Southend West and Leigh is a constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. In the 2024 general election the seat was won by David Burton-Sampson for Labour. It was previously held by Anna Firth who won the 2022 by-election, following the murder of the incumbent MP, David Amess.
Prior to the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies, coming into effect at the 2024 general election, the constituency was known as Southend West.
History
The constituency was created for the 1950 general election under the Representation of the People Act 1948, when the Parliamentary Borough of Southend-on-Sea was split in two.
Because four members of the Guinness family have held the seat (or its predecessor, Southend) it has been dubbed in political analyses in the media as "Guinness-on-Sea".
The seat had historically been seen by pundits as a safe Conservative seat and from its creation until 2019, the seat was held by the Conservative Party, with majorities ranging from 5.7% during the Labour Landslide of 1997 to 43.4% in 1955.
The seat was represented by David Amess for 24 years, from 1997 to 15 October 2021, when he was murdered.
At the 2024 general election it was won by Labour for the first time with a 35.6% share.
Boundaries and boundary changes
1950–1955
- The County Borough of Southend-on-Sea wards of Chalkwell, Eastwood, Leigh, Milton, Prittlewell, St Clements, Victoria, and Westborough.
Formed primarily from western parts of the abolished Parliamentary Borough of Southend-on-Sea.
1955–1983
- The County Borough of Southend-on-Sea wards of Blenheim, Chalkwell, Eastwood, Leigh, Prittlewell, St Clement's, Southbourne, and Westborough.
Marginal changes following the redistribution of wards in the Borough of Southend-on-Sea.
2010–2024
- The Borough of Southend-on-Sea wards of Belfairs, Blenheim Park, Chalkwell, Eastwood Park, Leigh, Prittlewell, St Laurence, Westborough, and West Leigh.
Further marginal changes were due to a redistribution of local authority wards.
Current (Southend West and Leigh)
Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency comprises the whole of the current Southend West seat with the addition of St Luke's ward from Rochford and Southend East.
The constituency comprises a small part of the west of Southend-on-Sea, and includes Leigh-on-Sea and Westcliff-on-Sea. It is bounded to the north and east by Rochford and Southend East, to the north by Rayleigh and Wickford, to the west by Castle Point, and to the south by the very end of the Thames Estuary.
Members of Parliament
Southend prior to 1950
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="2"|Election!!Member
!Party
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1950
| Sir Henry Channon
| Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1959 by-election
| Paul Channon
| Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1997
| Sir David Amess
| Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 2022 by-election
| Anna Firth
| Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 2024
| David Burton-Sampson
| Labour
|}
Elections
thumb|centre|upright=2.5|Election results 1950–2024
Elections in the 2020s
Vote share changes for the 2024 election are compared to the notional results from the 2019 election, not the 2022 by-election.
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| 30,367 ||align=right| 59.1
|-
|
| Labour ||align=right| 14,913 ||align=right| 29.0
|-
|
| Liberal Democrats ||align=right| 5,449 ||align=right| 10.6
|-
|
| Others ||align=right| 692 ||align=right| 1.3
|-
|colspan="4" bgcolor="#EAECF0"|
|-
|colspan="2"|Turnout
|align=right|51,421
|align=right|66.9
|-
|colspan="2"|Electorate
|align=right|76,824
|}
Jack Monroe had previously been standing for the National Health Action Party, before withdrawing their candidacy on 11 May 2017, citing death threats and concern for their health.
Elections in the 2000s
Elections in the 1990s
Elections in the 1980s
Elections in the 1970s
Elections in the 1960s
Elections in the 1950s
See also
- Parliamentary constituencies in Essex
- List of parliamentary constituencies in the East of England (region)
Notes
References
External links
- Southend West Liberal Democrat Prospective MP
- Southend West UKIP Prospective MP
- Southend Liberal Democrats
- Southend West Conservatives
- Southend West UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK
- Southend West UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
- Southend West and Leigh UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK