Chingford and Woodford Green (UK Parliament constituency)

Chingford and Woodford Green is a constituency in North East London represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Sir Iain Duncan Smith of the Conservative Party since its creation in 1997.

Constituency profile

The seat covers the outer London commuter suburbs of Chingford, Highams Park and Woodford with high levels of owner-occupier housing, along with part of Epping Forest. Once safely Conservative, the seat is now marginal with Labour due to young families and ethnic minority voters moving into the constituency.

Boundaries

The seat initially comprised the London Borough of Waltham Forest wards of Chingford Green, Endlebury, Hale End and Highams Park, Hatch Lane, Larkswood, Valley, and the London Borough of Redbridge wards of Church End and Monkhams.

2017

Following a review of ward boundaries which became effective in May 2017, the parts in the London Borough of Redbridge comprised the Monkhams ward, most of the Churchfields ward and part of the South Woodford ward.

Proposed

Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, from the next general election, due by January 2025, the constituency will be expanded to the south-east to include the Bridge ward and the remainder of the Churchfields ward, transferred from Ilford North. The part of the South Woodford ward will be transferred to Leyton and Wanstead.

Following a local government boundary review in Waltham Forest which came into effect in May 2022, the constituency will now comprise the following from the next general election:

• The London Borough of Redbridge wards of: Bridge; Churchfields; Monkhams.
• The London Borough of Waltham Forest wards of: Chingford Green; Endlebury; Hatch End and Highams Park South (most); Hatch Lane and Highams Park North; Larswood (most); Valley; Upper Walthamstow (part).

History

Pre creation

Before 1945, both Chingford and Woodford were part of the Epping parliamentary constituency, for which wartime Conservative Prime Minister Winston Churchill was MP. The Chingford and Woodford Green constituency was created in 1997 from parts of the former seats of Chingford and Wanstead & Woodford. Both seats previously had well-known MPs, Norman Tebbit and Winston Churchill respectively. Iain Duncan Smith had been MP for Chingford since 1992, then was elected MP for this constituency five years later in 1997.

Post creation

At the seat's inauguration at the 1997 general election, there was a Conservative majority of over 5000 or 13%; the Conservatives retained the seat in 2001 with a majority little changed on a low turnout. In 2005, the Conservative incumbent did better, getting twice as many votes as Labour with a swing to the party of 6.4% (over double that nationally) from Labour. The 2015 result gave the seat the 119th most marginal majority of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority. At the 2017 snap election, Duncan Smith was re-elected with a greatly reduced majority on a 7% swing to Labour, slightly more than a sixth of his 2010 margin; while this was in keeping with the large swings to Labour throughout Greater London at that election, it seems to suggest an increasingly marginal seat, even though the Conservatives hold three-quarters of the local council seats in the wards which make up the constituency. The 2019 general election saw the Conservatives retaining the seat, although with a smaller majority than 2017 due to a swing to Labour, contrary to the national trend, making it the 15th most marginal Conservative seat by percentage of majority.

Member of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

See also

• Parliamentary constituencies in London

Notes

References

Sources

• Election result, 2005 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997 – 2001 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997 – 2005 Archived 2000-12-07 at the Wayback Machine (Election Demon)
• Election results, 1997 – 2005 (Guardian)

External links

• nomis Constituency Profile for Chingford and Woodford Green — presenting data from the ONS annual population survey and other official statistics.
• Politics Resources (Election results from 1922 onwards)
• Electoral Calculus (Election results from 1955 onwards)