Post by John Chanin on Aug 9, 2023 13:16:46 GMT
Southend is full of London emigres, many of whom commute back to the city on the fast railway line, which takes just 45 minutes to Fenchurch Street. Most of the commuters live on the west side of Southend, which is the more middle-class section of the town. The seat starts from just west of the town centre (which is in Southend East) to the borough boundary, which is marked mainly by parks, although the built up area with Castle Point is continuous in the centre.
The seat can be divided into 3 by the main east-west arteries - the A13 London Road, and the A127 Arterial Road. In the southern section alongside the estuary are clustered the better off and the commuters, next to Leigh and Chalkwell stations. Leigh considers itself separate and a cut above plebeian Southend, with over 50% of the population in managerial and professional work, and a high proportion with degrees, and expresses this politically by voting Liberal Democrat at local elections (or Green in 2023). They have persuaded the Boundary Commission to add Leigh to the constituency name. Leigh is full of bars, restaurants, boutiques, and other accoutrements of middle-class living. The central section is more workaday, with smaller houses, and lower incomes. Westborough is part of the town centre and reflects its demographic statistics and voting behaviour, with a substantial ethnic minority population. The rest of the area is comfortably suburban, with Belfairs Park to the west. North of the arterial road is rather different. Eastwood on the west is almost wholly modern post-war development, and being a long way from the trains has high levels of car ownership. In the centre is a large industrial area on the south side of Southend airport, now reopened for passenger traffic. The airport itself is outside the constituency in Rochford District but an important local factor for the quiet residential districts on the edge of the town on the way to Rochford. Newly added from Southend East is St Lukes ward, on the northern edge of the town alongside the ring road, to the east of the main A127 road into the town centre. This area is mainly council estate, albeit with very heavy right to buy, and is socially down market from the rest of the constituency. As in some other parts of south Essex the seat is notable for a very low number of social housing tenants, and is mainly white outside Westborough. There are however a growing number of private tenants, both in Leigh, and on the edge of the town centre, so owner-occupation is over 80% only on the western borders.
In local politics this side of Southend has always been the Conservative stronghold, although there was a strong Liberal challenge in the 1990s and 2000s, now dissipated. The Liberal Democrats regularly hold only Leigh ward, and Labour only Westborough and St Lukes wards, with the Conservatives usually winning everywhere else, although not always by much. However things have turned decidedly dodgy for them in recent years, winning only 3 of the 10 wards at the 2023 council elections. Curiously they regained precarious control of the Council, as the Independent Group switched sides. Nationally this seat remains very safe for the Conservatives, despite a large UKIP vote, in line with elsewhere in south Essex, in the middle of the last decade. The addition of St Lukes will make only a small dent in the majority. The MP elected here in 2019 was veteran David Amess, first elected for Basildon in 1983, before chicken running to this seat in 1997 in succession to Paul Channon. Following his miserable assassination at a constituency surgery in October 2021, lawyer Anna Firth was elected unopposed by other major parties.
Census data: Owner-occupied 69% (197/575 in England & Wales), private rented 23% (143rd), social rented 8% (563rd).
: White 89%(308th), Black 2%(227th), South Asian 3%(252nd), Mixed 3%(229th), Other 3%(262nd)
: Managerial & professional 41% (220th), Routine & Semi-routine 24% (410th)
: Degree 28% (395th), Minimal qualifications 31% (191st)
: Students 5% (418th), Over 65: 20% (249th)
Boundaries : The new seat is made up of 90% from Southend West and 10% from Southend E & Rochford
The whole of the old Southend West seat is in the new one.
The seat can be divided into 3 by the main east-west arteries - the A13 London Road, and the A127 Arterial Road. In the southern section alongside the estuary are clustered the better off and the commuters, next to Leigh and Chalkwell stations. Leigh considers itself separate and a cut above plebeian Southend, with over 50% of the population in managerial and professional work, and a high proportion with degrees, and expresses this politically by voting Liberal Democrat at local elections (or Green in 2023). They have persuaded the Boundary Commission to add Leigh to the constituency name. Leigh is full of bars, restaurants, boutiques, and other accoutrements of middle-class living. The central section is more workaday, with smaller houses, and lower incomes. Westborough is part of the town centre and reflects its demographic statistics and voting behaviour, with a substantial ethnic minority population. The rest of the area is comfortably suburban, with Belfairs Park to the west. North of the arterial road is rather different. Eastwood on the west is almost wholly modern post-war development, and being a long way from the trains has high levels of car ownership. In the centre is a large industrial area on the south side of Southend airport, now reopened for passenger traffic. The airport itself is outside the constituency in Rochford District but an important local factor for the quiet residential districts on the edge of the town on the way to Rochford. Newly added from Southend East is St Lukes ward, on the northern edge of the town alongside the ring road, to the east of the main A127 road into the town centre. This area is mainly council estate, albeit with very heavy right to buy, and is socially down market from the rest of the constituency. As in some other parts of south Essex the seat is notable for a very low number of social housing tenants, and is mainly white outside Westborough. There are however a growing number of private tenants, both in Leigh, and on the edge of the town centre, so owner-occupation is over 80% only on the western borders.
In local politics this side of Southend has always been the Conservative stronghold, although there was a strong Liberal challenge in the 1990s and 2000s, now dissipated. The Liberal Democrats regularly hold only Leigh ward, and Labour only Westborough and St Lukes wards, with the Conservatives usually winning everywhere else, although not always by much. However things have turned decidedly dodgy for them in recent years, winning only 3 of the 10 wards at the 2023 council elections. Curiously they regained precarious control of the Council, as the Independent Group switched sides. Nationally this seat remains very safe for the Conservatives, despite a large UKIP vote, in line with elsewhere in south Essex, in the middle of the last decade. The addition of St Lukes will make only a small dent in the majority. The MP elected here in 2019 was veteran David Amess, first elected for Basildon in 1983, before chicken running to this seat in 1997 in succession to Paul Channon. Following his miserable assassination at a constituency surgery in October 2021, lawyer Anna Firth was elected unopposed by other major parties.
Census data: Owner-occupied 69% (197/575 in England & Wales), private rented 23% (143rd), social rented 8% (563rd).
: White 89%(308th), Black 2%(227th), South Asian 3%(252nd), Mixed 3%(229th), Other 3%(262nd)
: Managerial & professional 41% (220th), Routine & Semi-routine 24% (410th)
: Degree 28% (395th), Minimal qualifications 31% (191st)
: Students 5% (418th), Over 65: 20% (249th)
Boundaries : The new seat is made up of 90% from Southend West and 10% from Southend E & Rochford
The whole of the old Southend West seat is in the new one.
| 2017 | % | 2019 | % | 2022 by-election | % | Notional | % | |
| Conservative | 26,046 | 55.2 | 27,555 | 59.2 | 12,792 | 86.1 | 30,367 | 59.1 |
| Labour | 16,046 | 34.0 | 13,096 | 28.1 | 14,913 | 29.0 | ||
| Liberal Democrat | 2,110 | 4.5 | 5,312 | 11.4 | 5,449 | 10.6 | ||
| UKIP | 1,666 | 3.5 | 400 | 2.7 | ||||
| Green | 831 | 1.8 | ||||||
| Others | 492 | 1.0 | 574 | 1.2 | 1,666 | 11.2 | 692 | 1.4 |
| Majority | 10,000 | 21.2 | 14,459 | 31.1 | 12,280 | 82.7 | 15,454 | 30.1 |