Harlow (UK Parliament constituency)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Harlow County constituency

Harlow shown within Essex, and Essex shown within England
Created:	1974
MP:	Bill Rammell
Party:	Labour
Type:	House of Commons
County:	Essex
EP constituency:	East of England

Harlow 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
2 History
3 Members of Parliament
4 Election results
5 See also
6 External link

[edit] Boundaries

Containing the new town of Harlow, this has become a marginal seat despite its large percentage of public sector housing, which should make it safely Labour. It isn't though, thanks to the unpredictablity of voters in such constituencies as this, and the Tories came desperately close to regaining it again in 2005, only foiled by the near 2,000 gathered by United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) and Robert Kilroy-Silk's newly formed breakaway Veritas party.

[edit] History

This was the last constituency declared in the 2005 General Election. The second recount was suspended at 6:00am on May 6th due to staff being too tired to continue, and was resumed at 10:00am on May 7th. The Labour majority of 97 was smaller than the UKIP vote, leading some to suggest that the late UKIP entry had cost the Conservatives the seat.

The bold lines are how votes actually changed in Harlow, and the dotted lines are what would have happened according to national results.

[edit] Members of Parliament

1974 – 1983: Stanley Newens, Labour Co-operative
1983 – 1997: Jerry Hayes, Conservative
1997 – "present": Bill Rammell, Labour

[edit] Election results

[edit] Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Harlow
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bill Rammell	16,453	41.4	-6.4
	Conservative	Robert Halfon	16,356	41.2	+6.4
	Liberal Democrats	Lorna Spenceley	5,002	12.6	-0.8
	UK Independence	John Felgate	981	2.5	-0.5
	Veritas	Anthony Bennett	941	2.4	+2.4
Majority			97	0.2
Turnout			39,733	62.6	+2.9
	Labour hold		Swing	-6.4%

General Election 2001: Harlow
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bill Rammell	19,169	47.8	-6.3
	Conservative	Robert Halfon	13,941	34.8	+2.7
	Liberal Democrats	Lorna Spenceley	5,381	13.4	+4.0
	UK Independence	Tony Bennett	1,223	3.0	+2.3
	Socialist Alliance	John Hobbs	401	1.0	N/A
Majority			5,228	13.0
Turnout			40,115	59.7	-14.6
	Labour hold		Swing

[edit] Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Harlow
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bill Rammell	25,861	54.1	+12.3
	Conservative	Jerry Hayes	15,347	32.1	−14.9
	Liberal Democrats	Lorna Spenceley	4,523	9.5	−1.8
	Referendum Party	Mark Wells	1,422	3.0	N/A
	UK Independence	Gerard Batten	340	0.7	N/A
	British National	John Bowles	319	0.7	N/A
Majority			10,514	22.0
Turnout			47,812
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1992: Harlow
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jerry Hayes	26,608	47.0	−0.2
	Labour	Bill Rammell	23,668	41.8	+5.2
	Liberal Democrats	Lorna Spenceley	6,375	11.3	−4.9
Majority			2,940	5.2
Turnout			56,651	82.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	−2.7

[edit] Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Harlow
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jerry Hayes	26,017	47.2	+6.1
	Labour	Stanley Newens	20,140	36.6	+2.3
	Social Democrat	M C Eden-Green	8,915	16.2	−8.0
Majority			5,877	10.7
Turnout			55,072	74.1	−2.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.9

General Election 1983: Harlow
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jerry Hayes	21,924	41.1	+1.0
	Labour	Stanley Newens	18,250	34.2	−8.5
	Liberal	J Bastick	12,891	24.2	+8.6
	Independent		256	0.5	N/A
Majority			3,674	6.9
Turnout			53,321	76.5	−2.2
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+4.8

[edit] Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Harlow
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stanley Newens	22,698	42.7	−10.0
	Conservative	J Powley	21,306	40.1	+15.8
	Liberal	R Browne	8,289	15.7	−7.4
Majority			1,392	2.6
Turnout			53,133	78.7	+3.5
	Labour hold		Swing	−12.9

General Election October 1974: Harlow
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stanley Newens	24,961	52.7	+3.2
	Conservative	J E Smith	11,510	24.3	−0.7
	Liberal	B Goldstone	10,869	23.0	−2.5
Majority			13,451	28.4
Turnout			47,340	75.2	−8.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.0

General Election February 1974: Harlow
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stanley Newens	25,814	49.5
	Liberal	B Goldstone	13,280	25.5
	Conservative	J E Smith	13,016	25.0	−
Majority			12,534	24.1
Turnout			52,110	24.1	83.9
	Labour hold		Swing

Preceded by: Epping	UK Parliament constituency 1974–	Succeeded by: Current Incumbent

[edit] See also

List of Parliamentary constituencies in Essex

[edit] External link

BBC News coverage

Constituencies in the East of England
Conservative	Billericay \| Braintree \| Brentwood and Ongar \| Broxbourne \| Bury St Edmunds \| Castle Point \| Central Suffolk and North Ipswich \| Epping Forest \| Harwich \| Hemel Hempstead \| Hertford and Stortford \| Hertsmere \| Hitchin and Harpenden \| Huntingdon \| Maldon and East Chelmsford \| Mid Bedfordshire \| Mid Norfolk \| North Essex \| North East Bedfordshire \| North East Cambridgeshire \| North East Hertfordshire \| North West Cambridgeshire \| North West Norfolk \| Peterborough \| Rayleigh \| Rochford and Southend East \| Saffron Walden \| Southend West \| South Cambridgeshire \| South East Cambridgeshire \| South Norfolk \| South Suffolk \| South West Bedfordshire \| South West Hertfordshire \| South West Norfolk \| St Albans \| Suffolk Coastal \| Welwyn Hatfield \| West Chelmsford \| West Suffolk
Labour	Basildon \| Bedford \| Great Yarmouth \| Harlow \| Ipswich \| Luton North \| Luton South \| Norwich North \| Norwich South \| Stevenage \| Thurrock \| Watford \| Waveney
Liberal Democrat	Cambridge \| Colchester \| North Norfolk
East of England European constituency: Conservative (3) \| UKIP (2) \| Labour (1) \| Liberal Democrats (1)