Gillingham and Rainham is a constituency[n 1] in Kent represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 2010 creation by Rehman Chishti, a Conservative.[n 2] It replaced the previous constituency of Gillingham.
Gillingham and Rainham | |
---|---|
Borough constituency for the House of Commons | |
County | Kent |
Electorate | 71,109 (December 2010)[1] |
Major settlements | Gillingham, Rainham, Hempstead, Twydall |
Current constituency | |
Created | 2010 |
Member of Parliament | Rehman Chishti (Conservative) |
Seats | One |
Created from | Gillingham |
The Medway wards of Gillingham North, Gillingham South, Hempstead and Wigmore, Rainham Central, Rainham North, Rainham South, Twydall and Watling.
Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, the composition of the constituency from the next general election, due by January 2025, will be unchanged.[2]
Following a local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2023,[3][4] the constituency will now comprise the following wards of the Borough of Medway from the next general election:
The constituency is generally suburban and centred on Gillingham, historically a small port, which is within the London Commuter Belt. Local retail, industry, business parks, trades and professions provide constituents with a high level of employment, mostly on moderate to middle incomes;[6] however, the area is not wholly resilient to unemployment. Registered claimants who were registered jobseekers were marginally lower than the national average of 3.8% at 3.5% of the population, according to a statistical compilation by The Guardian.[7]
Residents' wealth is around average for the UK, but below average for the South East region.[8] The predecessor constituency of Gillingham was a Labour-Conservative marginal seat though prior to 1997 was a safe Conservative seat. The current constituency can be considered a safe Conservative seat.
Election | Member[9] | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
2010 | Rehman Chishti | Conservative |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Naushabah Khan[10] | ||||
Liberal Democrats | Stuart Bourne[11] | ||||
Reform UK | Rizvi Rawoof[12] | ||||
SDP | Peter Wheeler[13] | ||||
Majority | |||||
Turnout | |||||
Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Rehman Chishti | 28,173 | 61.3 | +5.9 | |
Labour | Andy Stamp | 13,054 | 28.4 | –7.7 | |
Liberal Democrats | Alan Bullion | 2,503 | 5.4 | +2.6 | |
Green | George Salomon | 1,043 | 2.3 | +1.2 | |
UKIP | Rob McCulloch Martin | 837 | 1.8 | –2.5 | |
Independent | Peter Cook | 229 | 0.5 | New | |
CPA | Roger Peacock | 119 | 0.3 | 0.0 | |
Majority | 15,119 | 32.9 | +13.6 | ||
Turnout | 45,958 | 62.5 | –4.4 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +6.8 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Rehman Chishti | 27,091 | 55.4 | +7.4 | |
Labour | Andy Stamp | 17,661 | 36.1 | +10.5 | |
UKIP | Martin Cook | 2,097 | 4.3 | –15.2 | |
Liberal Democrats | Paul Chaplin | 1,372 | 2.8 | –0.8 | |
Green | Clive Gregory | 520 | 1.1 | –1.3 | |
CPA | Roger Peacock | 127 | 0.3 | New | |
Majority | 9,430 | 19.3 | –3.1 | ||
Turnout | 48,868 | 66.9 | +2.1 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | –1.5 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Rehman Chishti | 22,590 | 48.0 | +1.8 | |
Labour | Paul Clark | 12,060 | 25.6 | –2.1 | |
UKIP | Mark Hanson | 9,199 | 19.5 | +16.3 | |
Liberal Democrats | Paul Chaplin[16] | 1,707 | 3.6 | –14.5 | |
Green | Neil Williams | 1,133 | 2.4 | +1.6 | |
TUSC | Jacqui Berry[17] | 273 | 0.6 | New | |
Independent | Roger Peacock | 72 | 0.1 | New | |
Independent | Mike Walters | 44 | 0.1 | New | |
Majority | 10,530 | 22.4 | +3.9 | ||
Turnout | 47,078 | 64.8 | –1.2 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +1.9 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Rehman Chishti | 21,624 | 46.2 | +5.5 | |
Labour | Paul Clark | 12,944 | 27.7 | –13.1 | |
Liberal Democrats | Andrew Stamp | 8,484 | 18.1 | +2.8 | |
UKIP | Robert Oakley | 1,515 | 3.2 | +0.6 | |
BNP | Brian Ravenscroft | 1,149 | 2.5 | New | |
English Democrat | Dean Lacey | 464 | 1.0 | New | |
Green | Trish Marchant | 356 | 0.8 | New | |
Independent | Gordon Bryan | 141 | 0.3 | New | |
Medway Independent Party | George Meegan | 109 | 0.2 | New | |
Majority | 8,680 | 18.5 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 46,786 | 66.0 | +2.0 | ||
Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | +9.3 |
Paul Clark was the incumbent MP for Gillingham.
51°22′N 0°34′E / 51.367°N 0.567°E