Southampton Itchen (UK Parliament constituency)

Southampton, Itchen
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Southampton, Itchen in Hampshire.
Location of Hampshire within England.
County	Hampshire
Electorate	74,513 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	Southampton
Current constituency
Created	1950
Member of parliament	Royston Smith (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Southampton
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South East England

Southampton, Itchen is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Royston Smith, a Conservative member of parliament.^{[n 2]}

History

The constituency was created in 1950, when the previous two-member Southampton constituency was abolished.

The constituency is named after the River Itchen, which flows through it and is the lesser of the two major rivers that reach the tidal estuary of Southampton Water at the city. Although until the 1970s it was a safe Labour seat, it elected a Conservative MP, Christopher Chope in 1983 and 1987 after the sitting MP Bob Mitchell left Labour in 1981 for the SDP. The combination of Mitchell as a strong SDP-Liberal Alliance candidate in both 1983 and 1987, together with Conservative landslides, made Southampton Itchen highly competitive.

The former Labour MP, John Denham, narrowly defeated Chope by 551 votes in 1992 and held the seat with more substantial majorities until 2010 when he won by just 192 votes. These two election results with marginal majorities, with moderate third-party polling, and the Conservative gain in 2015, indicate Southampton Itchen may now be thought of as a two-party marginal seat.

Royston Smith unexpectedly regained the seat for the Conservative Party in 2015. He had previously led the Conservative group on the city council and had contested the seat in 2010.

Boundaries

1950-1983: The County Borough of Southampton wards of Bevois, Bitterne and Peartree, Bitterne and Sholing, Newtown, Northam, Portswood, St Denys, St Mary's, Trinity, and Woolston.

1983-1997: The City of Southampton wards of Bargate, Bitterne, Bitterne Park, Harefield, Peartree, St Luke's, and Sholing.

1997-present: The City of Southampton wards of Bargate, Bitterne, Bitterne Park, Harefield, Peartree, Sholing, and Woolston.

The seat covers the eastern part of the City of Southampton, in southern England, specifically the city centre, the eastern port areas (the Port of Southampton is one of the principal ports of the UK), the exclusive Ocean Village quarter, the inner city council estates and the economically-deprived Thornhill estate on its eastern boundary. It is seen as the more working class of the two constituencies in the city (the other is Southampton Test – named after the other major river).

The constituency is bounded to the west by Southampton Test (Labour), to the north and east by Eastleigh (Conservative) and in the far north by Romsey and Southampton North (Conservative).

Constituency profile

Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 close to but slightly below than the national average of 3.8%, at 3.5% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian, above the average for the South East seats of 2.5% but below, for example, five seats in East Kent.^[2]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[3]	Party
	1950	Ralph Morley	Labour
	1955	Dr Horace King	Labour
	1965		Speaker
	1971 by-election	Bob Mitchell	Labour
	1981		SDP
	1983	Christopher Chope	Conservative
	1992	John Denham	Labour
	2015	Royston Smith	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Southampton Itchen[4][5][6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Royston Smith	18,656	41.7	+5.4
	Labour	Rowenna Davis	16,340	36.5	-0.2
	UKIP	Kim Rose	6,010	13.4	+9.1
	Green	John Spottiswoode	1,876	4.2	+2.8
	Liberal Democrat	Eleanor Bell	1,595	3.6	-17.3
	TUSC	Sue Atkins	233	0.5	+0.1
Majority			2,316	5.2	+4.8
Turnout			44,710	61.8	+2.2
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	2.8

General Election 2010: Southampton Itchen[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Denham	16,326	36.8	−11.5
	Conservative	Royston Smith	16,134	36.3	+9.0
	Liberal Democrat	David Goodall	9,256	20.8	+0.1
	UKIP	Alan Kebbell	1,928	4.3	+0.6
	Green	John Spottiswoode	600	1.4	+1.4
	TUSC	Tim Cutter	168	0.4	+0.4
Majority			192	0.4	-21.1
Turnout			44,412	59.6	+4.8
	Labour hold		Swing	−10.3

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Southampton Itchen[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Denham	20,871	48.3	−6.2
	Conservative	Flick Drummond	11,569	26.8	−0.6
	Liberal Democrat	David Goodall	9,162	21.2	+6.2
	UKIP	Kim Rose	1,623	3.8	+1.8
Majority			9,302	21.5
Turnout			43,225	55.5	1.5
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.8

General Election 2001: Southampton Itchen[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Denham	22,553	54.5	−0.3
	Conservative	Caroline Nokes	11,330	27.4	−1.0
	Liberal Democrat	Mark Cooper	6,195	15.0	+3.3
	UKIP	Kim Rose	829	2.0	+1.7
	Socialist Alliance	Gavin Marsh	241	0.6
	Socialist Labour	Michael Holmes	225	0.5
Majority			11,223	27.1
Turnout			41,373	54.0
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.37

