Uxbridge and South Ruislip (UK Parliament constituency)

Uxbridge and South Ruislip is a constituency^{[n 1]} created in 2010, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Boris Johnson, a Conservative.

Johnson is currently the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary in the cabinet, where he has served since 13 July 2016. Boris is also the former Mayor of London where he served from 2008 to 2016. ^{[n 2]}

History

Most of the constituency came from that of Uxbridge which was first established under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, however parts of the seat came from Ruislip-Northwood and Hayes and Harlington, both of which had been carved out of the Uxbridge seat in 1950. The 1950 changes reflecting the growth in population across the area during the period from 1918, the previous national reorganisation of seats.

Political history

The Conservative party won in 2010 and 2015 by a margin of about 25%, and since 1970 the fourteen parliamentary elections in this constituency and its predecessor (the constituency of Uxbridge) were won by the Conservatives. The 2015 result gave the seat the 149th most marginal majority of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority.^[2]

In 2010 for the locally selected Conservative standing John Randall, born in Uxbridge, the one-party swing in the seat was 0.1% greater than that seen nationally — enough on the newly drawn constituency boundaries to provide 48.3% of the vote, and a majority of more than 11,000 votes. In the 2010 and 2015 elections three (of 8 and 13 candidates respectively) attained 5% of the vote or more, to retain their deposits.

In 2015, Boris Johnson was selected to retain the seat; he was elected with a swing of less than 1% to Labour. However, the 2017 election saw a 6.5% swing to Labour which brought Johnson's majority down to only 5,034, less than half his 2015 margin and by far the lowest for a Conservative candidate in the area since 2001. This was in keeping with the large swing to Labour in most of Greater London, and could indicate the area becoming an important target for Labour if they are to win a Parliamentary majority in future.

Boundaries

The boundaries of the constituency changed prior to the general election in 2010 as Parliament approved the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies. Ickenham and parts of West Ruislip were allocated to the Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner new seat. Treating the constituency as the direct successor to the Uxbridge seat, it gained the electoral wards:

• Cavendish, South Ruislip and Manor.^[3]

The seat comprises the following electoral wards;

• Brunel, Cavendish, Hillingdon East, Manor, South Ruislip, Uxbridge North, Uxbridge South, and Yiewsley in the London Borough of Hillingdon

The Boundary Commission for England 2018 review (see also Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies) has provisionally recommended that the successor for the current constituency, shall duly be named Hillingdon and Uxbridge:

• Brunel, Harefield, Hillingdon East, Ickenham, South Ruislip, Uxbridge North & Uxbridge South from the London Borough of Hillingdon and Northolt Mandeville & Northolt West End from the London Borough of Ealing ^[4][5]

Constituency profile

The seat has five tube stations with the boundary passing through two more, and spacious urban districts of Outer London. The area, in contrast to Hayes and inner western suburbs, is without brutalist tower blocks, and is instead beside the Colne Valley regional park. The highest density of buildings is found close to historic Uxbridge town centre, a London hub in a seat that is ethnically diverse and prosperous, including on its outskirts Brunel University, with most electoral wards voting Conservative with the exception of Uxbridge South, which returns Labour councillors. Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.6% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.^[6]

Members of Parliament

John Randall, MP for the seat since its creation in 2010 and for the old Uxbridge seat since a by-election in 1997, announced in July 2014 that he would be retiring at the May 2015 general election.^[7] On 12 September 2014 Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, was selected to be the Conservative candidate at the general election.^[8] Johnson has been Foreign Secretary under Prime Minister Theresa May since July 2016.

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

Source: BBC News^[20]

* Served as an MP in the 2005–2010 Parliament

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London

Notes and references

Notes

References

Coordinates: 51°32′N 0°26′W / 51.54°N 0.44°W / 51.54; -0.44