Ealing Southall
2010 Results:
Conservative: 12733 (29.78%)
Labour: 22024 (51.51%)
Liberal Democrat: 6383 (14.93%)
Green: 705 (1.65%)
English Democrat: 408 (0.95%)
Christian: 503 (1.18%)
Majority: 9291 (21.73%)
Notional 2005 Results:
Labour: 19758 (55.4%)
Liberal Democrat: 7380 (20.7%)
Conservative: 6792 (19%)
Other: 1758 (4.9%)
Majority: 12379 (34.7%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 10147 (21.6%)
Labour: 22937 (48.8%)
Liberal Democrat: 11497 (24.4%)
Green: 2175 (4.6%)
Other: 289 (0.6%)
Majority: 11440 (24.3%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 8556 (18.3%)
Labour: 22239 (47.5%)
Liberal Democrat: 4680 (10%)
Green: 2119 (4.5%)
Other: 9234 (19.7%)
Majority: 13683 (29.2%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 11368 (20.8%)
Labour: 32791 (60%)
Liberal Democrat: 5687 (10.4%)
Referendum: 854 (1.6%)
Other: 3942 (7.2%)
Majority: 21423 (39.2%)
Boundary changes: loses part of Greenford Broadway ward to Ealing North and parts of Ealing Broadway and Ealing Common to Ealing Central and Acton.
Profile: A West London seat in the Borough of Ealing, covering Southall itself, Norwood Green, Dormer`s Wells and part of Hanwell. To the south of the constituency is the Grand Union Canal and Ealing Hospital.
Southall is a residential area dominated by the asian community. Over half the population is from an ethnic minority, overwhelmingly from an asian background, mostly Punjabi. There are significant Hindu and Muslim populations, but the Sikh community is most dominant. Ealing Southall has one of the highest proportions of Sikhs in any constituency in the UK and contains the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara, one of the largest Sikh temple`s outside of India. In 2008 the third Sikh faith school in the UK is expected to open in South Norwood in the constituency.
At a Parliamentary level Ealing Southall has been solidly Labour – traditionally the Conservatives were in a distant second place, but in 2005 the Liberal Democrats narrowly overtook them. In 2001 it was one of the few seats where a fringe party candidate outpolled one of the main parties, when Dr Avtar Lit, the Chairman of the asian Sunrise Radio group, achieved third place. Dr Lit`s son, Tony Lit, was the Conservative candidate in the 2007 by-election. Following the death of Piara Khabra, at the time the oldest MP in the Commons, in 2007 Labour successfully held the seat in a by-election.
At a local level the area is divided between Labour and the Conservatives – wards in the west of the seat are solidly Labour and mostly represented by councillors from the Sikh community. The Conservatives are stronger in the leafier Northfield area to the east. Despite the large asian community, Respect only put forward a serious challenge in the Southall Green ward.
Current MP: Virendra Sharma (Labour) born India. Educated at the LSE. Day services manager for people with learning disabilities. Ealing councillor for over 25 years. (more information at They work for you)
Gurcharan Singh (Conservative) born 1948, Punjab. Former British rail guard, tax officer and hotelier. Labour party councillor in Ealing since 1982, he defected to the Conservative party during the Ealing Southall by-election.Virendra Sharma (Labour) born India. Educated at the LSE. Day services manager for people with learning disabilities. Ealing councillor for over 25 years. (more information at They work for you)
Nigel Bakhai (Liberal Democrat) born 1971, Shoreham. Educated at Brighton College and the University of Bradford. Equipment Demand Planner for Xerox. Contested Ealing Southall 2005, 2007 by-election.
Suneil Basu (Green) Teacher.
Sati Chaggar (English Democrat) Born Nairobi, 1961. Owns a car repair business. Contested Ealing Southall by-election 2007, Ealing and Southall 2008. Contested London region in 2009 European elections.
Mehboob Anil (Christian Party) 2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 89275
Male: 49.7%
Female: 50.3%
Under 18: 24.8%
Over 60: 14%
Born outside UK: 43.4%
White: 37.6%
Black: 8.9%
Asian: 47.8%
Mixed: 2.8%
Other: 2.9%
Christian: 35%
Hindu: 12.4%
Muslim: 13.3%
Sikh: 23.2%
Full time students: 7.5%
Graduates 16-74: 28.4%
No Qualifications 16-74: 26%
Owner-Occupied: 66.5%
Social Housing: 18.3% (Council: 10.3%, Housing Ass.: 8%)
Privately Rented: 12.5%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 7.5%
2007 By-election
The Ealing Southall by-election was held on the 19th July following the death of Piara Khabra and during Gordon Brown`s honeymoon as Labour leader. The Labour party successfully held the seat with only a 7.5% drop in their vote, with the Liberal Democrats in second place. The Conservatives were for a time expected to do well after selecting Tony Lit, the MD of an Asian radio station whose father had previously performed well as an independent candidate in the seat. Labour faced internal division over their candidate selection and following Virendra Sharma`s selection several Sikh Labour councillors, led by Gurcharan Singh, defected to the Conservative party giving the Tories apparently strong momentum in the early stages of the campaign. The Conservatives focused their resources on the seat, with David Cameron visiting the constituency five times. The Tory campaign faltered though when it was revealed that Lit, who had only recently joined the Conservative party, had attended a Labour party fund-raiser shortly before being selected.
