Wimbledon
2010 Results:
Conservative: 23257 (49.07%)
Labour: 10550 (22.26%)
Liberal Democrat: 11849 (25%)
UKIP: 914 (1.93%)
Green: 590 (1.24%)
Christian: 235 (0.5%)
Majority: 11408 (24.07%)
Notional 2005 Results:
Conservative: 18008 (41.3%)
Labour: 15598 (35.8%)
Liberal Democrat: 7936 (18.2%)
Other: 2070 (4.7%)
Majority: 2410 (5.5%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 17886 (41.2%)
Labour: 15585 (35.9%)
Liberal Democrat: 7868 (18.1%)
Green: 1374 (3.2%)
UKIP: 408 (0.9%)
Other: 283 (0.7%)
Majority: 2301 (5.3%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 15062 (36.6%)
Labour: 18806 (45.7%)
Liberal Democrat: 5341 (13%)
UKIP: 414 (1%)
Green: 1007 (2.4%)
Other: 479 (1.2%)
Majority: 3744 (9.1%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 17694 (36.6%)
Labour: 20674 (42.8%)
Liberal Democrat: 8014 (16.6%)
Referendum: 993 (2.1%)
Other: 979 (2%)
Majority: 2980 (6.2%)
Boundary changes:
Profile:
Current MP: Stephen Hammond(Conservative) (more information at They work for you)
Stephen Hammond(Conservative) (more information at They work for you)
Andrew Judge (Labour) Born Salford. Educated at University of Kent and UCL. Barrister, specialising in criminal and environmental law. Merton councillor since 1995. Leader of Merton council 2001-2006.
Shas Sheehan (Liberal Democrat) born Lahore, Pakistan. Educated at Rosa Bassett Grammar School and UCL. Former advertising planner. Richmond upon Thames councillor. Contested Merton & Wandsworth and Londonwide list in 2008 London elections.
Rajeev Thacker (Green)
Mark McAleer (UKIP)David Martin (Christian Party) 2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 92830
Male: 48.8%
Female: 51.2%
Under 18: 18.7%
Over 60: 17%
Born outside UK: 27.4%
White: 82.3%
Black: 2.4%
Asian: 9.2%
Mixed: 2.6%
Other: 3.5%
Christian: 63.8%
Hindu: 3.4%
Jewish: 0.8%
Muslim: 5.1%
Full time students: 4.8%
Graduates 16-74: 48.1%
No Qualifications 16-74: 13.3%
Owner-Occupied: 70.9%
Social Housing: 8.6% (Council: 5.4%, Housing Ass.: 3.2%)
Privately Rented: 17.6%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 8.9%
This seat highlights a number of London boroughs that are marriages of very different areas. If borough boundaries were reviewed today, Merton would make no sense. Equally, Enfield – Edmonton is more like Tottenham than Southgate; Haringey, Tottenham and Hornsey have almost always been different and are split by a railway. Today Hayes and Harlington may fit better with Southall. South of the river, many boroughs stretch from the Thames to the hills. A better orientation would be to follow the radial roads from the City.
Perhaps now that there is a GLA again, more smaller boroughs would make sense, with shared services to get better cost efficiency.
Edmonton has always been more like Tottenham than Southgate.
Was there any suggestion when the London boroughs were created for a Enfield-Southgate-Hornsey borough and a Edmonton-Tottenham-Wood Green borough?
“The main reasons the Tories didn’t win a majority was firstly because they failed to win about 10 seats in London with increasing ethnic minority populations that they used to win before 1997 and secondly because they only won one seat in Scotland compared to 11 in 1992.”
That was predictable well beforehand.
The Conservatives error was not in adopting a strategy for winning in areas which had more potentail for them because of demographic and political change.
In London though the Conservatives did do well in the Richmond-Putney-Wimbledon area.
Looking at Andy Stidwell’s 2008 vote summarries:
“London 2008 results – Wimbledon (new boundaries):
{Excluding postal votes}
Mayor:
C – 14,715 (48.65%), Lab – 9,767 (32.29%), LD – 3,244 (10.72%), Green – 1,069 (3.53%), BNP – 475 (1.57%)
Constituency Vote, (Merton&Wandsworth):
C – 13,950 (46.59%), Lab – 7,096 (23.70%), LD – 3,924 (13.11%), Green – 2,714 (9.06%)
List:
C – 12,857 (42.82%), Lab – 6,658 (22.17%), LD – 3,676 (12.24%), Green – 3,011 (10.03%), BNP – 913 (3.04%)
POSTAL VOTES for whole of Merton:
Mayor: C – 4,623 (47.54%), Lab – 3,274 (33.67%), LD – 964 (9.91%), Green – 292 (3.00%), BNP – 179 (1.84%)
Constituency: C – 4,496 (46.21%), Lab – 2,849 (29.28%), LD – 930 (9.56%), Green – 667 (6.86%)
List: C – 4,193 (43.08%), Lab – 2,656 (27.29%), LD – 880 (9.04%), Green – 648 (6.66%), BNP – 326 (3.35%)
Wimbledon represented 52.70% / 52.68% / 52.58% of non-postal Merton votes for the 3 sections respectively.”
It could be argued that the Conservatives did better here than they did in 2008.
How many other London constituencies could claim the same?
Possibly none it would depend how you measure it.
Taking the average of the three elements of the 2008 results, only one seat showed a higher increase in the Tory share in 2010 than Wimbledon – namely Ealing Southall. Only another 5 seats saw any increase in the Tory share (Richmond Park, Putney, Poplar & Limehouse, Enfield Southgate, Harrow West).
Of the 10 seats which saw a decline in the Labour share from 2008 to 2010, this one stands out – the others were Hornsey & Wood Green, Orpington, Brent Central, Bermondsey, Carshalton, Sutton & Cheam, Kingston, Twickenham and Richmond Park.
Similarly the of only 7 of 73 London seats which saw a Labour to Conservative swing compared with 2008 Wimbledon was second (2.6%) only to Richmond Park (where obviously Labour’s vote is suppressed by tactical voting). The other seats were again all seats which were LD held or where the LDs challenged (Orpington, Carshalton, Sutton & Cheam, Kingston, Twickenham).
What is interesting is that Mitcham & Morden, the other half of Merton borough, occupies the opposite end of the spectrum being in the top handful of seats for swing towards Labour.
It’s a fascinating divergence.
Just as Wimbledon is going the way of Putney Mitch is going the way of its neighbour Croydon North.
Isn’t it time we had some new London boroughs to take all this into account.
The present ones were drawn up in 1960 from boroughs which went back to the the 19th Centrury.
Do the people of Wimbledon and Mitcham feel any affection for Merton LBC? Maybe they would prefer to separate? Similarly for other very split boroughs such as Haringay, Croydon and Waltham Forest.
Apparently Harold Walker lived in this constituency when he was Deputy Speaker.
Apologies Harry but I’m rather struggling to find excitement in that fact!
He preferred Wimbledon to Doncaster then.
He would, in common with most MPs, have had a constituency home and a London one.
‘Apologies Harry but I’m rather struggling to find excitement in that fact!’
I was perusing his obituary from 2003 the other day and somehow found that little nugget interesting, don’t know why…
‘He would, in common with most MPs, have had a constituency home and a London one’
Yes, doubtless he would have lived in the former when not needed in the Chair
Did he like tennis?
‘Did he like tennis?’
I cannot confirm that
Tory to Labour defection being rumoured here – can anyone confirm?
In relation to the post above – “or not?”
Labour managed to win one seat in the Abbey ward by 99 votes.
The Tories won one seat in West Barnes with the LDs winning the other two.
The Tory in question obviously got talked out of it. I heard it was one of their newer members, who hadn’t really expected to be in opposition . . .
Some criticism of Merton Council’s chief exec: http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/local/topstories/8353372.Merton_chief_executive_defends_bumper_pay_packages/
When this constituency was created in 1885 it covered a much larger area than it does today and underwent boundary changes in 1918 and 1950. On its 1885 boundaries it took in the parishes of Merton, Mitcham, Morden, and Wimbledon – equivalent today to the whole of the London Borough of Merton.
It also included Malden & Coombe (which is now part of Kingston Upon Thames) between 1945 and 1955.
“On its 1885 boundaries it took in the parishes of Merton, Mitcham, Morden, and Wimbledon – equivalent today to the whole of the London Borough of Merton.”
It included a lot more than that. It also included the whole of what is now Carshalton & Wallington, most of Croydon South, much of Croydon Central and parts of Surrey East. It also included the Freehold voters not only of Croydon but of all the ex-Surrey London boroughs.
Dalek wasn’t it just from 1950 that Coombe and New Malden were included with Wimbledon, to comepnsate for Merton & Morden which had been carved out of the old Wimbledon seat ?
For all the great wealth and Conservative voting of Village ward the aerial shots of the tennis club do show rather a lot of tower blocks and council flats.
Are they over the border over the border in Putney?
I wonder how the old Wimbledon described by Pete would have voted in 2010?
With all of Mitcham and Morden in it, presumably it would have gone Labour. But with much of Sutton, Croydon and part of east Surrey I’d guess it would still be fairly solidly Tory?
The answer to Richard is yes. The boundary between Merton & Wandsworth is only just north of the All-England Club and the buildings you refer to are in the former Parkside ward of Wandsworth, now West Hill since the 2002 boundary changes.
Being in Wandsworth, a lot of those council flats will have been sold off so the estates won’t necessarily be monolithically Labour.
Indeed, far from it. Labour hasn’t won a council election in that area, on boundaries old and new, since 1974 unless I’m very much mistaken. However, I am fairly certain Labour carried the present West Hill ward in the 1997, 2001 and 2005 general elections, easily in the first two and more narrowly in the last.
Wimbledon, Malden & Coombe sounds better that Wimbledon & New Malden.
The Winbledon constituency was briefly based on these boundaries from 1950 to 1955.
They were similar althoguh this seat includes Merton which was in Merton & Morden from 1950 to 1974. It also excludes Wimbledon Park which goes to Putney
“Perhaps now that there is a GLA again, more smaller boroughs would make sense, with shared services to get better cost efficiency”
I have been in favour of this idea but I think it would prove a long task to try and pair areas up which match each other perfectly and you don’t want boroughs that are too small. In this case Merton could be split into two with Wimbledon forming one borough and Mitcham and Morden forming another. Similarly Chingford in Waltham Forest could be removed and joined with Wanstead, South Woodford and Woodford proper to form a new borough leaving the rest of Waltham Forest with more in common and the rest of Redbridge covering Ilford and its suburbs.
I think that the notion of naming all the Greater London constituencies with a single place name and the London prefix would now make sence.
The London Borough’s are no longer relevant is building blocks for parliamentary constituencies only their wards. The GLA boundary is the only one that is sacrosant now.
London Clapham (Clapham Common)
London Hyde Park(Westminster & Kensington)
London Regents Park (Camden & Regents Park)
London Hampstead
London Wembley
London Willesden
London Kingston
London Wimbledon
London Putney ect.
In some cases though Dalek there are two prominant places that make up the constituency such as Mitcham and Morden or Hampstead and Kilburn.
True…thats why Hyde Park worked in place of Kensington & Westminster.
Regents Park works as well because there is a Regents Park ward in Camden and Westminster.
Indeed, of very different political hues.
I’d have created a rural cross-border seat
of Wimbledon, Nobdondale, and Stenchampstead.
Quite.
It will be interesting how the constituent wards will be listed in public documents to avoid confusion.
This must be the first time that a parliamentary constituency has had two wards of the same name.
There are two Kilburn wards in Hampstead & Kilburn and there will be two Queensbury wards in the proposed Stanmore seat.
There was almost two Ashridges in SW Herts, but it gained the Dacorum Ashridge and lost the Three Rivers one.
There are two Brooklands wards in Wythenshawe & Sale east
If my counter proposals for London are accepted, there will be two Queens Park wards in Queens Park