Cities of London and Westminster (UK Parliament constituency)

Cities of London and Westminster
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons

Boundary of Cities of London and Westminster in Greater London.
County Greater London
Electorate 65,140 (December 2010)[1]
Current constituency
Created 1950 (1950)
Member of Parliament Mark Field (Conservative)
Number of members One
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency London

Cities of London and Westminster is a borough constituency covering the area comprising the City of London and southern portion of the City of Westminster in Central London. It returns one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Contents

Boundaries

The constituency was created in 1950 by the merger of the former seats of City of London and Westminster Abbey. It was named 'City of London and Westminster South' from 1974 to 1997.

From 1983 to 1997 the following twelve wards of the City of Westminster were part of the constituency: Baker Street, Belgrave, Bryanston, Cavendish, Churchill, Hyde Park, Knightsbridge, Millbank, St George’s, St James’s, Victoria, and West End.

The seat covers the entire City of London and most of the City of Westminster lying South of the Marylebone Road and the Westway. In Westminster it covers the areas of Westminster, Pimlico, Victoria, Belgravia, Knightsbridge, St. James's, Soho, parts of Covent Garden, parts of Fitzrovia, Marylebone, Edgware Road, Paddington and Bayswater.

In the London Assembly, the area of the seat in the City of London is covered by the City and East constituency, and the area in Westminster by the West Central constituency.

Boundary review

The Boundary Commission for England has formed two constituencies without pairing with another London Borough following their review of parliamentary representation in North London. The Bayswater area was removed from this constituency and paired with those portions of Regent's Park and Kensington North which were within the City of Westminster to reform the Westminster North seat which existed prior to 1997. The remainder of the constituency is Cities of London and Westminster, which was also the case prior to 1997.

The electoral wards used in the creation of the modified Cities of London and Westminster constituency are:

Constituency profile

The constituency covers much of the commercial, historical and touristic heart of London, including the Square Mile, St. Paul's Cathedral, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park.

Few people actually live in the City of London's financial district and in the West End. Mayfair, Belgravia and Knightsbridge rank among Europe's wealthiest residential districts but around half the electorate are in the more socially mixed areas of Bayswater and Pimlico, or the former council estates of Westminster proper.

At the 1997 general election, a Labour landslide, the constituency returned a Conservative MP by a majority of four thousand, making it a safe Conservative seat.

Members of Parliament

This seat has been represented by Mark Field since the 2001 general election.

Election Member [2] Party
1950 Sir Harold Webbe Conservative
1959 Sir Harry Hylton-Foster Conservative then Speaker
1965 by-election John Smith Conservative
1970 Christopher Tugendhat Conservative
February 1974 constituency renamed 'City of London and Westminster South'
February 1974 Christopher Tugendhat Conservative
1977 by-election Peter Brooke Conservative
1997 constituency renamed 'Cities of London and Westminster'
1997 Peter Brooke Conservative
2001 Mark Field Conservative

Election results

General Election 2010: Cities of London and Westminster[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Mark Field 19,264 52.2 +3.9
Labour Dave Rowntree 8,188 22.2 -3.1
Liberal Democrat Naomi Smith 7,574 20.5 +2.0
Green Derek Chase 778 2.1 -2.2
UKIP Paul Weston 664 1.8 +0.7
English Democrats Frank Roseman 191 0.5 N/A
Independent Dennis Delderfield 98 0.3 N/A
Pirate Jack Nunn 90 0.2 N/A
Independent Mad Cap'n Tom 84 0.2 N/A
Majority 11,076 30.0
Turnout 36,931 55.5 +4.4
Conservative hold Swing +3.5
General Election 2005: Cities of London and Westminster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Mark Field 17,260 47.3 +1.0
Labour Hywel Lloyd 9,165 25.1 −8.0
Liberal Democrat Marie-Louise Rossi 7,306 20.0 +4.6
Green Tristan Smith 1,544 4.2 +0.3
UKIP Colin Merton 399 1.1 –0.3
Independent Brian Haw 298 0.8 N/A
Christian Peoples Jillian McLachlan 246 0.7 N/A
Veritas David Harris 218 0.6 N/A
Independent Cass Cass-Horne 51 0.1 N/A
Majority 8,095 22.2
Turnout 36,487 50.3 +3.1
Conservative hold Swing +4.5
General Election 2001: Cities of London and Westminster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Mark Field 15,737 46.3 –0.9
Labour Mike Katz 11,238 33.1 –2.0
Liberal Democrat Martin Horwood 5,218 15.4 +3.1
Green Hugo Charlton 1,318 3.9 N/A
UKIP Colin Merton 464 1.4 +0.8
Majority 4,499 13.2
Turnout 33,975 47.2 –7.0
Conservative hold Swing +0.5
General Election 1997: Cities of London and Westminster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Peter Brooke 18,981 47.3 N/A
Labour Kate Green 14,100 35.1 N/A
Liberal Democrat Michael Dumigan 4,933 12.3 N/A
Referendum Party Alan Walters 1,161 2.9 N/A
Independent P. Wharton 266 0.7 N/A
UKIP Colin Merton 215 0.5 N/A
Natural Law R. Johnson 176 0.4 N/A
Monster Raving Loony N. Walsh 138 0.3 N/A
Hemp Coalition G. Webster 112 0.3 N/A
Rainbow Dream Ticket Jerry Sadowitz 73 0.2 N/A
Majority 4,881 N/A
Turnout 58.2 N/A

See also

References

  1. ^ "Electorate Figures". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. http://www.boundarycommissionforengland.org.uk/electoral-figures/electoral-figures.htm. Retrieved 13 March 2011. 
  2. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 4)
  3. ^ Notice of Poll - Cities of London and Westminster Westminster City Council, 20 April 2010
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Cirencester and Tewkesbury
Constituency represented by the Speaker
1959–1965
Succeeded by
Southampton Itchen