Battersea (UK Parliament constituency)

UK constituency infobox alt
Name = Battersea


Type = Borough
Entity = Greater London
DivisionType = County
Division = Greater London
Year = 1885, 1983
MP = Martin Linton
Party = Labour
EP = London

Battersea is a constituency located in Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Boundaries

Battersea is an unusually-shaped constituency due to it following the Thames as it snakes into and out of central London, covering the north-eastern third of the London Borough of Wandsworth.

It takes in all of the district of Battersea including the park and riverside, and stretches out eastwards to include Nine Elms and Queenstown; and westwards to include most of Wandsworth town, including the riverside, the Town Hall and East Hill. But Battersea also stretches south between Wandsworth Common and Clapham Common to include Balham ward, which is actually only the eastern end of Balham (the rest being in Tooting). It is no longer the safe Labour seat it used to be as the area had a considerable influx of young professionals, or yuppies, in the mid 1980's which swung it towards the Conservatives. It returned to Labour in 1997, but had a very meagre majority for them in 2005.

It is bordered by the constituencies of-

* Putney
* Tooting
* Hammersmith & Fulham
* Kensington & Chelsea
* Cities of London & Westminster
* Vauxhall
* Streatham

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in South London the Boundary Commission for England has created a modified Battersea constituency from the following electoral wards:

*Balham, Fairfield, Latchmere, Northcote, Queenstown, St Mary’s Park, Shaftesbury.

History

Battersea constituency was originally created in 1885. From 1892 to 1918 the seat was held by trade union leader John Burns, who would serve in the Liberal cabinets of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and Herbert Asquith from 1905 until 1914. The constituency was split in 1918 into two constituencies, Battersea North and Battersea South. The two constituencies were rejoined in 1983, although some areas of Battersea South became part of the adjoining Tooting constituency. Alf Dubs, who had previously been MP for Battersea South, won the constituency for the Labour Party in 1983 and the Conservative candidate John Bowis won in 1987 and 1992. Martin Linton won it back for the Labour Party in 1997 and has held the seat ever since.

In the 2005 election, Linton's majority was slashed and he now has the fourth smallest Labour party majority in the country.

Trivia

In 2001, the candidate T.E Barber used the candidate description "No fruit out of context party", and advocated the end of, amongst other crimes against food, pineapples on pizza. [http://www.election.demon.co.uk/1997LB.html (David Boothroyd]

The old Battersea North seat is one of only two seats in London to have had a Communist MP Shapurji Saklatvala represented the area from 1922 to 1929. A wealthy aristocratic Indian he was not only one of the first Communists ever elected to the House of Commons but also only the third from a minority ethnic background. At first, Saklatvala had local Labour party support but then stood as a Communist in 1924 with local Labour party backing. However, the national party stepped in to ensure in 1929 that an official Labour candidate stood against him. The Battersea Labour Club had a notice on its notice board up until the 1980s banning Communists from admission to the club.

Members of Parliament

Currently held by Martin Linton for Labour.

* 1885 — 1892: Octavius Morgan, Liberal
* 1892 — 1918: John Burns, Independent Labour then Liberal-Labour
* "Constituency abolished" (1918)
* "Constituency recreated" (1983)
* 1983 — 1987: Alf Dubs, Labour
* 1987 — 1997: John Bowis, Conservative
* 1997 — "present": Martin Linton, Labour

Election results

Elections in the 2000s

Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Jane Ellison
votes =
percentage =
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Martin Linton
votes =
percentage =
change =

Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Martin Linton
votes = 16,569
percentage = 40.4
change = -9.9Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Dominic Schofield
votes = 16,406
percentage = 40.0
change = +3.5Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = Norsheen Bhatti
votes = 6,006
percentage = 14.6
change = +2.5Election box candidate with party link
party = Green Party of England and Wales
candidate = Hugo Charlton
votes = 1,735
percentage = 4.2
change = +4.2Election box candidate with party link
party = United Kingdom Independence Party
candidate = Terry Jones
votes = 333
percentage = 0.8
change = +0.8Election box majority
votes = 163
percentage = 0.4
change =Election box turnout
votes = 41,049
percentage = 59.0
change = +4.5Election box hold with party link
winner =Labour Party (UK)
swing =

Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Martin Linton
votes = 18,498
percentage = 50.3
change = -0.5Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Lucy Shersby
votes = 13,445
percentage = 36.5
change = -2.9Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = Siobhan Vitelli
votes = 4,450
percentage = 12.1
change = +4.7Election box candidate with party link
party = Independent (politician)
candidate = Thomas Barber
votes = 411
percentage = 1.1
change = "N/A"Election box majority
votes = 5,053
percentage = 13.7
change =Election box turnout
votes = 36,804
percentage = 54.5
change = -16.3Election box hold with party link
winner = Labour Party (UK)
swing =