By-election result
Virendra Sharma (Labour): 15188 (41.3%)
Nigel Bakhai (Liberal Democrat): 10118 (27.7%)
Tony Lit (Conservative): 8230 (22.5%)
Sarah Edwards (Green): 1135 (3.1%)
Salvinder Dhillon (Respect): 588 (1.6%)
KT Rajan (UKIP): 285 (0.8%)
Yaqub Masih (Christian): 280 (0.8%)
Jasdev Rai (Independent): 275 (0.8%)
John Cartwright (Loony): 188 (0.5%)
Sati Chaggar (English Democrat): 152 (0.4%)
Gulbash Singh (Independent): 92 (0.3%)
Kuldeep Grewel (Independent): 87 (0.2%)
Majority: 5070 (13.8%)
By-election Candidates: Nigel Bakhai (Liberal Democrat) born 1971, Shoreham. Educated at Brighton College and the University of Bradford. Equipment Demand Planner for Xerox. Contested Ealing Southall 2005.
John Cartwright (Official Monster Raving Loony) born 1968. Educated at Trinity School and Royal Holloway College. Perennial candidate in Croydon local elections and by-elections. Contested Bromley & Chislehurst by-election 2006, Croydon Central 2005, 2001. OMRLP shadow minister for chocolate. Sati Chaggar (English Democrat) born Nairobi, 1961. Owns a car repair business.
Salvinder Dhillon (Respect) Contested Ealing and Hillingdon in 2004 London Assembly election. Contested Ealing Southall as an Independent in 2001.
Sarah Edwards (Green) Works for Victim Support. Contested Ealing and Hillingdon in 2004 London Assembly election. Contested Ealing Southall 2005.
Kuldeep Grewal (Independent) a disillusioned Labour member who stood against the offical candidate because of an “internal grievance”, on the 9th July Grewal urged his supporters to back the Labour candidate.
Tony Lit (Conservative) Former Moss Bros manager and, since 2003 Managing Director of Sunrise Radio, the Asian radio station founded by his father Avtar Lit. Ambassador for the 2012 London Olympic bid.
Yaqub Masih (Christian Party) General Secretary of UK Asian Christian Fellowship, presenter on Sunrise radio. 
Jasdev Rai (Independent) Director of the Sikh Human Rights Group
Kunnathur Rajan (UKIP) born India. Retired consultant physician. Member of Cardiff Community Health Council. Contested Rhonnda in 2003 Welsh Assembly elections. South Wales Central Region in 2007 Welsh Assembly Elections. Contested Bridgend 2005.
Virendra Sharma (Labour) born India. Educated at the LSE. Day services manager for people with learning disabilities. Ealing councillor for over 25 years.
Gulbash Singh (Independent) local GP and former Conservative borough candidate, Singh endorsed the Conservative candidate on the 9th July.
Matt,
Knowing some of the Tory candidates, my preference is definitely for Cllr Gurcharan Singh. He has the experience as well as the humility that the others lack, and he also commands and deserves their respect as a community elder.
well the Conservative PPC selection process is underway, and guess what? all the potential contenders to a relatively recently converted Conservative Cllr are already being weeded out… the same Conservative Cllr who took over the local association this year by bringing over 100 of his mates to vote out the incumbent officers
looks like becoming a repeat of the infamous by-election last year!
Gurcharan Singh has been selected as the Conservative candidate here. He was one of the five councillors who defected from Labour during the by-election in summer 2007.
The Conservatives have chos…..Oh, beaten to it……
xD
On one of the election replays from the 1970s, elections expert David Butler pronounced Southall as “suth-all” rather than the way most people say it today. I don’t know whether that was his personal way of saying it or whether that used to be a common pronunciation in previous times.
Andy, as a West Londoner for most of my life, I can confirm that is the way some people say it – but I remember it around 1979. One of my two older brothers corrected me when I said South-hall.
I think it should be Southall and I ignored the advice.
I particularly dislike “Garij” for garage.
A friend who is posh and over 80 and Ealing born and bred and calls it South-hall, as most of us would.
Thanks for that information. Most people in the Midlands these days seem to say “garij” but I agree it doesn’t sound particularly good.
Nigel Bakhai has been reselected as the Lib Dem candidate here.
This is not anyones idea of a key seat but will be a fascinating contest nonetheless. I think we can be pretty certain that Labour will win and that the Lib Dems (having lost their strongest ward through boundary changes and without the benefit of their imported by-election machine) will move down to third. What happens to the Conservative vote will be interesting though. Their General Election campaigns here have normally been very low key, but Gurcharan Singh is fighting very aggressively and already has posters all overSouthall and a lot of coverage in the local media. Whether he can actually bring a significant section of the Sikh vote over to the Tories remains to be seen. It’s also likely to be a rather personal and dirty fight and abuses of postal voting and electoral registration procedures are a distinct possibility.
