Cities of London and Westminster (UK Parliament constituency)

Cities of London and Westminster
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Cities of London and Westminster in Greater London.
County	Greater London
Population	110,000 (2011 census)[1]
Electorate	65,140 (December 2010)[2]
Current constituency
Created	1950
Member of parliament	Mark Field (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	City of London (1298–1950), Westminster Abbey, Westminster St George's
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	London

Cities of London and Westminster is a constituency returning a single Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons in the United Kingdom Parliament. It is a borough constituency for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer. As with all constituencies, the election is decided using the first past the post system of election. Since its creation at the 1950 general election, the constituency has always elected the candidate nominated by the Conservative Party. It has been represented since 2001 by Mark Field.

History

Cities of London and Westminster in the Parliamentary County of London, showing boundaries used from 1950 to 1974

Before 1950 the City of London formed a two-member constituency on its own. The Boundary Commission for England began reviewing constituencies in January 1946 using rules defined under the Representation of the People Act 1944, which excluded the City of London from the redistribution procedure;^[3][4] the Commission recommended that the borough of Chelsea and the City of Westminster form a single Parliamentary Borough of Chelsea and Westminster with two divisions.^[5]

In February 1948 the Government brought forward a new Representation of the People Bill which removed the right of owners of business premises to a second vote; this would have had the effect of reducing the electorate of the City of London from 12,500 to 4,600. The Bill proposed also to end the City of London as a separate constituency and to merge it with the adjacent boroughs of Finsbury and Shoreditch.^[6] During debates on the Bill, the Government amended it to substitute a link between the City of London and the City of Westminster.^[7] In introducing the amendment the Home Secretary James Chuter Ede noted that the alterations to the constituencies in Westminster, Chelsea and Kensington had been agreed unanimously at a conference between the Members of Parliament and representatives of the boroughs affected.^[8]

No alteration was made by the First Periodical Report on constituency boundaries in 1954.^[9] In the Second Periodical Report in 1969, the Boundary Commission wrote that their initial feelings were that "except for a minor alteration to follow a new ward boundary" they felt that there was "no reason to disturb" the constituency, and they received no objections to this proposal. Westminster City Council later suggested that the constituency could be more accurately named as 'The City of London and Westminster South'; the Boundary Commission found opinion divided and left the name unchanged when it published revised proposals for two other constituencies within the City. Subsequent representations on the name were received and the Commission decided that, although justified on historical grounds, the name was "not now entirely accurate" and so proposed the renaming as suggested by the City Council.^[10]

In initial proposals during the Third Periodical Review (1983), the Boundary Commission proposed to abolish the St Marylebone constituency and add four wards from it (Cavendish, Baker Street, Bryanston and Regents Park) to the previous City of London and Westminster South constituency; they provisionally named the result 'The City of London and Westminster'. After a local inquiry, the Regents Park ward was removed and Hyde Park ward (from the Paddington constituency) was added; unanimous opinion at the inquiry favoured naming the result 'The City of London and Westminster South'.^[11]

For the Fourth Periodical Review (1995), the Boundary Commission paired the City of Westminster with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea for consideration. The Commission's initial proposals, to expand the constituency by two wards (Bayswater and Lancaster Gate) formerly in Westminster North and to return to the name 'Cities of London and Westminster', were upheld after a local inquiry, despite multiple counter-proposals.^[12]

At the Fifth Periodical Review (2007), the initial proposals of the Boundary Commission paired the City of Westminster with the London Borough of Brent although they involved only minor changes to the Cities of London and Westminster constituency to take account of new ward boundaries. Widespread objections ("almost universal hostility") to the pairing led to a local inquiry, which decided that Westminster and the City of London should be reviewed separately and not paired with any other borough. The Commission proposed a new Cities of London and Westminster constituency in which the revised Bayswater and Lancaster Gate wards were removed.^[13]

Early proposals made during the abandoned Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies proposed linking the City of London to the southern wards of Islington in a constituency to be known as "The City of London and Islington South".^[14] Most of the Westminster wards were proposed to form part of a Westminster and Kensington constituency.^[15] This proposal was the first to suggest a split between the two Cities in Parliamentary elections since they were joined and proved unpopular in consultation; the Boundary Commission revised them to return the link between the City of London and the City of Westminster,^[16] although the whole review was subsequently abandoned.

Although united for Parliamentary elections, in the London Assembly, the City of London is covered by the City and East constituency, and the area in Westminster by the West Central constituency. The Local Government Commission for England argued that "combining the City of London with areas to its east could assist in focussing regeneration eastwards" and linked it with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and the London Borough of Newham.^[17]

Boundaries

1950-1974: The Metropolitan Borough of Westminster, the City of London, and the Inner Temple and Middle Temple.

