Croydon South is a constituency recreated in 1974 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Chris Philp, a Conservative. A constituency named Croydon South with entirely different boundaries originally existed from 1918 to 1950 and 1955 to 1974.
History
Croydon South was first created under the Representation of the People Act 1918 when the existing Parliamentary Borough of Croydon was split between North and South divisions. Under the Representation of the People Act 1948, which came into effect for the 1950 general election, the seat was abolished as the County Borough of Croydon was split between Croydon East and Croydon West. The seat was then re-established for the 1955 general election when Croydon was split into three parliamentary seats - North East, North West and South.
In 1965, the County Borough was combined with the Coulsdon and Purley Urban District to form the London Borough of Croydon. However, this local government reorganisation was not reflected in the parliamentary boundaries until the February 1974 election. Under the Second Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the existing Croydon South constituency was effectively replaced by Croydon Central. A reconfigured Croydon South constituency was formed, primarily comprising the area which constituted the former Urban District of Coulsden and Purley, which had previously formed the majority of the East Surrey constituency.
The seat has continued in existence since 1974 with relatively minor boundary changes.
Political history
A seat called "Croydon South" was first created for the 1918 general election when the County Borough of Croydon had grown so the Croydon seat was split into two seats. The first MP was Ian Malcolm, who had been the MP for all of Croydon. H.T. Muggeridge, father of Malcolm Muggeridge, fought the seat for Labour four times from 1918, later becoming MP for Romford. The seat saw a by-election in 1932, won by Herbert Williams.
From 1950 until 1955 the seat was divided into east and west, represented by Conservatives Herbert Williams and Richard Thompson respectively.
Croydon South had twice seen Croydon's only Labour MPs before the 1990s. David Rees-Williams held the seat from the 1945 Labour landslide until unfavourable boundary changes in 1950. David Winnick won the seat in 1966 before losing in 1970. Otherwise the seat, and indeed the rest of Croydon, had always been firm Conservative territory.
In 1974 a fresh seat of Croydon South was created to the south predominantly from the northwestern part of East Surrey, covering Purley and Coulsdon, which had become parts of Greater London in 1965, rather than from the historic Croydon South. The pre-1974 Croydon South was renamed to Croydon Central.
Since 1974, the constituency has been represented by three Conservative MPs. Sir William Clark, who had represented East Surrey since 1970, won the new seat in February 1974, and held it until his retirement in 1992. His successor, Sir Richard Ottaway, then held the seat until 2015, when he stood down and was succeeded by Chris Philp. Boundary changes have been minor and the 2015 result made the seat the 145th safest of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority. At the 2015 general election, it was one of the Conservatives' safest seats in Greater London. Philp held the seat at the 2024 general election on a substantially reduced majority of just over 2,000, the lowest majority since the seat was created.
Constituency profile
Croydon South consists of affluent suburbia, including a significant minority of large houses with gardens on the North Downs escarpment. It has many well-to-do commuters taking advantage of the fast trains to the City and Gatwick Airport, plus a significant proportion of retired people. Included are the suburbs of Purley and Kenley, home to the Kenley Aerodrome
The village-like Selsdon – one of the few places in the seat where transport links are poor – has a place on the political map having spawned the phrase 'Selsdon Man', its swing and voters first seen as an ideal bellwether for the national swing by the Conservative Party. The Purley Way, which runs mainly through Waddon, has become home to large retail estates for out-of-town shopping and leisure. Prior to 2018 Waddon was the sole Labour ward in the constituency – one of its councillors, Andrew Pelling, the former Conservative MP for Croydon Central, defected to the Labour Party.
Boundary changes before the 2024 election removed both Selsdon and Waddon from the seat and added the Park Hill & Whitgift ward, close to Croydon Town centre.
At the southern end of the constituency, Coulsdon has much in common with the county of Surrey of which it was historically a part until 1965.
In 1966, 2.5% of the constituency was born in the New Commonwealth.
Boundaries
Pre-1974
{| class=wikitable
!Dates!!Local authority
!Maps!!Wards
|-
|1918-1950||rowspan="2"|County Borough of Croydon
|frameless||Central, East, South, and West.
|-
|1955-1974
|frameless||Addington, Broad Green, Central, Shirley, South, and Waddon.
|}
In 1965, local government in Greater London was re-organised. This constituency was contained entirely within the new London Borough of Croydon from 1965, but new Constituency Boundaries would not take effect until 1974.