Lab Hold= 7,000 maj
Suzanne Fernandes is now standing in Croydon North rather than here.
Strangely the Lib Dem candidate is not only standing for a council ward in this constituency (Elthorne) on the same day but is also standing for the Botwell ward in Hillingdon. He’s unlikely to be elected for any of them but seems rather odd all the seem, Couldn’t the Hillingdon Lib Dems find a local candidate?
Well of that collection he has his best chance in Ealing Southall. But as you suggest he won’t win – Virendra Sharma will. Elthorne will be a close Lab-Con contest, Botwell will vote Labour.
Lab Hold
Maj 7400
Lab maj 7,000
Lab 17000
LD 8500
Con 8000
Green 2000
Others 1500
LAB HOLD
Labour hold by 9,291.
Much to my surprise, the Tories moved into 2nd place with an 11% increase in their share of the vote. A very different result from the 2007 by-election.
Does anyone know the origin of the name of Lady Margaret ward in this constituency?
According to BBC there was a 15.9% increase in the turnout here. Is it the biggest jump in the country?
The Elthorne ward in this constituency elected one candidate each from the three main parties.
81.3% for the 2 main parties here.
A constituency almost totally dominated by Asian politics with the potential for postal vote abuse . We can note that no less than 468 ballot papers were rejected over 1% of those issued ,
Harry Porter – I’m not sure, although Lady Margaret Road is one of the main thoroughfares in the area.
Census results – white British, 2001 / 2011:
Dormers Wells: 20.0% / 10.3%
Elthorne: 58.4% / 42.1%
Lady Margaret: 17.6% / 9.2%
Northfield: 63.4% / 53.2%
Norwood Green: 26.7% / 15.4%
Southall Broadway: 8.7% / 3.5%
Southall Green: 12.4% / 4.6%
TOTAL: 29.2% / 19.8%
White overall, Ealing Southall:
2001: 37.6%
2011: 30.4%
@ Andy JS
Interesting figures. Thanks.
Lady Margaret (formerly ‘Waxlow’) is a smart middle class owner occupier ward which was a very competitive Tory/Labour marginal in the late 1980s/early 1990s when it was split roughly 50:50 between English and Indian. It’s where suburban Southall sort of ‘merges’ into Greenford. It stopped being competitive after the mid-90s but the Tory vote has been rising there again in recent years – probably due to a combination of Cameron’s leadership and the increased prosperity of the Punjabi community.
Thanks for your comments RH, I find them very informative.
I think ‘smart’ is overstating it a bit
Another interesting Robin Hood post
The 3.5% white British figure in Southall Brodway is astonishing. It must be the lowest in the whole UK?
It is as Pete confirmed the other day.
As I wrote on the Ilford South thread you can’t simply assume that the white British population will get to 15% and then stabilise.
IIRC Lady Margaret was the ward of the Cllr who led the defections from Lab to Con during the by-election campaign because the NEC left him out of the shortlist.
He then was the Conservative candidate in the GE.
@ Pete Whitehead
Why is “smart” overstating it? As a ward, it is almost completely comprised of clean, tree-lined roads and avenues with three-bedroom 1930s privately-owned properties (mostly double glazed). The bottom part of Lady Margaret Road itself may be a little seedy but the ward is overwhelmingly comprised of the quiet roads running between Lady Margaret and Allenby, dotted with neat parklands and open spaces. I lived there from 1993-5 and found it most tranquil (though it wasn’t near enough to central Southall for my liking, so I moved back).
@ H.Hemmelig
The 3.5% figure may be astonishing but the fact that the Tories polled around one third of the vote there in both the 2006 and 2010 local elections shows that a Cameron-style Tory Party can make inroads into that sort of demographic. Incidentally, Southall Broadway IS the sort of ward where the racial profile of the population probably does already broadly reflect the racial profile of the voting public – as that area has had a numerically dominant BME population for around forty years now.
I’ve visited Southall a few times and always found it a pleasant area, nicer than some white areas in London.
It is notorious for appalling traffic jams however, especially in the Broadway itself. I often require Indian groceries but always go to Hounslow where traffic conditions are far less chaotic (and it’s nearer anyway). I regret the lack of any pubs which offer a decent pint of ale, which was quite easy to find in Southall a generation ago. In fact, apparently one needs to go to the Conservative Club for that, a step which I am not really prepared to take. It does however have some very pleasant areas and has a very unthreatening nature. The Norwood Green area is still full of very good suburban homes, well above average for outer West London and comparing very favourably with some predominantly white owner-occupied outer suburbs, e.g. Hillingdon, much of Isleworth.
Norwood Green is very up-market. It’s actually where the owners of Southall’s famous award-winning “Brilliant Restaurant” live. They are an East African Asian family and the bloke is a trustee of the King Street Hindu Temple. They are a family of Conservative Party members, I believe.