1974-1983: The City of Westminster wards of Charing Cross, Churchill, Knightsbridge, Millbank, Regent Street, Victoria Street, and Warwick, and the City of London including the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple.

1983-1997: The City of Westminster wards of Baker Street, Belgrave, Bryanston, Cavendish, Churchill, Hyde Park, Knightsbridge, Millbank, St George's, St James's, Victoria, and West End, and the City of London.

1997-2010: The City of Westminster wards of Baker Street, Bayswater, Belgrave, Bryanston, Cavendish, Churchill, Hyde Park, Knightsbridge, Lancaster Gate, Millbank, St George's, St James's, Victoria, and West End, and the City of London.

2010-present: The City of Westminster wards of Bryanston and Dorset Square, Churchill, Hyde Park, Knightsbridge and Belgravia, Marylebone High Street, St James’s, Tachbrook, Vincent Square, Warwick, and West End, and the City of London.

The seat covers the entire City of London and most of the City of Westminster lying South of the Marylebone Road and the Westway. In the latter more residential city it covers Westminster, Pimlico, Victoria, Belgravia, Knightsbridge, St. James's, Soho, most of Covent Garden, parts of Fitzrovia, Marylebone, Edgware Road, Paddington and Bayswater.

Constituency profile

The constituency covers much of the commercial, historical and touristic heart of London, including the Square Mile, St. Paul's Cathedral, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park.

Few people live in the City of London's financial district; the most residential parts of the City of London are Temple, Barbican and Moorgate. Parts of High Holborn and Chancery Lane are also part of this constituency.^[18] The West End has areas where residents mix with businesses, such as Covent Garden and Soho. Other areas including Mayfair, Belgravia and Knightsbridge rank among Europe's wealthiest residential districts but around half the electorate are in the more socially mixed areas of Bayswater and Pimlico which includes some large council estates (Churchill Gardens, Millbank Estate). The seat overall is a safe Conservative seat, with only one Labour ward at the local level. It is also one of five Inner London constituencies held by the Conservatives.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[19][20][21][22]	Party
	1950	Sir Harold Webbe	Conservative
	1959	Sir Harry Hylton-Foster	Conservative
	1959		Speaker
	1965 by-election	John Smith	Conservative
	1970[note 1]	Christopher Tugendhat	Conservative
	1977 by-election[note 2]	Peter Brooke	Conservative
	2001	Mark Field	Conservative

Election results

Named Cities of London and Westminster from 1997 to date

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Cities of London and Westminster [23][24]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Field	19,570	54.1	+1.9
	Labour	Nik Slingsby	9,899	27.4	+5.2
	Liberal Democrat	Belinda Brooks-Gordon	2,521	7.0	–13.5
	Green	Hugh Small	1,953	5.4	+3.4
	UKIP	Robert Stephenson	1,894	5.2	+3.4
	CISTA	Edouard-Henri Desforges	160	0.4	+0.4
	Christian Peoples	Jill McLachlan[25]	129	0.4	+0.4
	Class War	Adam Clifford	59	0.2	+0.2
Majority			9,671	26.7	–3.3
Turnout			36,185	59.3	+3.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	–1.6

General Election 2010: Cities of London and Westminster[26]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Field	19,264	52.2	+3.9
	Labour	Dave Rowntree	8,188	22.2	–3.1
	Liberal Democrat	Naomi Smith	7,574	20.5	+2.0
	Green	Derek Chase	778	2.1	–2.2
	UKIP	Paul Martin Laurence Weston	664	1.8	+0.7
	English Democrats	Frank Roseman	191	0.5	N/A
	Independent	Dennis Delderfield	98	0.3	N/A
	Pirate	Jack Nunn	90	0.2	N/A
	Independent	Mad Cap'n Tom	84	0.2	N/A
Majority			11,076	30.0
Turnout			36,931	55.5	+4.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.5

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Cities of London and Westminster
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Field	17,260	47.3	+1.0
	Labour	Hywel W. Lloyd	9,165	25.1	−8.0
	Liberal Democrat	Miss Marie-Louise E. Rossi	7,306	20.0	+4.6
	Green	Tristan J.L. Smith	1,544	4.2	+0.3
	UKIP	Colin Ralph Merton	399	1.1	–0.3
	Independent	Brian Haw	298	0.8	N/A
	Christian Peoples	Mrs. Jillian McLachlan	246	0.7	N/A
	Veritas	David Harris	218	0.6	N/A
	Independent	Cass J.C. Cass-Horne	51	0.1	N/A
Majority			8,095	22.2
Turnout			36,487	50.3	+3.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	+4.5

