Streatham

Streatham Borough constituency
Streatham shown within Greater London
Created:	1918
MP:	Keith Hill
Party:	Labour
Type:	House of Commons
County:	Greater London
EP constituency:	London

Streatham is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Boundaries

Streatham is a long, thin constituency running down the western side of the London Borough of Lambeth.^[1] The town of Streatham constitutes only the four wards in the southern half of the constituency.

At its north-western tip it includes half of Clapham Common, while in the north-east it takes in part of the district of Brixton which is also split between neighbouring Vauxhall and Dulwich and West Norwood.

The northern boundary follows Clapham Park Road, Acre Lane, and Coldharbour Lane through Clapham and Brixton. The current eastern boundary is more complex following the pre-2004 local government ward boundaries - roughly including those parts of Brixton west of Brockwell Park, veering east to include the areas around Tulse Hill station and then heading southwest along the railway line and then south along Leigham Court Road. The southern and western constituency boundaries follow Lambeth's borough boundaries with Croydon, Merton and Wandsworth.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in South London, the Boundary Commission for England has made some minor changes to the existing Streatham constituency.

The electoral wards used in the creation of the seat are:

• Brixton Hill, Clapham Common, St Leonard's, Streatham Hill, Streatham South, Streatham Wells, Thornton and Tulse Hill.

History

Streatham in the London County Council area from 1918 to 1949.

The first 'Streatham' constituency was contested in 1918 and approximately followed the historic parish boundaries of Streatham, including a substantial part of Balham. The seat became a byword for solidly Tory suburbia.

The constituency was carved out of the former constituency of Wandsworth. The rest of the Wandsworth constituency was divided into Putney, Wandsworth Central and Balham and Tooting.

The 1918 boundaries of the Streatham constituency remained unchanged until the 1965 changes to Greater London local government were eventually reflected in the constituency boundaries fought at the February 1974 general election. This resulted in a net reduction in the size of the Streatham constituency. The western districts which were now in the London Borough of Wandsworth were divided between two new constituencies. The Balham wards became part of Battersea South while Streatham Park (location of the Streatham Conservative Club) and the remainder of Furzedown ward went into Tooting.

The rest of the constituency, including the town of Streatham was now in the London Borough of Lambeth, and Streatham became one of four Borough constituency divisions of Lambeth, along with 'Vauxhall', 'Norwood' and 'Lambeth Central'. The Clapham constituency was abolished as part of the 1974 changes. The Clapham Park area and Hyde Farm (commonly thought of as part of Balham) came into the Streatham seat, whereas the rest of Clapham went into the Vauxhall seat - a split which continues to the present.

With the abolition of Lambeth Central at the 1983 election, the constituency gained much of southern Brixton. Following further population decline, Lambeth was paired with Southwark in the next boundary review, and from the 1997 election, Streatham constituency gained areas around Tulse Hill from the former Norwood constituency, the remainder of which became part of Dulwich and West Norwood.

Even more than other similar seats in South London (such as Croydon North, Dulwich, Lewisham East and West), Streatham has swung extremely heavily against the Conservative Party since the 1980s. The seat was previously so safe that the Conservatives still won it in disastrous years for them such as 1945 and 1966. However, demographic and voting pattern changes combined with unfavourable boundary changes conspired to turn Streatham first into a marginal and then into a very safe Labour seat. Having lost Streatham in 1992, the Conservatives were beaten narrowly into third place by the Liberal Democrats in 2001, and in 2005 fell into an even more distant third place, with the Lib Dems achieving a 10% swing from Labour.

Members of Parliament

The current MP is Keith Hill, first elected at the 1992 general election as the first Labour MP for the constituency. He is standing down at the next general election.

Previous Conservative MPs for Streatham were:

• Sir William Shelton 1974 - 1992
• Duncan Sandys 1950 - 1974
• Sir David Robertson 1939 -1950
• Sir William Lane Mitchell 1918 - 1939 - Sir William sat as a "Unionist"

The wartime by-election caused by Lane Mitchell's death was uncontested.

When Sandys was criticised in the 1950s for his infrequent appearances in the constituency, he responded that he was the "Member for Streatham in Westminster, not the Member for Westminster in Streatham". ^[2]

Next general election

Redrawn constituency boundaries are expected to make the constituency marginally less safe for Labour. A further swing of 8.9% from the notional result on the new boundaries to the Liberal Democrats would be needed for the seat to change hands again.

Election results

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London

Coordinates: 51°26′20″N 0°07′30″W / 51.439°N 0.125°W / 51.439; -0.125