Rayleigh (UK Parliament constituency)

Rayleigh
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Rayleigh in Essex for the 2005 general election.
Location of Essex within England.
County	Essex
1997–2010
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Rayleigh and Wickford
Created from	Rochford

Rayleigh was a parliamentary constituency in Essex represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It existed from 1997 to 2010.

History

This largely rural constituency was the tenth safest Conservative seat in the United Kingdom and the second safest seat in Essex.

Boundaries

The District of Rochford wards of Ashingdon, Canewdon, Downhall, Grange and Rawreth, Hawkwell East, Hawkwell West, Hockley Central, Hockley East, Hockley West, Hullbridge Riverside, Hullbridge South, Lodge, Rayleigh Central, Trinity, Wheatley, and Whitehouse, and the Borough of Chelmsford wards of East and West Hanningfield, Rettendon and Runwell, South Hanningfield, South Woodham-Collingwood East, and West and South Woodham-Elmwood and Woodville.

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Essex, the Boundary Commission for England has made radical alterations to existing constituencies to allow for the number of parliamentary seats in the county to be increased to eighteen. These changes include the formation of a number of new constituencies in the southern and eastern parts of the county.

Rayleigh has been modified to form a new constituency of Rayleigh and Wickford which was first contested in 2010.

Members of Parliament

	Member^[1]	Party
1997	Michael Clark	Conservative
2001	Mark Francois	Conservative
2010	Constituency abolished: see Rayleigh and Wickford

Elections

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Rayleigh
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Mark Francois	25,609	55.4	+5.3
	Labour	Julian Ware-Lane	10,883	23.6	-7.1
	Liberal Democrat	Sid Cumberland	7,406	16.0	+0.5
	UKIP	Janet Davies	2,295	5.0	+1.3
Majority			14,726	31.9	+12.5
Turnout			46,193	64.2	+3.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	6.2

General Election 2001: Rayleigh
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Mark Francois	21,434	50.1	+0.4
	Labour	Paul Clark	13,144	30.7	+1.8
	Liberal Democrat	Geoff Williams	6,614	15.5	−4.3
	UKIP	Colin Morgan	1,581	3.7
Majority			8,290	19.4	−1.4
Turnout			42,773	60.5	−13.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.4

Elections in the 1990s

The 1997 election result has swings relative to the notional, not the actual, 1992 result.

General Election 1997: Rayleigh^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Michael Clark	25,516	49.7	−11.4
	Labour	Raymond Ellis	14,832	28.9	+14.1
	Liberal Democrat	Sid Cumberland	10,137	19.8	−2.1
	Liberal	Alan Farmer	829	1.6
Majority			10,684	20.8	−18.4
Turnout			51,314	74.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	-12.70

Notes and references

↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "R" (part 1)
↑ C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, p.136 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995)

Constituencies in the East of England (58)

Conservative (52)	Basildon and Billericay Bedford Braintree Brentwood and Ongar Broadland Broxbourne Bury St Edmunds Castle Point Central Suffolk and North Ipswich Chelmsford Colchester Epping Forest Great Yarmouth Harlow Harwich and North Essex Hemel Hempstead Hertford and Stortford Hertsmere Hitchin and Harpenden Huntingdon Ipswich Maldon Mid Bedfordshire Mid Norfolk North East Bedfordshire North East Cambridgeshire North East Hertfordshire North West Cambridgeshire North West Norfolk Norwich North Peterborough Rayleigh and Wickford Rochford and Southend East Saffron Walden St Albans South Basildon and East Thurrock South Cambridgeshire South East Cambridgeshire Southend West South Norfolk South Suffolk South West Bedfordshire South West Hertfordshire South West Norfolk Stevenage Suffolk Coastal Thurrock Watford Waveney Welwyn Hatfield West Suffolk Witham

Labour (4)	Cambridge Luton North Luton South Norwich South

Liberal Democrats (1)	North Norfolk

UK Independence Party (1)	Clacton

East of England European constituency: Conservative (3) Labour (1) UKIP (3)

Coordinates: 51°35′N 0°40′E / 51.59°N 0.66°E / 51.59; 0.66

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