Post by iain on Apr 1, 2020 12:12:20 GMT
The boundaries of this constituency have been largely unchanged since 1974, despite a few name changes. Bermondsey & Old Southwark has long had all the attributes of a safe Labour seat, but, thanks largely to an infamous by-election, this has not always been the case.
Parts of the constituency are a staple of the London tourist trail - including Borough Market, Shakespeare’s Globe, the Tate Modern, the Imperial War Museum, City Hall and the Shard - but for the most part it is very deprived. In the 2011 census the seat had the country’s second lowest proportion of homeowners (7.7% of households) and the fourth highest proportion of social renters (43.5%), while around a quarter of households were private renters.
Historically, much of the seat was covered by slums (including Jacob’s Island, the home of Oliver Twist). However, in more recent times this has been replaced with large amounts of council housing, with much of Bermondsey being built to house dockworkers. Even with ongoing regeneration and gentrification, over half of the constituency’s housing is council-built. That gentrification has made a noticeable impact along much of the riverfront, notably in the former Docklands (covered largely by Surrey Docks and Rotherhithe wards) and Shad Thames (in North Bermondsey), as well as around Elephant & Castle, which has included the controversial regeneration of the Heygate Estate.
Ironically, given the seat’s recent trajectory, Bermondsey & Old Southwark is demographically probably the worst it has ever been for Labour, and is getting worse. Nowadays, over 10% of workers here work in finance and insurance, and large regeneration projects are ongoing. Meanwhile, the remaining Victorian terraced houses and many council flats have now been converted into HMOs for private rent, occupied by young professionals and students.
However, the constituency is also very Labour-inclined in other ways. It is ethnically mixed, including a large black population (over 20% of residents), and the UK’s biggest Latin American community in Elephant & Castle. Although the sell-off of council flats has led to anti-Labour trends in many places, here it has helped lead to a very young population - almost a third of the electorate is under 30, and over half is under 40. The constituency also contains one of the UK’s highest gay populations.
A Southwark seat existed from 1295 to 1885, and for the last part of its existence was pretty similar to the current Bermondsey and Old Southwark. From the Great Reform Act to its abolition the constituency was represented by a mix of Whigs, Liberals and Radicals, with the Conservatives only represented for a 10 year period from 1870-80. The current constituency was then split into five seats - Rotherhithe, Bermondsey (later Bermondsey West), Southwark West (later Southwark North), Newington West (later Southwark Central) and Walworth (later Southwark SE). Of these, Rotherhithe was Conservative-leaning, but the rest favoured the Liberals. The Tories won all of them except Southwark West during the late 1890s, but these wins have to be seen in the context of their landslide victories nationwide. Following the 1906 Liberal victory, the Conservatives barely got a look-in in any of the constituencies, winning only 3 of the 21 elections (including a by-election) before 1920. Labour had their first taste of success in a 1921 by-election in Southwark South East, and won all 5 seats in 1924. From this date, they won almost every election across the constituencies, losing only twice (both in Southwark North) except for the party’s historic meltdown in 1931, when they held only Bermondsey West.
Following boundary changes in 1950 the five seats became two - Bermondsey and Southwark, and in 1974 the vast majority of the current constituency became part of Bermondsey. All of these seats were very safely Labour, and surely would have remained so were it not for the 1983 by-election. The seat was gained by Simon Hughes of the Liberal Party on the largest ever swing in UK history, helped by Labour’s choice of candidate, the openly-gay left-winger Peter Tatchell, and the decision of John O’Grady, then leader of Southwark Council, to stand as ‘Real Bermondsey Labour’. O’Grady was endorsed by the outgoing MP, Bob Mellish, and ran an outwardly homophobic campaign, while the victorious Liberal campaign has also been tarred with accusations of homophobia.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of that campaign, Simon Hughes became established as a popular constituency MP, and held the seat through to 2015, when Labour regained it in the post-coalition Liberal Democrat collapse. After further swings to Labour in both 2017 and 2019 (rather against the grain in the latter case, perhaps aided by not facing Simon Hughes for the first time in over 35 years) it now looks rather safe once again. The seat still has potential for the Liberal Democrats, who retain 14 of the 29 (ish) councillors, but they will surely only be able to get close to regaining the constituency once gentrification has progressed further.
