Crawley is a constituency in West Sussex represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Peter Lamb of the Labour Party.

Constituency profile

The Crawley constituency is located in West Sussex. It covers the large town of Crawley and is coterminous with its borough. Traditionally a rural market town, Crawley grew rapidly after World War II when it was designated as a new town to accommodate the London overspill. The constituency includes Gatwick Airport, the country's second-busiest airport and a significant local employer. Deprivation in the town is above average, particularly in the neighbourhoods of Broadfield and Bewbush, whilst the village of Worth is in the 10% least-deprived areas of England.

On average, residents of Crawley are young and have low levels of education and professional employment compared to nationwide figures. At the local council level, most of the town is represented by Labour Party councillors whilst the wealthier areas in the south-east of the town elected Conservatives. An estimated 58% of voters in Crawley favoured leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum, a higher percentage than the country as a whole (52%).

History

Contents and context

Before the 1983 general election, Crawley had been part of the Horsham & Crawley, Horsham, and Horsham & Worthing constituencies at times. Due to the growth of Crawley, which was a small town, into a substantial new town in the 1960s and 70s, the Boundary Commission took the decision to separate it from Horsham in 1983 and create a new seat.

Political history

The constituency of Crawley is a bellwether seat, having elected an MP from the Party which won each general election since its creation in 1983. Its first MP was Conservative Nicholas Soames, a grandson of former prime minister Sir Winston Churchill. Having been re-elected in 1987 and 1992, he stood down for the 1997 election and was selected for and won the neighbouring seat of Mid Sussex, which he continued to represent until his retirement in 2019.

The seat was subsequently won by Laura Moffatt of the Labour Party with 'safe' majorities in 1997 and 2001. Labour retained the seat with the most marginal result in 2005 with a margin of only 37 votes.

In the 2010 election Conservative, Henry Smith, won the seat having twice failed, by 5,928 votes. He gained a not unprecedented (averaged two-party) swing of 6.3%. Smith's later majorities have been 6,526 in 2015; and 2,459 in 2017, elections where the Liberal Democrats, Scepanovic, along with the 2017 candidate for East Worthing and Shoreham in West Sussex lost their deposits by failing to attract 5% of the vote. In 2019, the Liberal Democrat Candidate, Khalil Yousuf increased the Liberal Democrat vote share by 1.7% against the last election, keeping their deposit.

Smith won again in 2019 with an increased majority over Labour candidate Peter Lamb. In 2024, Smith stood down and Lamb captured the seat after the Conservative vote more than halved.

Members of Parliament

Horsham & Crawley and Mid Sussex prior to 1983

{| class="wikitable"

|-

!colspan="2"|Election!!Member

!Party

|-

|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |

| 1983

| Nicholas Soames

| Conservative

|-

|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |

| 1997

| Laura Moffatt

| Labour

|-

|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |

| 2010

| Henry Smith

| Conservative

|-

| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |

|2024

|Peter Lamb

|Labour

|}

Elections

thumb|centre|750px|Election results 1983-2024

Elections in the 2020s

Elections in the 2010s

The Brexit Party announced Wayne Bayley as their candidate, but he was withdrawn as part of the UK-wide Brexit Party decision not to oppose sitting Conservative candidates.

The Green Party announced Richard Kail as their candidate, but he did not stand. UKIP also decided not to stand a candidate for the first time since 1997.

The Christian Peoples Alliance announced Katherine Mills as candidate, but she did not stand.

Elections in the 1990s

This constituency underwent boundary changes between the 1992 and 1997 general<br />elections and thus change in share of vote is based on a notional calculation.

Elections in the 1980s

See also

  • parliamentary constituencies in West Sussex
  • List of parliamentary constituencies in the South East England (region)

Notes

References

Sources

  • Election result, 2005 (BBC)
  • Election results, 1997 – 2001 (BBC)
  • Election results, 1997 – 2001 (Election Demon)
  • Election results, 1983 – 1992 (Election Demon)
  • Election results, 1992 – 2005 (Guardian)
  • Crawley UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK
  • Crawley UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
  • Crawley UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK