South Basildon and East Thurrock (UK Parliament constituency)

South Basildon and East Thurrock is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by James McMurdock of Reform UK.^{[n 2]}

South Basildon and East Thurrock
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundaries since 2024
Boundary of South Basildon and East Thurrock in the East of England
County	Essex
Electorate	73,322 (2023) [1]
Major settlements	Laindon, Pitsea, Stanford-le-Hope
Current constituency
Created	2010
Member of Parliament	James McMurdock (Reform UK)
Seats	One
Created from	Basildon, Billericay and Thurrock[2]

Constituency profile

The seat had a very similar proportion (4.0%) of jobseekers to the national average of 3.8%, based on The Guardian's November 2012 study. This is higher than the average for the Eastern counties of 3.1% but significantly lower than Bedford, Great Yarmouth, Peterborough, Luton South, Rochford and Southend East, and Thurrock seats.^[3]

History

The seat was created for the 2010 general election following a review of the Parliamentary representation of Essex by the Boundary Commission for England. It was formed from the majority of the abolished constituency of Basildon, but excluding the centre of Basildon itself, together with the town of Pitsea from the abolished Billericay constituency.

Before 1974 the area came within the older version of the Billericay constituency and, for just five years before 1950, this area was the eastern part of the Thurrock seat – from 1885 to 1945 the area was within the South East Essex seat. From 1832 to 1885 the area was in the South Essex seat.

Its predecessor seat, Basildon, was a much-referenced bellwether seat, having consistently voted for the most successful party (in terms of number of seats) in each election since its 1974 creation. However, the boundaries of the new South Basildon and East Thurrock seat were considered much more favourable to the Conservatives than those of the old Basildon seat.^[4] Accordingly, the seat was held with comfortable majorities by Stephen Metcalfe of the Conservative Party from 2010 to 2024. However, at the 2024 general election, Metcalfe's vote fell by nearly 40% and he was relegated to third place, with James McMurdock of Reform UK (contesting the seat for the first time), capturing the seat with a 0.2% majority over Labour.

Boundaries

Map of boundaries 2010-2024

2010–2024

• The Borough of Thurrock wards of Corringham and Fobbing, East Tilbury, Orsett, Stanford East and Corringham Town, Stanford-le-Hope West, and The Homesteads, and;
• The Borough of Basildon wards of Langdon Hills, Nethermayne, Pitsea North West, Pitsea South East and Vange.^[5]

Despite its long name, this new constituency is to the greatest extent the successor to the Basildon constituency.

The Basildon constituency that existed after 1997 was never wholly within the Basildon district, nor even contained the whole of the Basildon urban area, but it extended south into the Thurrock council area to take in towns such as Stanford-le-Hope and Corringham.

This new seat retained all of the Thurrock wards, lost some areas around central Basildon, and replaced them with Pitsea to the east of Basildon. Additionally, the ward of East Tilbury was added from the Thurrock constituency.

Current

Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the composition of the constituency is as follows (as they existed on 1 December 2020):

• The Borough of Basildon wards of: Langdon Hills; Nethermayne; Pitsea North West ward; Pitsea South East (polling districts DO, DP, DQ and DR).
• The Borough of Thurrock wards of: Chadwell St. Mary; Corringham and Fobbing; East Tilbury; Orsett; Stanford East and Corringham Town; Stanford-le-Hope West; The Homesteads.^[6]

The Borough of Basildon ward of Vange was transferred to Basildon and Billericay, and polling district DN in the Pitsea South East ward (equivalent to the civil parish of Bowers Gifford and North Benfleet) was added to Castle Point. To compensate, the Borough of Thurrock ward of Chadwell St Mary was transferred from Thurrock.

