Post by European Lefty on May 20, 2020 17:30:58 GMT
My dad grew up in Hayes and provided a lot of information for this one. I put it together in a slightly haphazard way, so apologies if its a bit of a mess.
Hayes and Harlington
Hayes and Harlington covers the bottom third of the London Borough of Hillingdon, the westernmost of the London Boroughs. All of its territory was originally in the county of Middlesex, which officially ceased to exist in 1965. Despite this, references to the county can still be seen in the names of local organisations, at least one hospital, and the self-identity of the locals, especially those born before the county’s abolition.
The constituency covers the town of Hayes in the north east, with the smaller localities of Yeading and Hayes End on the northern boundaries having essentially been swallowed up by it; Harlington slightly farther to the south; West Drayton south of the railway line out to the west; and Heathrow Airport in a band across the south.
The name Middlesex refers to the “Middle Saxons”, from the old English middel and Seaxe, meaning Saxons, the same logic which named the old kingdoms of Essex, Sussex and Wessex. The name Middlesex is first recorded in a reference to land near Twickenham in 704 AD, and areas of this seat are nearly as ancient. The earliest reference to Yeading dates to 757, while Hayes is mentioned in the Doomsday Book, and contains a Grade II* listed church, and a Grade II listed manor house, and West Drayton goes back to at least the tenth century. This was one of the more industrialised parts of Middlesex. HMV, Nestle, Westland Helicopters and Ford were all present in the constituency at one stage. Heinz also based some of their research here, and there was a large paint factory in West Drayton. On top of this, there was a major munitions factory in Hayes during the second world war. This was for a long time a fairly typical blue collar, working-class constituency.
This is the 181st most deprived constituency in England, making it more deprived that either Bury seat and putting it alongside places like Chesterfield, Newcastle North, Bolsover and Lincoln. By contrast the other two Hillingdon constituencies, Uxbridge & South Ruislip and Ruislip, Northwood & Pinner rank 374th and 483rd respectively. Twickenham and Richmond Park on the other side of the Thames are even richer; in this part of west London, only Feltham & Heston suffers comparable deprivation. However, this hides a huge disparity between the various deprivation indices: it performs much better on employment, education and health, and much worse on deprivation affecting older people, crime and barriers to housing and services, ranking 26th in England on the latter index. Deprivation within this seat is also fairly uniform, with the exception of a wealthier, although middle-class rather than posh, area around Hayes End, and more severe deprivation around Yeading and Hayes itself. Owner occupation is below the national average in this seat, while social and private renting are both above it. Charville ward is an outlier in this sense as well: 71.1% of households here are owner occupied, with the figures in the other wards ranging from 45.2% in Townfield ward to 57.7% in Pinkwell. Charville’s figure for the percentage of households that are socially rented is less than half the constituency average, and its figure for private renting is low as well. 33.6% of households in Heathrow Villages are privately rented, probably in part as a result of temporary workers who may not be registered to vote in this ward. All the other figures for both categories are clustered reasonably close together.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, transportation and storage and accommodation and food services are the two most over-represented industries, both connected to Heathrow Airport. Managerial occupations are significantly under-represented compared to both national and regional averages, whilst routine occupations are over-represented. People with no qualifications, other qualifications and NVQs 1, 2 and 4 are over-represented; NVQ 3 is quite significantly under-represented.
Like much of the country, it has suffered from the loss of its industry (although not all of it), but unlike in much of London and the South East, very little has replaced it and the percentage of the population claiming universal credit is above the national average. Commuting into central London is surprisingly inconvenient, with no tube stops and an infrequent service at its mainline station, neither of which is within walking distance. Heathrow Airport provides some respite, although quite a lot of its staff live over the constituency borders in either Feltham & Heston or one of the Surrey constituencies.
