Gillingham and Rainham (UK Parliament constituency)

Gillingham and Rainham
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Gillingham and Rainham in Kent for the 2010 general election.
Location of Kent within England.
County	Kent
Electorate	71,109 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	Gillingham, Rainham, Hempstead, Twydall
Current constituency
Created	2010
Member of parliament	Rehman Chishti (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Gillingham
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South East England

Gillingham and Rainham is a constituency^{[n 1]} in Kent represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 2010 creation by Rehman Chishti, a Conservative.^{[n 2]} It replaced the previous constituency of Gillingham.

Boundaries

The seat has electoral wards:

• Gillingham North, Gillingham South, Hempstead and Wigmore, Rainham Central, Rainham North, Rainham South, Twydall and Watling in Medway, a unitary authority

Constituency profile

The constituency is centred on the large town, historically a small port, convenient for access to the City of London, within the London Commuter Belt and adjoining the touristic town of Rochester which has a Cathedral and Castle. Local retail, industry, business parks, trades and professions provide constituents with a high level of employment mostly on moderate to middle incomes,^[2] however the area is not wholly resilient to unemployment. Registered claimants who were registered jobseekers were marginally lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 3.5% of the population according to a statistical compilation by The Guardian.^[3]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[4]	Party
	2010	Rehman Chishti	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Gillingham and Rainham[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rehman Chishti	22,590	48.0	+1.8
	Labour	Paul Clark	12,060	25.6	-2.0
	UKIP	Mark Hanson	9,199	19.5	+16.3
	Liberal Democrat	Paul Chaplin[6]	1,707	3.6	-14.5
	Green	Neil Williams	1,133	2.4	+1.6
	TUSC	Jacqui Berry[7]	273	0.6	N/A
	Independent	Roger Peacock	72	0.1	N/A
	Independent	Mike Walters	44	0.1	N/A
Majority			10,530	22.4	+3.8
Turnout			47,078	64.8	-1.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.9

General Election 2010: Gillingham and Rainham[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rehman Chishti	21,624	46.2	+5.5
	Labour	Paul Clark[9]	12,944	27.7	-13.1
	Liberal Democrat	Andrew Stamp	8,484	18.1	+2.8
	UKIP	Robert Oakley	1,515	3.2	+0.6
	BNP	Brian Ravenscroft	1,149	2.5	N/A
	English Democrats	Dean Lacey	464	1.0	N/A
	Green	Trish Marchant	356	0.8	N/A
	Independent	Gordon Bryan	141	0.3	N/A
	Medway Independent Party	George Meegan	109	0.2	N/A
Majority			8,680	18.6
Turnout			46,786	66.0	+2.0
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+9.3

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Kent

Notes and references

Notes

1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
2. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.

References

1. "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
2. 2001 Census
3. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
4. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "G" (part 1)
5. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
6. http://www.libdems.org.uk/general_election_candidates#South East
7. http://www.tusc.org.uk/17049/19-12-2014/more-tusc-candidates-in-place-as-election-challenge-grows
8. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
9. Served as an MP in the 2005–2010 Parliament

Coordinates: 51°22′N 0°34′E / 51.367°N 0.567°E