Battersea (UK Parliament constituency)

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Battersea
Borough constituency
Battersea shown within Greater London
Created: 1885, 1983
MP: Martin Linton
Party: Labour
Type: House of Commons
County: Greater London
EP constituency: London

Battersea is a constituency located in Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Contents

[edit] Boundaries

Battersea is an unusually-shaped constituency due to it following the Thames as it snakes into and out of central London, covering the north-eastern third of the London Borough of Wandsworth.

It takes in all of the district of Battersea including the park and riverside, and stretches out eastwards to include Nine Elms and Queenstown; and westwards to include most of Wandsworth town, including the riverside, the Town Hall and East Hill. But Battersea also stretches south between Wandsworth Common and Clapham Common to include Balham ward, which is actually only the eastern end of Balham (the rest being in Tooting). It is no longer the safe Labour seat it used to be as the area had a considerable influx of young professionals, or yuppies, in the mid 1980's which swung it towards the Conservatives. It returned to Labour in 1997, but had a very meagre majority for them in 2005.

It is bordered by the constituencies of-

[edit] Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in South London the Boundary Commission for England has created a modified Battersea constituency from the following electoral wards:

  • Balham, Fairfield, Latchmere, Northcote, Queenstown, St Mary’s Park, Shaftesbury.

[edit] History

Battersea constituency was created in 1983 by merging the old Battersea North and Battersea South constituencies (some areas of Battersea South became part of the adjoining Tooting constituency). Alf Dubs, who had previously been MP for Battersea South, won the constituency for the Labour Party in 1983 and the Conservative candidate John Bowis won in 1987 and 1992. Martin Linton won it back for the Labour Party in 1997 and has held the seat ever since.

Battersea was also a constituency between 1885 and 1918, when it was divided into North and South divisions. From 1892 the MP was John Burns.

In the 2005 election, Linton's majority was slashed and he now has the fourth smallest Labour party majority in the country.

[edit] Trivia

In 2001, the candidate T.E Barber used the candidate description "No fruit out of context party", and advocated the end of, amongst other crimes against food, pineapples on pizza. (David Boothroyd

The old Battersea North seat is one of only two seats in London to have had a Communist MP Shapurji Saklatvala represented the area from 1922 to 1929. A wealthy aristocratic Indian he was not only one of the first Communists ever elected to the House of Commons but also only the third from a minority ethnic background. At first, Saklatvala had local Labour party support but then stood as a Communist in 1924 with local Labour party backing. However, the national party stepped in to ensure in 1929 that an official Labour candidate stood against him. The Battersea Labour Club had a notice on its notice board up until the 1980s banning Communists from admission to the club.

[edit] Members of Parliament

Currently held by Martin Linton for Labour.

[edit] Election results

[edit] Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Battersea
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Martin Linton 16,569 40.4 -9.9
Conservative Dominic Schofield 16,406 40.0 +3.5
Liberal Democrats Norsheen Bhatti 6,006 14.6 +2.5
Green Hugo Charlton 1,735 4.2 +4.2
UK Independence Terry Jones 333 0.8 +0.8
Majority 163 0.4
Turnout 41,049 59.0 +4.5
Labour hold Swing
General Election 2001: Battersea
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Martin Linton 18,498 50.3 -0.5
Conservative Lucy Shersby 13,445 36.5 -2.9
Liberal Democrats Siobhan Vitelli 4,450 12.1 +4.7
Independent Thomas Barber 411 1.1 N/A
Majority 5,053 13.7
Turnout 36,804 54.5 -16.3
Labour hold Swing

[edit] Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Battersea
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Martin Linton 24,047 50.74 +9.5
Conservative John Bowis 18,687 39.43 −11.1
Liberal Democrats Paula Keaveney 3,482 7.35 +0.3
Referendum Party M. Slater 804 1.70 +1.7
UK Independence A. Banks 250 0.53 +0.5
Rainbow Dream Ticket J. Marshall 127 0.3 +0.3
Majority 5,360 11.31
Turnout 47,397 70.85 −6.1
Labour gain from Conservative Swing +10.20
General Election 1992: Battersea
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Bowis 26,390 50.48 +6.2
Labour Alf Dubs 21,550 41.22 −1.2
Liberal Democrats R O'Brien 3,659 7.00 −4.9
Green I. Wingrove 584 1.12 −0.1
Natural Law W. Stevens 98 0.19 +0.2
Majority 4,840 9.26
Turnout 52,281 76.64 −5.3
Conservative hold Swing +3.7

[edit] Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Battersea
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Bowis 20,945 44.24 +7.8
Labour Alf Dubs 20,088 42.43 −1.5
Social Democrat D. I. Harries 5,634 11.90 −5.6
Green S. G. Willington 559 1.18 +0.3
Workers' Revolutionary A. B. Bell 116 0.25 +0.3
Majority 857 1.81
Turnout 47,342 70.68 +4.3
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +4.6
General Election 1983: Battersea
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Alf Dubs 19,248 43.8 −6.4
Conservative Rupert Allason 15,972 36.4 −2.4
Social Democrat M. Harris 7,675 17.5 +9.4
National Front S. G. Willington 539 1.2 −1.0
Ecology S. G. Willington 377 0.9 N/A
Campaign for Black & White Unity T. Jackson 86 0.2 N/A
Communist K. Purie-Harwell 22 0.1 N/A
Majority 3,276 7.5
Turnout 43,919 66.6 −3.1
Labour hold Swing −2.0

[edit] Elections in the 1970s

[edit] 1979 Prediction for Battersea boundaries

General Election 1979: Battersea
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour 14,909 50.2
Conservative 11,505 38.8
Liberal 2,412 8.1
National Front 667 2.2
Workers Party 104 0.4
Workers' Revolutionary 47 0.2
Community Party 30 0.1
Majority 3,404 11.5
Turnout 29,674 69.7
Labour hold Swing


[edit] See also

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)
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