Electorate: 76,603

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Southampton Itchen[10][11][12][13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Denham	29,498	54.8	+10.8
	Conservative	Peter Fleet	15,269	28.4	−13.7
	Liberal Democrat	David Harrison	6,289	11.7	−2.2
	Referendum	John Clegg	1,660	3.1	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Kim Rose	628	1.2	N/A
	UKIP	Clive Hoar	172	0.3	N/A
	Socialist Alternative	Gavin Marsh	113	0.2	N/A
	Natural Law	Rosemary Barry	110	0.2	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	Ferdi McDermott	99	0.2	N/A
Majority			14,220	26.4	+21.4
Turnout			53,838	70.0
	Labour hold		Swing	+12.3

Electorate: 76,869

General Election 1992:Southampton Itchen[14][15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Denham	24,402	44.0	+11.9
	Conservative	Christopher Chope	23,851	43.0	−1.3
	Liberal Democrat	James R.T. Hodgson	7,221	13.0	−10.6
Majority			551	1.0	−11.2
Turnout			55,474	76.9	+1.1
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+6.6

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Southampton Itchen[16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christopher Chope	24,419	44.3
	Labour	John Denham	17,703	32.1
	Social Democratic	Bob Mitchell	13,006	23.6
Majority			6,716	12.2
Turnout				75.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Southampton Itchen[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christopher Chope	21,937	41.5
	Social Democratic	Bob Mitchell	16,647	31.5
	Labour	John Denham	14,324	27.1
Majority			5,290	10.0
Turnout				73.3
	Conservative gain from Social Democratic		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Southampton Itchen
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bob Mitchell	28,036	46.3
	Conservative	Andrew Hunter	26,434	43.6
	Liberal	John Pindar	6,132	10.1
Majority			1,602	2.6
Turnout				74.7
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Southampton Itchen
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bob Mitchell	28,168	48.9
	Conservative	P. T. James	20,373	35.4
	Liberal	Joseph Cherryson	9,071	15.7
Majority			7,795	13.5
Turnout				70.3
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Southampton Itchen
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bob Mitchell	27,557	44.0
	Conservative	P. T. James	21,967	35.0
	Liberal	Joseph Cherryson	13,173	21.0
Majority			5,590	8.9
Turnout				77.2
	Labour hold		Swing

Southampton Itchen by-election, 1971
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bob Mitchell	22,575	55.36	N/A
	Conservative	James Spicer	12,900	31.63	N/A
	National Democratic	Edwin Bray	3,090	7.58
	Liberal	Joseph Cherryson	2,214	5.43
Majority			9,675	23.73
Turnout			40,779
	Labour gain from Speaker		Swing

General Election 1970: Southampton Itchen
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Speaker	Horace King	29,417	67.2
	National Democratic	Edwin Bray	9,581	21.9
	Independent	Brian Henry Phillips	4,794	11.0
Majority			19,836	45.3
Turnout				54.1
	Speaker hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: Southampton Itchen
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Speaker	Horace King	30,463	85.4
	Independent	K. D. Hunt	5,217	14.6
Majority			25,246	70.8
Turnout				49.0
	Speaker hold		Swing

General Election 1964: Southampton Itchen
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Horace King	28,949	52.7
	Conservative	G. G. Olson	18,974	34.5
	Liberal	Joseph Cherryson	7,007	12.8
Majority			9,975	18.2
Turnout				76.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Southampton Itchen
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Horace King	29,123	53.42
	Conservative	E.M. King	25,390	46.58
Majority			3,733	6.85
Turnout				78.00
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Southampton Itchen
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Horace King	29,149	55.49
	Conservative	L.T. Loader	23,378	44.51
Majority			5,771	10.99
Turnout				78.28
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Southampton Itchen
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ralph Morley	30,330	54.12
	Liberal National	R.J. Stranger	25,708	45.88
Majority			4,622	8.25
Turnout				83.59
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1950: Southampton Itchen
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ralph Morley	29,749	53.44	N/A
	Liberal National	Sir Robert Hampden Hobart	24,536	44.08	N/A
	Independent Conservative	William Craven Craven-Ellis	1,380	2.48	N/A
Majority			5,213	9.36	N/A
Turnout				84.0	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Hampshire

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. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
3. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "I"
4. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
5. Archived 15 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine
6. "BBC NEWS – Election 2015 – Southampton Itchen". BBC News.
7. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
8. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
9. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
10. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
11. "Politics Resources". Election 1997. Politics Resources. 1 May 1997. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
12. C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, p.150 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995)
13. The 1997 election result is calculated relative to the notional, not the actual, 1992 result.
14. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
15. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
16. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
17. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

Coordinates: 50°55′N 1°21′W / 50.917°N 1.350°W