Members of Parliament

Basildon, Billericay and Thurrock prior to 2010

Election		Member[7]	Party
	2010	Stephen Metcalfe	Conservative
	2024	James McMurdock	Reform UK

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

See also: 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies § Notional 2019 general election results

General election 2024: South Basildon and East Thurrock

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform UK	James McMurdock	12,178	30.8	N/A
	Labour	Jack Ferguson	12,080	30.5	+6.9
	Conservative	Stephen Metcalfe	10,159	25.7	−39.7
	Independent	Neil Speight	1,928	4.9	N/A
	Green	Elizabeth Grant	1,718	4.3	+4.1
	Liberal Democrats	Dave Thomas	1,071	2.7	−1.4
	Independent	Steven Burnett	275	0.7	N/A
	SDP	Simon Breedon	140	0.4	N/A
Majority			98	0.2
Turnout			39,549	54.7
	Reform UK gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: South Basildon and East Thurrock^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen Metcalfe	29,973	66.2	+9.3
	Labour	Jack Ferguson	10,051	22.2	−10.3
	Independent	Kerry Smith	3,316	7.3	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Bukola	1,957	4.3	+2.7
Majority			19,922	44.0	+19.6
Turnout			45,297	60.8	−3.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	+9.8

General election 2017: South Basildon and East Thurrock

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen Metcalfe	26,811	56.9	+13.5
	Labour	Byron Taylor	15,321	32.5	+7.3
	UKIP	Peter Whittle	3,193	6.8	−19.7
	Liberal Democrats	Nath Banerji	732	1.6	−1.4
	Green	Sim Harman	680	1.4	N/A
	BNP	Paul Borg	383	0.8	N/A
Majority			11,490	24.4	+7.5
Turnout			47,178	64.0	−0.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.1

See also: Opinion polling in United Kingdom constituencies, 2010–15 § South Basildon and East Thurrock

General election 2015: South Basildon and East Thurrock^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen Metcalfe	19,788	43.4	−0.5
	UKIP	Ian Luder[10]	12,097	26.5	+20.6
	Labour	Mike Le-Surf[11]	11,493	25.2	−5.8
	Liberal Democrats	Geoff Williams[12]	1,356	3.0	−10.4
	Independent	Kerry Smith[13]	401	0.9	N/A
	Independent	None Of The Above X (Terry Marsh)	253	0.6	+0.3
	Independent	Stuart Hooper[14]	205	0.4	N/A
Majority			7,692	16.9	+4.0
Turnout			45,593	64.1	+1.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.6

General election 2010: South Basildon and East Thurrock^[15][16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Stephen Metcalfe	19,624	43.9
	Labour Co-op	Angela Smith*	13,852	31.0
	Liberal Democrats	Geoff Williams	5,977	13.4
	UKIP	Kerry Smith	2,639	5.9
	BNP	Chris Roberts	2,518	5.6
	Independent	None Of The Above X (Terry Marsh)	125	0.3
Majority			5,772	12.9
Turnout			44,735	62.2
	Conservative win (new seat)

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Essex
• List of parliamentary constituencies in the East of England (region)

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. "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition – Eastern". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
2. "Basildon South and Thurrock East' UK Parliament, 6 May 2010 -". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 12 April 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
3. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
4. Waller, Robert; Criddle, Byron (2007). The Almanac of British Politics (8th ed.). UK: Routledge. pp. 127–128, 160–161. ISBN 978-0-415-37823-9.
5. "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 2007". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
6. "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule I Part 2 Eastern region.
7. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 1)
8. "Basildon South & Thurrock East Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
9. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
10. "UK Polling Report". ukpollingreport.co.uk.
11. "Say you're with us >>". www.labour.org.uk. Archived from the original on 5 August 2013.
12. "LIVE: South Basildon and East Thurrock hustings". Echo. 20 April 2015.
13. "Ex-UKIP candidate Kerry Smith 'to run as independent'". BBC News. 7 January 2015.
14. http://www.yourthurrock.com/List-General-Election-candidates-South-Basildon/story-26317247-detail/story.html ^{[dead link]}
15. Statement of Persons Nominated Archived 8 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine Basildon Council
16. "BBC NEWS – Election 2010 – Basildon South & Thurrock East". BBC News.

External links

• South Basildon and East Thurrock UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
• South Basildon and East Thurrock UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK

51.53°N 0.44°E / 51.53; 0.44