  29. ^ Clark, Nick (3 December 2014). "Bob and Roberta Smith will run against Michael Gove at the election on culture platform". Independent. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  30. ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  31. ^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  32. ^ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  33. ^ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

Sources

External links

51°19′N 0°41′W / 51.32°N 0.68°W / 51.32; -0.68