Beaconsfield () is a constituency in Buckinghamshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Joy Morrissey of the Conservative Party. She succeeded Independent and former Conservative Dominic Grieve, whom she defeated following his suspension from the party. The constituency was established for the February 1974 general election.
Constituency profile
The Beaconsfield constituency is located in the south of Buckinghamshire. It is mostly rural and contains the towns and villages to the north of Slough, including Beaconsfield, Marlow, Burnham and Bourne End.
The area is highly affluent and its average house price is amongst the highest in the country. Residents are generally older, wealthier and more likely to work in professional jobs than national averages. The constituency is more ethnically diverse than the country as a whole; 13% of the population are Asian and 4% are Black. At the most recent county council election in 2025, voters primarily elected Conservative or independent councillors. Voters in the constituency are estimated to have been evenly split on European Union membership in the 2016 referendum. Although estimates of the constituency results have not been confirmed, the official UK Electoral Commission EU referendum results detail the area of South Buckinghamshire, which contains the Beaconsfield constituency, as voting to leave the EU with a percentage of 50.7%.
Boundaries and boundary changes
1974–1983
- The Urban District of Beaconsfield;
- The Rural District of Eton; and
- The Rural District of Wycombe parishes of Hedsor and Wooburn.
The constituency was formed largely from southern parts of the abolished constituency of South Buckinghamshire (Beaconsfield and the Rural District of Eton). The parishes of Hedsor and Wooburn were transferred from Wycombe.
1983–1997
- The District of South Bucks; and
- The District of Wycombe wards of Bourne End-cum-Hedsor, Flackwell Heath, Loudwater, The Wooburns, and Tylers Green.
Gained areas to the east of High Wycombe (parish of Chepping Wycombe) from Wycombe. The parts of the former Rural District of Eton, including Datchet, which had been transferred from Buckinghamshire to Berkshire by the Local Government Act 1972 were included in the new constituency of East Berkshire.
1997–2010
- The District of South Bucks; and
- The District of Wycombe wards of Bourne End-cum-Hedsor, Flackwell Heath, Little Marlow, Loudwater, The Wooburns, Tylers Green.
Minor change (transfer of Little Marlow from Wycombe).
2010–2024
- The District of South Bucks; and
- The District of Wycombe wards of Bourne End-cum-Hedsor, Flackwell Heath and Little Marlow, Marlow North and West, Marlow South East, The Wooburns.
Marlow transferred from Wycombe.
In April 2020, the Districts of South Bucks and Wycombe, together with those of Aylesbury and Chiltern were merged into the new unitary authority of Buckinghamshire Council. Accordingly, the current contents of the constituency became:
- The Buckinghamshire Council wards of Beaconsfield, Cliveden, Denham, Farnham Common & Burnham Beeches, Flackwell Heath, Little Marlow & Marlow South East, Gerrards Cross, Iver, Marlow, Stoke Poges & Wexham, and The Wooburns, Bourne End & Hedsor.
The seat then consisted of Beaconsfield, most of Burnham (including Burnham Beeches forest), Denham, Dorney, Farnham Common, Farnham Royal, Fulmer, Hedgerley, Iver, Stoke Poges, Taplow and Wexham (excluding Wexham Court); Hedsor, Little Marlow, Marlow, Wooburn and Bourne End and the Flackwell Heath settlement of Chepping Wycombe.
2024–present
Further to the 2023 periodic review of Westminster constituencies which became effective for the 2024 general election, the constituency is composed of the following (as they existed on 1 December 2020):
- The District of Buckinghamshire wards of: Beaconsfield; Cliveden; Denham (polling districts SJ, SJA, SJHD, SK, SKA and SWF); Farnham Common and Burnham Beeches; Flackwell Heath, Little Marlow and Marlow South East; Gerrards Cross (polling districts SB and SFH); Iver; Marlow; Stoke Poges and Wexham; Wooburns, Bourne End and Hedsor.
The electorate was reduced to bring it within the permitted range by transferring the town of Gerrards Cross to Chesham and Amersham.
Members of Parliament
South Buckinghamshire prior to 1974
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="2"|Election!!Member!!Party
|-
|rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| February 1974
|Ronald Bell
|rowspan="3"|Conservative
|-
| 1982 by-election
|Tim Smith
|-
| 1997
| rowspan="2" | Dominic Grieve
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| September 2019
|Independent
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 2019
| Joy Morrissey
| Conservative
|}
Elections
thumb|centre|750px|Election results 1974–2024
Elections in the 2020s
Elections in the 2010s
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="4" | 2019 notional result
|-
!bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="130px" colspan="2" | Party
!bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="50px" | Vote
!bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="30px" | %
|-
|
|Conservative ||align=right| 29,211 ||align=right| 55.5
|-
|
|Others ||align=right| 16,276 ||align=right| 30.9
|-
|
|Labour ||align=right| 5,211 ||align=right| 9.9
|-
|
|Green ||align=right| 1,935 ||align=right| 3.7
|-
|colspan="4" bgcolor="#EAECF0"|
|-
|colspan="2"|Turnout
|align=right|52,633
|align=right|72.8
|-
|colspan="2"|Electorate
|align=right|72,315
|}
Elections in the 2000s
Elections in the 1990s
Elections in the 1980s
<!-- this section is transcluded on Electoral history of Tony Blair -->:
<section begin="By-election 1982"/>
<section end="By-election 1982"/>
Elections in the 1970s
See also
- 1982 Beaconsfield by-election
- List of parliamentary constituencies in Buckinghamshire
- List of parliamentary constituencies in the South East England (region)
Notes
References
Sources
- Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources: UK General Elections since 1832
External links
- Beaconsfield UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK
- Beaconsfield UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
- Beaconsfield UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK