Slough (UK Parliament constituency)

Slough is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Tan Dhesi, a member of the Labour Party, since the 2017 UK general election.^{[n 2]}

Slough
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundaries since 2024
Boundary of Slough in South East England
County	Berkshire
Electorate	75,287 (2023)[1]
Major settlements	Langley Slough
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of Parliament	Tan Dhesi (Labour)
Seats	One
Created from	Eton & Slough Beaconsfield

The seat is one of five Labour seats from a total of nine seats in Berkshire.

Constituency profile

The seat currently covers the Borough of Slough, with the exception of the Colnbrook with Poyle ward, which is included in the Windsor constituency.

Workless claimants stood at 3.9% in November 2012, just 0.1% above the national average, and while lower than all of eastern Kent and the Isle of Wight, statistically significantly greater than the regional average of 2.5%.^[2] The borough has one of the largest mixed commercial (company headquarters and manufacturing) estates in Europe and fast rail links to London on the Great Western Main Line, to be bolstered by direct city centre services with Crossrail. The area is also the part of the M4 corridor that is the closest to the capital and London Heathrow Airport.

The seat has a large Asian population with Hindu, Muslim and Sikh communities, and less than half of the seat's population is White. It has one of the highest proportions of Sikh residents of any seat outside of London and the metropolitan West Midlands at 10%,^[3] with its current MP, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, becoming Britain's first turbaned Sikh MP in the 2017 general election.^[4]

History

From 1945 to 1983 most of the area presently covered by this seat was in the Eton and Slough constituency, which was a marginal seat usually held by the Labour Party. The Labour MP from 1950 to 1964 was the veteran politician Fenner Brockway, a radical progressive social democrat, who led in writing on pacifism, prison reform, anti-colonialism and anti-discrimination, was editor of the Labour Leader, attended talks by the Fabian Society and had joined the fledgling Independent Labour Party in 1907. It was also held by Labour government minister Joan Lester from 1966 until its abolition in 1983.

The Slough constituency was created from the bulk of the Eton and Slough seat for the 1983 election, when it was won by the Conservatives. Fiona Mactaggart captured it for Labour at the landslide election of 1997 and have retained since then, with Tan Dhesi succeeding Mactaggart in 2017. It is now considered to be a safe Labour seat.

Boundaries and boundary changes

Map of 2010–2024 boundaries

1983–1997

The Borough of Slough.^[5]

Created from the bulk of the abolished constituency of Eton and Slough, which contributed 88.2% of the constituency. The remaining northern slice came from the safe Conservative constituency of Beaconsfield.

1997–2010

The Borough of Slough wards of Baylis, Britwell, Central, Chalvey, Cippenham, Farnham, Haymill, Kedermister, Langley St Mary's, Stoke, Upton, and Wexham Lea.^[6]

The Foxborough ward was transferred to Windsor.

2010–2024

The Borough of Slough wards of Baylis and Stoke, Britwell, Central, Chalvey, Cippenham Green, Cippenham Meadows, Farnham, Foxborough, Haymill, Langley Kedermister, Langley St Mary's, Upton, and Wexham Lea.^[7]

The Foxborough ward was transferred back in, but the Colnbrook with Poyle ward, which had been created in 1998 within the Borough of Slough as a result of minor boundary changes involving the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Surrey, was retained in Windsor.

2024–present

Under the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for 2024 general election, the composition of the constituency was reduced to bring its electorate within the permitted range by transferring back the Foxborough ward to Windsor, along with the Langley Kedermister ward (as they existed at 1 December 2020).^[8]

Following a local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2023,^[9][10] the constituency now comprises the following wards of the Borough of Slough from the 2024 general election:

• Baylis & Salt Hill; Britwell; Chalvey; Cippenham Green; Cippenham Manor; Cippenham Village; Elliman; Farnham; Haymill; Herschel Park; Langley Marish (small part); Langley Meads; Langley St Mary’s (most); Manor Park & Stoke; Northborough & Lynch Hill Valley; Slough Central; Upton; Upton Lea; Wexham Court.^[11]

Members of Parliament

Eton & Slough prior to 1983

Election		Member[12]	Party
	1983	John Watts	Conservative
	1997	Fiona Mactaggart	Labour
	2017	Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Slough^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tan Dhesi	14,666	33.9	−24.9
	Ind. Network	Azhar Chohan	11,019	25.5	N/A
	Conservative	Moni Nanda	7,457	17.2	−12.3
	Reform UK	Robin Jackson	3,352	7.7	+4.9
	Liberal Democrats	Chelsea Whyte	2,060	4.8	−2.0
	Green	Julian Edmonds	1,873	4.3	+2.2
	Workers Party	Adnan Shabbir	1,105	2.6	N/A
	Independent	Chandra Muvvala	995	2.3	N/A
	Independent	Diana Coad	402	0.9	N/A
	Independent	Jaswinder Singh	204	0.5	N/A
	Heritage	Nick Smith	145	0.3	N/A
Majority			3,647	8.4	–18.3
Turnout			43,278	53.1	–7.4
Registered electors			81,512
	Labour hold

Elections in the 2010s

2019 notional result[14]
Party		Vote	%
	Labour	26,790	58.8
	Conservative	13,443	29.5
	Liberal Democrats	3,099	6.8
	Brexit Party	1,280	2.8
	Green	948	2.1
Turnout		45,560	60.5
Electorate		75,287

General election 2019: Slough^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tan Dhesi	29,421	57.6	–5.3
	Conservative	Kanwal Toor Gill	15,781	30.9	–0.7
	Liberal Democrats	Aaron Chahal	3,357	6.6	+4.2
	Brexit Party	Delphine Grey-Fisk	1,432	2.8	N/A
	Green	Julian Edmonds	1,047	2.1	N/A
Majority			13,640	26.7	–4.6
Turnout			51,038	58.2	–7.2
	Labour hold		Swing	–2.3

General election 2017: Slough^[16][17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tan Dhesi	34,170	62.9	+14.4
	Conservative	Mark Vivis	17,172	31.6	–1.7
	Liberal Democrats	Tom McCann	1,308	2.4	–0.2
	UKIP	Karen Perez	1,228	2.3	–10.7
	Independent	Paul Janik	417	0.8	N/A
Majority			16,998	31.3	+16.1
Turnout			54,295	65.4	+9.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+8.0

General election 2015: Slough^[18][19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Fiona Mactaggart	23,421	48.5	+2.7
	Conservative	Gurcharan Singh	16,085	33.3	–1.0
	UKIP	Diana Coad	6,274	13.0	+9.8
	Liberal Democrats	Tom McCann	1,275	2.6	–11.9
	Green	Julian Edmonds	1,220	2.5	+1.4
Majority			7,336	15.2	+3.6
Turnout			48,275	55.9	–6.0
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.8

General election 2010: Slough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Fiona Mactaggart	21,884	45.8	–0.4
	Conservative	Diana Coad	16,361	34.3	+7.9
	Liberal Democrats	Chris Tucker	6,943	14.5	–2.2
	UKIP	Peter Mason-Apps	1,517	3.2	–0.5
	Green	Miriam Kennet	542	1.1	–0.9
	Christian	Sunil Chaudhary	495	1.0	N/A
Majority			5,523	11.5	–8.3
Turnout			47,742	61.9	+8.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Slough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Fiona Mactaggart	17,517	47.2	–11.1
	Conservative	Sheila Gunn	9,666	26.1	–0.1
	Liberal Democrats	Thomas McCann	5,739	15.5	+5.0
	Respect	Ajaz Khan	1,632	4.4	N/A
	UKIP	Geoff Howard	1,415	3.8	+1.9
	Green	David Wood	759	2.0	N/A
	Independent	Paul Janik	367	1.0	N/A
Majority			7,851	21.1	–11.0
Turnout			37,095	50.5	–2.9
	Labour hold		Swing	–5.5

General election 2001: Slough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Fiona Mactaggart	22,718	58.3	+1.7
	Conservative	Diana Coad	10,210	26.2	–3.0
	Liberal Democrats	Keith Kerr	4,109	10.5	+3.1
	Independent	Tony Haines	859	2.2	N/A
	UKIP	John Lane	738	1.9	N/A
	Independent	Choudry Nazir	364	0.9	N/A
Majority			12,508	32.1	+4.7
Turnout			38,998	53.4	–14.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Slough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Fiona Mactaggart	27,029	56.6	+12.9
	Conservative	Peta Buscombe	13,958	29.2	−15.4
	Liberal Democrats	Chris Bushill	3,509	7.4	+0.4
	Liberal	Anne Bradshaw	1,835	3.8	+1.3
	Referendum	Terence J. Sharkey	1,124	2.4	N/A
	Independent	Paul P. Whitmore	277	0.6	N/A
Majority			13,071	27.4	N/A
Turnout			47,732	67.9	−10.3
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General election 1992: Slough^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Watts	25,793	44.6	−2.4
	Labour	Eddie Lopez	25,279	43.7	+4.1
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Mapp	4,041	7.0	−6.4
	Liberal	John Clark	1,426	2.5	N/A
	Independent Labour	Declan Alford	699	1.2	N/A
	National Front	Andy Carmichael	290	0.5	N/A
	Natural Law	Martin Creese	153	0.3	N/A
	Independent	Elizabeth Smith	134	0.2	N/A
Majority			514	0.9	−6.5
Turnout			57,815	78.0	+2.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	−3.3

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Slough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Watts	26,166	47.0	+4.1
	Labour	Eddie Lopez	22,076	39.6	+2.7
	SDP	Michael Goldstone	7,490	13.4	−5.1
Majority			4,090	7.4	+1.4
Turnout			55,732	75.9	+4.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1983: Slough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Watts	22,064	42.9	+4.3
	Labour	Joan Lestor	18,958	36.9	−6.7
	SDP	Nicholas Bosanquet	9,519	18.5	+7.2
	National Front	Graham John	528	1.0
	Ecology	Ian Flindall	325	0.6
Majority			3,106	6.0
Turnout			51,394	71.5
	Conservative win (new seat)

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Berkshire
• List of parliamentary constituencies in the South East England (region)
• Slough Borough Council includes historical information about wards and local elections

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.