Elections in the 1990s

Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Martin Linton
votes = 24,047
percentage = 50.74
change = +9.5Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = John Bowis
votes = 18,687
percentage = 39.43
change = −11.1Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = Paula Keaveney
votes = 3,482
percentage = 7.35
change = +0.3Election box candidate with party link
party = Referendum Party
candidate = M. Slater
votes = 804
percentage = 1.70
change = +1.7Election box candidate with party link
party = United Kingdom Independence Party
candidate = A. Banks
votes = 250
percentage = 0.53
change = +0.5Election box candidate with party link
party = Vote For Yourself Rainbow Dream Ticket
candidate = J. Marshall
votes = 127
percentage = 0.3
change = +0.3Election box majority
votes = 5,360
percentage = 11.31
change = Election box turnout
votes = 47,397
percentage = 70.85
change = −6.1Election box gain with party link
winner = Labour Party (UK)
loser = Conservative Party (UK)
swing = +10.20

Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = John Bowis
votes = 26,390
percentage = 50.48
change = +6.2Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Alf Dubs
votes = 21,550
percentage = 41.22
change = −1.2Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = R O'Brien
votes = 3,659
percentage = 7.00
change = −4.9Election box candidate with party link
party = Green Party of England and Wales
candidate = I. Wingrove
votes = 584
percentage = 1.12
change = −0.1Election box candidate with party link
party = Natural Law Party
candidate = W. Stevens
votes = 98
percentage = 0.19
change = +0.2Election box majority
votes = 4,840
percentage = 9.26
change =Election box turnout
votes = 52,281
percentage = 76.64
change = −5.3Election box hold with party link
winner = Conservative Party (UK)
swing = +3.7

Elections in the 1980s

Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = John Bowis
votes = 20,945
percentage = 44.24
change = +7.8Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Alf Dubs
votes = 20,088
percentage = 42.43
change = −1.5Election box candidate with party link
party = Social Democratic Party (UK)
candidate = D. I. Harries
votes = 5,634
percentage = 11.90
change = −5.6Election box candidate with party link
party = Green Party (UK)
candidate = S. G. Willington
votes = 559
percentage = 1.18
change = +0.3Election box candidate with party link
party = Workers Revolutionary Party (UK)
candidate = A. B. Bell
votes = 116
percentage = 0.25
change = +0.3Election box majority
votes = 857
percentage = 1.81
change =Election box turnout
votes = 47,342
percentage = 70.68
change = +4.3Election box gain with party link
winner = Conservative Party (UK)
loser = Labour Party (UK)
swing = +4.6

Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Alf Dubs
votes = 19,248
percentage = 43.8
change = −6.4Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Rupert Allason
votes = 15,972
percentage = 36.4
change = −2.4Election box candidate with party link
party = Social Democratic Party (UK)
candidate = M. Harris
votes = 7,675
percentage = 17.5
change = +9.4Election box candidate with party link
party = National Front (UK)
candidate = M. J. Salt
votes = 539
percentage = 1.2
change = −1.0Election box candidate with party link
party = Ecology Party
candidate = S. G. Willington
votes = 377
percentage = 0.9
change = "N/A"Election box candidate
party = Campaign for Black & White Unity
candidate = T. Jackson
votes = 86
percentage = 0.2
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Communist Party of Great Britain
candidate = K. Purie-Harwell
votes = 22
percentage = 0.1
change = "N/A"Election box majority
votes = 3,276
percentage = 7.5
change = Election box turnout
votes = 43,919
percentage = 66.6
change = −3.1Election box hold with party link
winner = Labour Party (UK)
swing = −2.0

Elections in the 1970s

1979 Prediction for Battersea boundaries

Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate =
votes = 14,909
percentage = 50.2
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate =
votes = 11,505
percentage = 38.8
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Party (UK)
candidate =
votes = 2,412
percentage = 8.1
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = National Front (UK)
candidate =
votes = 667
percentage = 2.2
change = Election box candidate
party = Workers Party
candidate =
votes = 104
percentage = 0.4
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Workers Revolutionary Party (UK)
candidate =
votes = 47
percentage = 0.2
change = Election box candidate
party = Community Party
candidate =
votes = 30
percentage = 0.1
change = Election box majority
votes = 3,404
percentage = 11.5
change = Election box turnout
votes = 29,674
percentage = 69.7
change = Election box hold with party link
winner = Labour Party (UK)
swing =

See also

* List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London

References