General Election 2001: Cities of London and Westminster
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Field	15,737	46.3	–0.9
	Labour	Michael David Katz	11,238	33.1	–2.0
	Liberal Democrat	Martin Horwood	5,218	15.4	+3.1
	Green	Hugo Charlton	1,318	3.9	N/A
	UKIP	Colin Ralph Merton	464	1.4	+0.8
Majority			4,499	13.2
Turnout			33,975	47.2	–7.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.5

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Cities of London and Westminster
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Leonard Brooke	18,981	47.3	–12.0
	Labour	Kate Green	14,100	35.1	+11.0
	Liberal Democrat	Michael C. Dumigan	4,933	12.3	–1.8
	Referendum	Alan Walters	1,161	2.9	N/A
	Independent	Mrs. Patricia M. Wharton	266	0.7	N/A
	UKIP	Colin R. Merton	215	0.5	N/A
	Natural Law	Richard P. Johnson	176	0.4	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Nicholas T. Walsh	138	0.3	N/A
	Hemp Coalition	Gordon C. Webster	112	0.3	N/A
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Jerry Sadowitz	73	0.2	N/A
Majority			4,881	12.2	N/A
Turnout			40,155	54.2	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing

Named City of London and Westminster South between 1974 and 1992

General Election 1992: City of London and Westminster South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Leonard Brooke	20,938	60.3	+2.5
	Labour	Charlie Smith	7,569	21.8	+1.4
	Liberal Democrat	Ms. Jane Caroline Grantham Smithard	5,392	15.3	–6.5
	Green	Guy Herbert	458	1.3	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Peter Stockton	147	0.4	N/A
	Irish Freedom Movement	Alex Farrell	107	0.3	N/A
	Natural Law	Richard Johnson	101	0.3	N/A
Majority			13,369	38.5
Turnout			34,712	63.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: City of London and Westminster South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Leonard Brooke	19,333	57.8
	Liberal	Miss Jane Caroline Grantham Smithard	7,291	21.8
	Labour	Miss Ruth Elizabeth Bush	6,821	20.4
Majority			12,042	36.0
Turnout				58.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1983: City of London and Westminster South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Leonard Brooke	20,754	59.1
	Liberal	Adrian A. Walker-Smith	7,367	21.0
	Labour	Stephen P. Jones	6,013	17.1
	Ecology	Roger E. Shorter	419	1.2
	National Front	Anthony Reeve	258	0.7
	Communist	A.W. Spence	161	0.5
	Independent - Pro Nuclear War Gay Rights	Victor Litvin	147	0.4
Majority			13,387	38.1
Turnout				51.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: City of London and Westminster South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Leonard Brooke	16,851	60.7
	Labour	R Profitt	7,067	25.5
	Liberal	H Ball-Wilson	3,375	12.2
	National Front	K Mathews	478	1.7
Majority			9,784	35.2
Turnout				55.2

City of London and Westminster South by-election, 1977
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Leonard Brooke	11,926	55.49	+3.77
	Labour	Malcolm Noble	3,997	18.60	-12.35
	Liberal	Angus Scrimgeour	1,981	9.22	-5.64
	National Front	Paul Kavanagh	1,051	4.89	+2.42
	Pro-Homosexual Civil Rights	Peter Mitchel	449	2.09	N/A
	National Party	Michael Lobb	364	1.69	N/A
	New Britain	Dennis Delderfield	306	1.42	N/A
	Air, Road, Public Safety, White Resident	Bill Boaks	61	0.28	N/A
	Christian Outreach to Britain, Anti-Pornography	William Thompson	43	0.20	N/A
	Christ, Crown, Country, Commonwealth, Christian Constitution	Ralph Herbert	37	0.17	N/A
Turnout			21,492
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: City of London and Westminster South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christopher Samuel Tugendhat	14,350	51.7
	Labour	Phil J Turner	8,589	31.0
	Liberal	TG Underwood	4,122	14.9
	National Front	D Baxter	686	2.5
Majority			5,761	20.8
Turnout				53.2

General Election February 1974: City of London and Westminster South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christopher Samuel Tugendhat	16,945	53.2
	Labour	Phil J Turner	8,698	27.3
	Liberal	TG Underwood	6,015	18.9
	Independent Conservative	CD Wertheim	134	0.4
Majority			8.247	25.9
Turnout				61.4

Named from 1950 to 1970 Cities of London and Westminster

General Election 1970: Cities of London and Westminster
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christopher Samuel Tugendhat	19,102	59.4
	Labour	Alf Dubs	10,062	31.3
	Liberal	David A Nicholson	2,708	8.4
	Independent - Anti-Labour	Dr. Willoughby A Clark	157	0.5
	Independent - Young Ideas	Lord Sutch	157	0.4
Majority			9,040	28.1
Turnout				54.5

