Chelsea and Fulham is a constituency in Greater London represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 2010 creation by Greg Hands of the Conservative Party. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the former neighbouring constituency of Hammersmith and Fulham from 2005 until it was abolished at the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies. He is currently Minister for London and Minister of State for Trade Policy.[3]
Chelsea and Fulham | |
---|---|
Borough constituency for the House of Commons | |
County | Greater London |
Population | 105,697 (2011 census)[1] |
Electorate | 62,958 (December 2010)[2] |
Current constituency | |
Created | 2010 |
Member of Parliament | Greg Hands (Conservative) |
Seats | One |
Created from | Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham |
Chelsea and Fulham constituency is made up of the following electoral wards:[4]
Following the review of parliamentary representation in London, the boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham were paired for constituency allocation purposes and allocated three seats between them.
This broke the previous pairings of Kensington and Chelsea with the City of Westminster, and of Hammersmith and Fulham with the London Borough of Ealing, and therefore abolished the mainstay[clarification needed] but not comprehensive[clarification needed] seats Hammersmith and Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea with their "spillover" cross-boundary seats of Regents Park and Kensington North and Ealing Acton and Shepherds Bush.
The historical constituency of Kensington was recreated, and the Hammersmith seat was also revived.
Under the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, the boundaries of the constituency from the next general election, due by January 2025, will be composed of the following:
The new boundaries reflect revised local authority ward structures. In order to bring the electorate within the permitted range, the Hammersmith and Fulham wards of Fulham Reach and West Kensington will be transferred from the, to be abolished, constituency of Hammersmith. The whole of the Kensington and Chelsea ward of Brompton and Hans Town will be included in the new constituency of Kensington and Bayswater.
The constituency includes affluent areas and opulent private housing. The small amount of social housing in the constituency is concentrated in the smaller than ward-size Worlds End Estate. This is the safest urban Conservative seat in the country based on length of tenure[seems unlikely as the seat has recently been created] and size of majorities. An alternative in-depth analysis, of local elections, confirms one ward has seen opposition members in elections since the 1980s, of 11 wards forming the seat. At the 2010 election, only five other constituencies voted more strongly for the Conservative Party: Richmond (Yorkshire), Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, Windsor (Berkshire), Hampshire North East and Chesham and Amersham also in Buckinghamshire.[6]
Somewhat surprisingly, however, in the 2017 United Kingdom general election the Conservative majority in Chelsea and Fulham was almost halved from 16,022 to 8,188, making it only the eighth-safest Conservative seat in Greater London (with several other seats such as Romford and Bexleyheath and Crayford proving safer for the Tories despite previously electing Labour MPs in the Blair era, whilst Chelsea never did).
In the early 1960s the Chelsea Labour Party (old boundaries) created the National Campaign for the Young Chronic Sick, led by constituency member (Mr) Marsh Dickson, which generated national TV and newspaper coverage leading to the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 promoted as a Private Members Bill by Alf Morris MP.
To return to a reduced the number of MPs (600 nationally) it was proposed that the Chelsea and Fulham constituency would be abolished and merged into two constituencies of Hammersmith & Fulham, a notional Labour seat, and Kensington & Chelsea, a notional Conservative seat.[7]
The football grounds at Stamford Bridge and Craven Cottage are in the seat, which is the chosen home of many of London's elite footballers, as well as other wealthy celebrities. The constituency includes the fashionable King's Road thoroughfare, a key destination for shopping and culture.
Election | Member[8] | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
2010 | Greg Hands | Conservative |
For results of predecessor seats, see Kensington and Chelsea, and Hammersmith and Fulham.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal Democrats | Blaise Baquiche[9] | ||||
Labour | Ben Coleman[10] | ||||
Green | Mona Crocker[11] | ||||
Conservative | Greg Hands | ||||
Majority | |||||
Turnout |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Greg Hands | 23,345 | 49.9 | –2.7 | |
Liberal Democrats | Nicola Horlick | 12,104 | 25.9 | +14.9 | |
Labour | Matt Uberoi | 10,872 | 23.2 | –10.0 | |
Animal Welfare | Sam Morland | 500 | 1.0 | New | |
Majority | 11,241 | 24.0 | +4.6 | ||
Turnout | 46,821 | 69.8 | +3.7 | ||
Registered electors | 67,110 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing | –8.8 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Greg Hands | 22,179 | 52.6 | –10.3 | |
Labour | Alan De'Ath | 13,991 | 33.2 | +10.1 | |
Liberal Democrats | Louise Rowntree | 4,627 | 11.0 | +5.8 | |
Green | Bill Cashmore | 807 | 1.9 | –1.8 | |
UKIP | Alasdair Seton-Marsden | 524 | 1.2 | –3.9 | |
Majority | 8,188 | 19.4 | –20.4 | ||
Turnout | 42,128 | 66.1 | +2.7 | ||
Registered electors | 63,728 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing | –10.3 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Greg Hands | 25,322 | 62.9 | +2.4 | |
Labour | Alexandra Sanderson | 9,300 | 23.1 | +4.6 | |
Liberal Democrats | Simon Bailey | 2,091 | 5.2 | –11.0 | |
UKIP | Adrian Noble | 2,039 | 5.1 | +3.9 | |
Green | Guy Rubin | 1,474 | 3.7 | +2.0 | |
Majority | 16,022 | 39.8 | –2.2 | ||
Turnout | 40,226 | 63.4 | +3.3 | ||
Registered electors | 63,478 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing | –1.1 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Greg Hands | 24,093 | 60.5 | ||
Labour | Alex Hilton | 7,371 | 18.5 | ||
Liberal Democrats | Dirk Hazell | 6,473 | 16.2 | ||
Green | Julia Stephenson | 671 | 1.7 | ||
UKIP | Tim Gittos | 478 | 1.2 | ||
BNP | Brian McDonald | 388 | 1.0 | ||
New Independent Conservative | Roland Courtenay | 196 | 0.5 | ||
English Democrat | George Roseman | 169 | 0.4 | ||
Blue Environment | Godfrey Spickernell | 17 | 0.0 | ||
Majority | 16,722 | 42.0 | |||
Turnout | 39,856 | 60.1 | |||
Registered electors | 66,257 | ||||
Conservative win (new seat) |
The new seat of Chelsea and Fulham was fought for the first time at the 2010 general election, when it had a notional Conservative majority of over 10,000 based on 2005 election results.[20]
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