Hayes and Harlington is also a very ethnically diverse constituency. Only 60% of the population was born in the UK, compared to 87% nationally. The constituency is only 43.4% white, with only Charville and West Drayton wards being over 50%. British Asians, mostly of Indian descent, make up the largest minority at 36.5%, although Afro-Caribbeans make up a not insignificant 11.9% of the population. At 13%, this seat also has the third highest Sikh population in the UK. Interestingly, Hayes & Harlington ranks 5th in the UK for the percentage of the population described as “other Asian”, at 10.2% - in this case, predominantly of Sri Lankan Tamil origin, with some of Middle Eastern and Turkish descent. This is actually a reasonably recent change, and the constituency has diversified a lot in quite a short space of time, which perhaps explains some of the recent political movement.
This has been a reliable Labour seat for most of its history. From 1950 to 1983, the Labour vote only dipped under 50% twice, in 1959 and 1979. In 1981, the incumbent MP defected to the SDP, and contested the 1983 election under his new colours. The anti-Tory vote split almost exactly in half, allowing Conservative Terry Dicks to win with just 40.3% of the vote. His vote increased to 49.2% in 1987, but by 1992 the Labour Party had recovered and Dicks held on by just 53 votes. The seat fell to John McDonnell (whatever happened to him?) on a 17.4% swing and he has held it ever since. At the last general election, which McDonnell contested as shadow chancellor, he beat the Conservative candidate 56-35, for a majority of 21%, after an 8.4% swing against him.
Much of the Labour vote here is very traditional, working-class, conservative, blue-collar Labour, and the estimated leave vote was 58%. However, the relatively large ethnic minority population has kept it safe for Labour. The middle-class area around Hayes End provides a large chunk of the Tory vote, mostly from fairly traditional middle-class Conservative voters. West Drayton, being the least ethnically diverse ward is closer than most of the rest of the seat. Labour run ahead in the rest of the seat, although have probably fallen back in places like the Barnhill estates in Hayes as a result of the brexit realignment. Overall, this is a working-class and ethnically diverse yet conservative seat. Despite this conservatism, the demographics have made it safe for Labour in the past and should continues to do so for the foreseeable future.
Hayes and Harlington
Hayes and Harlington covers the bottom third of the London Borough of Hillingdon, the westernmost of the London Boroughs. All of its territory was originally in the county of Middlesex, which officially ceased to exist in 1965. Despite this, references to the county can still be seen in the names of local organisations, at least one hospital, and the self-identity of the locals, especially those born before the county’s abolition.
The constituency covers the town of Hayes in the north east, with the smaller localities of Yeading and Hayes End on the northern boundaries having essentially been swallowed up by it; Harlington slightly farther to the south; West Drayton south of the railway line out to the west; and Heathrow Airport in a band across the south.
The name Middlesex refers to the “Middle Saxons”, from the old English middel and Seaxe, meaning Saxons, the same logic which named the old kingdoms of Essex, Sussex and Wessex. The name Middlesex is first recorded in a reference to land near Twickenham in 704 AD, and areas of this seat are nearly as ancient. The earliest reference to Yeading dates to 757, while Hayes is mentioned in the Doomsday Book, and contains a Grade II* listed church, and a Grade II listed manor house, and West Drayton goes back to at least the tenth century. This was one of the more industrialised parts of Middlesex. HMV, Nestle, Westland Helicopters and Ford were all present in the constituency at one stage. Heinz also based some of their research here, and there was a large paint factory in West Drayton. On top of this, there was a major munitions factory in Hayes during the second world war. This was for a long time a fairly typical blue collar, working-class constituency.