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: Cities of London and Westminster
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Smith	19,242	54.7
	Labour	Alexander J S Pringle	12,349	35.1
	Liberal	Thomas P M Houston	3,576	10.2
Majority			6,893	19.6
Turnout				60.0

By-election 1965: Cities of London and Westminster
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Lindsay Smith	15,037	59.33	+1.16
	Labour	Alexander J S Pringle	8,300	32.86	+2.28
	Liberal	Stephen Jakobi	1,595	6.31	-4.74
	Independent	Desmond Burgess	326	6.71	N/A
Majority			6,737
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1964: Cities of London and Westminster
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Speaker	Harry Hylton-Foster	21,588	58.37
	Labour	Ronald G Wallace	11,309	30.58
	Liberal	JW Derry	4,087	11.05
Majority			10,279	27.79	–

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Cities of London and Westminster
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Harry Hylton-Foster	27,489	65.1
	Labour	Will Howie	10,301	24.4
	Liberal	Derek Monsey	4,409	10.5
Majority			17,188	40.7
Turnout				61.3

General Election 1955: Cities of London and Westminster
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Harold Webbe	31,314	70.2
	Labour	Dennis J Nisbet	13,270	29.8
Majority			18,044	40.5
Turnout				60.0

General Election 1951: Cities of London and Westminster
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Harold Webbe	35,275	66.8
	Labour	Hugh F Sutherland	17,527	33.2
Majority			17,738	33.6
Turnout				67.2

General Election 1950: Cities of London and Westminster
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Harold Webbe	32,672	61.6
	Labour	John Lewis Curthoys	14,849	28.0
	Liberal	Dr Jacob Arthur Gorsky	4,670	8.8
	Communist	Gabriel "Bill" Carritt	888	1.7
Majority			17,823	33.6
Turnout				72.4

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London

Notes and references

Notes

References

1. "Cities of London and Westminster: Usual Resident Population, 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
2. "Electorate Figures". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
3. Whether the City of London returned one or two members was left for the decision of Parliament.
4. "Initial Report of the Boundary Commission for England", Cmd. 7260, p. 4.
5. "Initial Report of the Boundary Commission for England", Cmd. 7260, p. 33.
6. "Redistribution of Seats". The Times. 16 February 1948. p. 4.
7. "Proposals For New Seats". The Times. 14 June 1948. p. 4.
8. HC Debs 5ser vol 452 col 326.
9. "Boundary Commission for England", First Periodical Report, Cmd. 9311, p. 25.
10. "Boundary Commission for England", Second Periodical Report, Cmnd. 4084, pp. 26-27.
11. "Boundary Commission for England", Third Periodical Report, Cmnd. 8797-I, pp. 37–8.
12. "Boundary Commission for England", Fourth Periodical Report, HC 433-i of session 1994-95, pp. 38-45.
13. "Boundary Commission for England", Fifth Periodical Report, Cm 7032-I, pp. 42–51.
14. Brannen, Aimee (13 September 2011). "Islington parliamentary boundaries could change". Islington Gazette.
15. Eysenck, Juliet (13 September 2011). "Boundary changes to affect Westminster". Westminster Chronicle.
16. White, Isobel; Johnston, Neil (4 February 2013). "Constituency boundaries: the Sixth General Review in England" (PDF). House of Commons Library. p. 13.
17. "Draft Recommendations: Electoral Areas for the Assembly of the Greater London Authority" (PDF). Local Government Commission for England. August 1998. paragraph 73.
18. http://m.propertyweek.com/pictures/300xAny/P/web/i/d/e/PW131115-AAAFPB_Chancery-Lane_ALAMY_DavidPearson_SINGLE-USE-ONLY.jpg, http://gb.fotolibra.com/images/previews/863297-holborn-street-sign-london.jpeg, https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6194/6156899766_54fc5e0dfe_n.jpg
19. "Cities of London and Westminster 1950-1974". Hansard 1803-2005. UK Parliament. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
20. "City of London and Westminster South 1974-1997". Hansard 1803-2005. UK Parliament. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
21. "Cities of London and Westminster 1997-". Hansard 1803-2005. UK Parliament. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
22. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 4)
23. "7 May 2015 - UK general election". Westminster City Council. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
24. total electorate 60,992 source Westminster Council email 3Aug15
25. "CPA Candidates for the General Election". Christian Peoples Alliance. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
26. Notice of Poll - Cities of London and Westminster Westminster City Council, 20 April 2010

1. constituency renamed 'City of London and Westminster South' in 1974
2. constituency renamed 'Cities of London and Westminster' in 1997

External links

• nomis Constituency Profile for Cities of London and Westminster — presenting data from the ONS annual population survey and other official statistics.

Coordinates: 51°31′N 0°08′W / 51.51°N 0.13°W