Thurrock (UK Parliament constituency)

Thurrock
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Thurrock in Essex.
Location of Essex within England.
County	Essex
Electorate	77,667 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	Grays, Tilbury, South Ockendon and Chafford
Current constituency
Created	1945
Member of parliament	Jackie Doyle-Price (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	South East Essex
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	East of England

Thurrock is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Jackie Doyle-Price, a Conservative.^{[n 2]}

Boundaries

Thurrock in Essex, showing boundaries used from 1945 to 1950.

1945-1983: The Urban District of Thurrock.

1983-2010: The Borough of Thurrock wards of Aveley, Belhus, Chadwell St Mary, East Tilbury, Grays Thurrock North, Grays Thurrock Town, Little Thurrock, Ockendon, Stifford, Tilbury, and West Thurrock.

2010–present: The Borough of Thurrock wards of Aveley and Uplands, Belhus, Chadwell St Mary, Chafford and North Stifford, Grays Riverside, Grays Thurrock, Little Thurrock Blackshots, Little Thurrock Rectory, Ockendon, South Chafford, Stifford Clays, Tilbury Riverside and Thurrock Park, Tilbury St Chads, West Thurrock, and South Stifford.

History

History of boundaries

The loss of the area to the east was of a similar landscape and built environment, except for Canvey Island which demographically has a high retired proportion of its population. Its scant social housing contrasts with its modest incomes and fewer than average large gardens and large houses as is common in coastal communities.

History of results

Thurrock was for 38 years from and including 1945 a large-majority Labour seat in parliamentary elections. The post-Falklands War election in 1983 gave majority of less than 4% of the vote to a recently-split Labour Party — for which see SDP. A Conservative gained the Thurrock seat in 1987 with a small majority. In 1992 the division was regained by a Labour candidate, namely Andrew MacKinlay, who was during his tenure as MP criticised for his questioning technique used of weapons expert Dr. David Kelly.

In the 2010 general election, a Conservative gained the seat, with Jackie Doyle-Price being elected as the MP with a majority of 92 votes, the third most marginal in that election.^[2] The 2015 result gave the seat the 8th most marginal majority of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority.^[3]

The seat has bellwether outcome status since 1997.

Prominent frontbenchers

Dr Oonagh McDonald was Opposition Spokesman on Defence from 1981–1983, and then Opposition Spokesman on Treasury and Economic Affairs from 1983–1987.

Constituency profile

Held by the Conservatives with a majority of just over 300 votes, Thurrock is a marginal seat between the Conservatives and Labour. This industrial Essex seat, east of London, includes the towns of Grays, Tilbury and Purfleet and 18 miles of the north bank of the Thames.

Historically known for quarrying and heavy industry, it is now a retail destination thanks to the Lakeside shopping centre. Retail and distribution are big employers, while Tilbury Power Station has closed and Coryton oil refinery is being redeveloped as a business park. Tilbury is also London's major port, handling millions of tonnes of cargo a year and is a major cruise ship terminal.

Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 higher than the national average of 3.8%, at 4.8% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian. The regional average for the Eastern England region was considerably lower, at 3.2% of the population.^[4]

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

At the 2015 general election the already-marginal seat became a 3-way ultra-marginal seat. Less than 1,000 votes separated the top three candidates.

In 2017, the Conservatives needed to defend against both UKIP and Labour to hold it. It was number 1 on UKIP's 2017 target list, the party only needed a 0.98% swing to win the seat from third place.^[6] The constituency was also at number 7 on Labour's target list, with a 0.54% swing needed for their candidate to win the seat.^[7] In the event, the swing to Labour was around 0.2% and the Conservatives held the seat. This marks the third consecutive time Thurrock has been won by a majority of under 1,000 votes, making it the most marginal seat in Essex by a substantial margin (the next most marginal, Rochford and Southend East as of the 2017 general election, has a majority of more than 5,500 votes).

2017 General Election: Thurrock ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Jackie Doyle-Price	19,880	39.5	5.8
	Labour	John Kent	19,535	38.8	6.2
	UKIP	Tim Aker	10,112	20.1	11.6
	Liberal Democrat	Kevin McNamara	798	1.6	0.3
Majority			345	0.7
Turnout			50,325	64.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	-0.2

See also: Opinion polling in United Kingdom constituencies, 2010–15 § Thurrock

General Election 2015: Thurrock^[9][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Jackie Doyle-Price	16,692	33.7	−3.1
	Labour	Polly Billington[11]	16,156	32.6	−4.0
	UKIP	Tim Aker[12]	15,718	31.7	+24.3
	Liberal Democrat	Rhodri Jamieson-Ball	644	1.3	−9.4
	CISTA	Jamie Barnes	244	0.5	N/A
	Independent	Daniel Munyambu	79	0.2	N/A
	All People's Party	Aba Kristilolu	31	0.1	N/A
Majority			536	1.1
Turnout			49,564	63.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	0.4

General Election 2010: Thurrock^[13][14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Jackie Doyle-Price	16,869	36.8	+3.6
	Labour	Carl Morris	16,777	36.6	−9.6
	Liberal Democrat	Carys Davis	4,901	10.7	−0.4
	BNP	Emma Colgate	3,618	7.9	+2.1
	UKIP	Clive Broad	3,390	7.4	+4.0
	Christian Peoples	Arinola Araba	267	0.6	N/A
Majority			92	0.2
Turnout			45,822	59.1	+4.2
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+6.6

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Essex

Notes

References

Coordinates: 51°29′N 0°19′E / 51.48°N 0.32°E / 51.48; 0.32