This is the 181st most deprived constituency in England, making it more deprived that either Bury seat and putting it alongside places like Chesterfield, Newcastle North, Bolsover and Lincoln. By contrast the other two Hillingdon constituencies, Uxbridge & South Ruislip and Ruislip, Northwood & Pinner rank 374th and 483rd respectively. Twickenham and Richmond Park on the other side of the Thames are even richer; in this part of west London, only Feltham & Heston suffers comparable deprivation. However, this hides a huge disparity between the various deprivation indices: it performs much better on employment, education and health, and much worse on deprivation affecting older people, crime and barriers to housing and services, ranking 26th in England on the latter index. Deprivation within this seat is also fairly uniform, with the exception of a wealthier, although middle-class rather than posh, area around Hayes End, and more severe deprivation around Yeading and Hayes itself. Owner occupation is below the national average in this seat, while social and private renting are both above it. Charville ward is an outlier in this sense as well: 71.1% of households here are owner occupied, with the figures in the other wards ranging from 45.2% in Townfield ward to 57.7% in Pinkwell. Charville’s figure for the percentage of households that are socially rented is less than half the constituency average, and its figure for private renting is low as well. 33.6% of households in Heathrow Villages are privately rented, probably in part as a result of temporary workers who may not be registered to vote in this ward. All the other figures for both categories are clustered reasonably close together.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, transportation and storage and accommodation and food services are the two most over-represented industries, both connected to Heathrow Airport. Managerial occupations are significantly under-represented compared to both national and regional averages, whilst routine occupations are over-represented. People with no qualifications, other qualifications and NVQs 1, 2 and 4 are over-represented; NVQ 3 is quite significantly under-represented.
Like much of the country, it has suffered from the loss of its industry (although not all of it), but unlike in much of London and the South East, very little has replaced it and the percentage of the population claiming universal credit is above the national average. Commuting into central London is surprisingly inconvenient, with no tube stops and an infrequent service at its mainline station, neither of which is within walking distance. Heathrow Airport provides some respite, although quite a lot of its staff live over the constituency borders in either Feltham & Heston or one of the Surrey constituencies.
Hayes and Harlington is also a very ethnically diverse constituency. Only 60% of the population was born in the UK, compared to 87% nationally. The constituency is only 43.4% white, with only Charville and West Drayton wards being over 50%. British Asians, mostly of Indian descent, make up the largest minority at 36.5%, although Afro-Caribbeans make up a not insignificant 11.9% of the population. At 13%, this seat also has the third highest Sikh population in the UK. Interestingly, Hayes & Harlington ranks 5th in the UK for the percentage of the population described as “other Asian”, at 10.2% - in this case, predominantly of Sri Lankan Tamil origin, with some of Middle Eastern and Turkish descent. This is actually a reasonably recent change, and the constituency has diversified a lot in quite a short space of time, which perhaps explains some of the recent political movement.
This has been a reliable Labour seat for most of its history. From 1950 to 1983, the Labour vote only dipped under 50% twice, in 1959 and 1979. In 1981, the incumbent MP defected to the SDP, and contested the 1983 election under his new colours. The anti-Tory vote split almost exactly in half, allowing Conservative Terry Dicks to win with just 40.3% of the vote. His vote increased to 49.2% in 1987, but by 1992 the Labour Party had recovered and Dicks held on by just 53 votes. The seat fell to John McDonnell (whatever happened to him?) on a 17.4% swing and he has held it ever since. At the last general election, which McDonnell contested as shadow chancellor, he beat the Conservative candidate 56-35, for a majority of 21%, after an 8.4% swing against him.
Much of the Labour vote here is very traditional, working-class, conservative, blue-collar Labour, and the estimated leave vote was 58%. However, the relatively large ethnic minority population has kept it safe for Labour. The middle-class area around Hayes End provides a large chunk of the Tory vote, mostly from fairly traditional middle-class Conservative voters. West Drayton, being the least ethnically diverse ward is closer than most of the rest of the seat. Labour run ahead in the rest of the seat, although have probably fallen back in places like the Barnhill estates in Hayes as a result of the brexit realignment. Overall, this is a working-class and ethnically diverse yet conservative seat. Despite this conservatism, the demographics have made it safe for Labour in the past and should continues to do so for the foreseeable future.