Post-1974
{| class=wikitable style="width:70%; background-color: white"
!Dates!!Local authority
!Maps!!Wards
|-
|1974–1983||rowspan="5"|London Borough of Croydon
|frameless||Coulsdon East, Purley, Sanderstead and Selsdon, Sanderstead North, Woodcote and Coulsdon West
|-
|1983–1997
| ||Coulsdon East, Croham, Kenley, Purley, Sanderstead, Selsdon, Woodcote and Coulsdon West
|-
|1997–2010
|frameless||Coulsdon East, Croham, Kenley, Purley, Sanderstead, Selsdon, Waddon, Woodcote and Coulsdon West
|-
|2010–2024
|frameless||Coulsdon East, Coulsdon West, Croham, Kenley, Purley, Sanderstead, Selsdon and Ballards, Waddon
|-
|2024–present
|frameless||Coulsdon Town, Kenley, Old Coulsdon, Park Hill & Whitgift, Purley & Woodcote, Purley Oaks & Riddlesdown, Sanderstead, South Croydon
|}
Members of Parliament
MPs 1918–1950
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="2" | Election !! Name!! Party !! Notes
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1918
| Ian Malcolm
| Conservative
| Member for Croydon (1910–1918)
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1919 by-election
| Allan Smith
| Conservative
|
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1923
| William Mitchell-Thomson
| Conservative
| Raised to the peerage in January 1932
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1932 by-election
| Herbert Williams
| Conservative
| Member for Reading (1924–1929)
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1945
| David Rees-Williams
| Labour
|Contested Croydon West following redistribution
|-
|colspan="2" | 1950
|colspan="3" | Constituency abolished
|}
From 1950 to 1955 the seat was divided into Croydon East and Croydon West.
MPs 1955–1974
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="2" | Election !! Name!! Party!! Notes
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1955
| Richard Thompson
| Conservative
| Member for Croydon West (1950–1955)
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1966
| David Winnick
| Labour
|
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1970
| Richard Thompson
| Conservative
|
|-
|colspan="2" |Feb 1974
|colspan="3" | Constituency abolished: see Croydon Central
|}
MPs 1974–
{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="2"|Election
!Member
!Party
!Notes
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| February 1974
| Sir William Clark
| Conservative
| Member for East Surrey (1970–1974)
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1992
| Richard Ottaway
| Conservative
| Member for Nottingham North (1983–1987)<br>Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment (2004–2005)
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 2015
| Chris Philp
| Conservative
| Chief Secretary to the Treasury (2022)<br>Shadow Leader of the House of Commons (2024)<br>Shadow Home Secretary (2024–present)
|}
Election results
thumb|centre|upright=2.5|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| 27,725 ||align=right| 54.5
|-
|
| Labour ||align=right| 14,317 ||align=right| 28.1
|-
|
| Liberal Democrats ||align=right| 6,885 ||align=right| 13.5
|-
|
| Green ||align=right| 1,466 ||align=right| 2.9
|-
|
| Others ||align=right| 442 ||align=right| 0.9
|-
|
| Brexit Party ||align=right| 59 ||align=right| 0.1
|-
|colspan="4" bgcolor="#EAECF0"|
|-
|colspan="2"|Turnout
|align=right|50,894
|align=right|71.1
|-
|colspan="2"|Electorate
|align=right|71,541
|}
Elections in the 2000s
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="4" | 2005 notional result
|-
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="130px" colspan="2" | Party
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="50px" | Vote
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="30px" | %
|-
|
| Conservative ||align=right| 26,478 ||align=right| 52.0
|-
|
| Labour ||align=right| 12,250 ||align=right| 24.1
|-
|
| Liberal Democrats ||align=right| 10,400 ||align=right| 20.4
|-
|
| UKIP ||align=right| 1,104 ||align=right|2.2
|-
|
| Others ||align=right| 682 ||align=right| 1.3
|-
|colspan="4" bgcolor="#EAECF0"|
|-
|colspan="2"|Turnout
|align=right|50,914
|align=right|63.4
|-
|colspan="2"|Electorate
|align=right|80,253
|}
Elections in the 1990s
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="4" | 1992 notional result
|-
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="130px" colspan="2" | Party
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="50px" | Vote
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="30px" | %
|-
|
| Conservative ||align=right| 35,937 ||align=right| 61.7
|-
|
| Liberal Democrats ||align=right| 12,599 ||align=right| 21.6
|-
|
| Labour ||align=right| 9,513 ||align=right| 16.3
|-
|
| Others ||align=right| 242 ||align=right| 0.4
|-
|colspan="4" bgcolor="#EAECF0"|
|-
|colspan="2"|Turnout
|align=right|58,291
|align=right|78.0
|-
|colspan="2"|Electorate
|align=right|74,777
|}