Parts of the constituency are a staple of the London tourist trail - including Borough Market, Shakespeare’s Globe, the Tate Modern, the Imperial War Museum, City Hall and the Shard - but for the most part it is very deprived. In the 2011 census the seat had the country’s second lowest proportion of homeowners (7.7% of households) and the fourth highest proportion of social renters (43.5%), while around a quarter of households were private renters.
Historically, much of the seat was covered by slums (including Jacob’s Island, the home of Oliver Twist). However, in more recent times this has been replaced with large amounts of council housing, with much of Bermondsey being built to house dockworkers. Even with ongoing regeneration and gentrification, over half of the constituency’s housing is council-built. That gentrification has made a noticeable impact along much of the riverfront, notably in the former Docklands (covered largely by Surrey Docks and Rotherhithe wards) and Shad Thames (in North Bermondsey), as well as around Elephant & Castle, which has included the controversial regeneration of the Heygate Estate.
Ironically, given the seat’s recent trajectory, Bermondsey & Old Southwark is demographically probably the worst it has ever been for Labour, and is getting worse. Nowadays, over 10% of workers here work in finance and insurance, and large regeneration projects are ongoing. Meanwhile, the remaining Victorian terraced houses and many council flats have now been converted into HMOs for private rent, occupied by young professionals and students.
However, the constituency is also very Labour-inclined in other ways. It is ethnically mixed, including a large black population (over 20% of residents), and the UK’s biggest Latin American community in Elephant & Castle. Although the sell-off of council flats has led to anti-Labour trends in many places, here it has helped lead to a very young population - almost a third of the electorate is under 30, and over half is under 40. The constituency also contains one of the UK’s highest gay populations.
A Southwark seat existed from 1295 to 1885, and for the last part of its existence was pretty similar to the current Bermondsey and Old Southwark. From the Great Reform Act to its abolition the constituency was represented by a mix of Whigs, Liberals and Radicals, with the Conservatives only represented for a 10 year period from 1870-80. The current constituency was then split into five seats - Rotherhithe, Bermondsey (later Bermondsey West), Southwark West (later Southwark North), Newington West (later Southwark Central) and Walworth (later Southwark SE). Of these, Rotherhithe was Conservative-leaning, but the rest favoured the Liberals. The Tories won all of them except Southwark West during the late 1890s, but these wins have to be seen in the context of their landslide victories nationwide. Following the 1906 Liberal victory, the Conservatives barely got a look-in in any of the constituencies, winning only 3 of the 21 elections (including a by-election) before 1920. Labour had their first taste of success in a 1921 by-election in Southwark South East, and won all 5 seats in 1924. From this date, they won almost every election across the constituencies, losing only twice (both in Southwark North) except for the party’s historic meltdown in 1931, when they held only Bermondsey West.
Following boundary changes in 1950 the five seats became two - Bermondsey and Southwark, and in 1974 the vast majority of the current constituency became part of Bermondsey. All of these seats were very safely Labour, and surely would have remained so were it not for the 1983 by-election. The seat was gained by Simon Hughes of the Liberal Party on the largest ever swing in UK history, helped by Labour’s choice of candidate, the openly-gay left-winger Peter Tatchell, and the decision of John O’Grady, then leader of Southwark Council, to stand as ‘Real Bermondsey Labour’. O’Grady was endorsed by the outgoing MP, Bob Mellish, and ran an outwardly homophobic campaign, while the victorious Liberal campaign has also been tarred with accusations of homophobia.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of that campaign, Simon Hughes became established as a popular constituency MP, and held the seat through to 2015, when Labour regained it in the post-coalition Liberal Democrat collapse. After further swings to Labour in both 2017 and 2019 (rather against the grain in the latter case, perhaps aided by not facing Simon Hughes for the first time in over 35 years) it now looks rather safe once again. The seat still has potential for the Liberal Democrats, who retain 14 of the 29 (ish) councillors, but they will surely only be able to get close to regaining the constituency once gentrification has progressed further.
