Bognor Regis and Littlehampton (contemp. RP ) is a
constituency
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...
in
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...
represented in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
of the
UK Parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...
since
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
by
Nick Gibb
Nicolas John Gibb (born 3 September 1960) is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Schools since October 2022, having previously held the office from 2010 to 2012 and again from 2015 to 2021. He has served at the Department for ...
, a
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
.
Boundaries and constituency profile
1997–2010: The District of Arun wards of Aldwick East, Aldwick West, Bersted, Felpham East, Felpham West, Hotham, Littlehampton Beach, Littlehampton Central, Littlehampton Ham, Littlehampton River, Littlehampton Wick, Marine, Middleton on Sea, Orchard, Pagham, and Pevensey.
2010–present: The District of Arun wards of Aldwick East, Aldwick West, Beach, Bersted, Brookfield, Felpham East, Felpham West, Ham, Hotham, Marine, Middleton-on-Sea, Orchard, Pagham and Rose Green, Pevensey, River, Wick with Toddington, and Yapton.
The constituency is elongated along the south coast of
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
. It includes the towns of
Bognor Regis and
Littlehampton.
The constituency has a diverse economy. Small-scale agriculture, manufacturing, and trades make up most of the local economy, supplemented by services and tourism.
The population of the constituency is a mixture of young families, supporting the constituency's sporting facilities, public services, golf courses and general domestic spending. People in retirement are also a notable demographic, who have moved to the coast from London and other British urban areas to live by the
South Coast of England.
The proportion of
social housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, d ...
is lower than the UK average.
History
Political history
The vote share and majority for the Conservative MP, Nick Gibb, who won the first six general elections in this seat, has grown since 2001, to reach over 22,000 votes.
At the first three general elections, the
Labour Party candidate was runner-up, notably denting Gibb's winning margin to 5,632 votes in 2001. In 2010, the
Liberal Democrat candidate took second place, more than 4,000 votes ahead of Labour and 13,063 short of Gibb's total. Mirroring nationwide performance, the Lib Dem vote share fell in
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...
, whilst the
UKIP vote share rose in this constituency, becoming the runner-up, but 13,944 votes short of Gibb's tally.
In June 2016, an estimated
64.8% of local adults voting in the EU membership referendum voted to Leave the European Union. This was matched in two January 2018 votes in Parliament by MP Nick Gibb.
In
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
, Labour's candidate of 2015 was reselected to stand and took second place.
The year 2017 saw an independent candidate,
Paul Sanderson, the chaplain of
The Littlehampton Academy
The Littlehampton Academy (TLA, formerly Littlehampton Community School) is an 11–18 Mixed-sex education, mixed, Christianity, Christian, secondary school and sixth form with Academy (English school), academy status in Littlehampton, West Suss ...
come within 1% of retaining his
political deposit and ahead of the UKIP and
Green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...
candidates.
Gibb was re-elected for a seventh time in
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
, with an increased majority of 22,503 votes and a vote share of 63.5%.
Contents and regional context
The seat was created from the western, more populous part of the
Arundel
Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England.
The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much larg ...
seat on its 1997 abolition. Before the latter's creation in 1974, Bognor Regis was part of the
Chichester
Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ...
seat and Littlehampton part of the
Arundel and Shoreham seat.
Notable representatives
Since its creation, the seat has been represented by
Nick Gibb
Nicolas John Gibb (born 3 September 1960) is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Schools since October 2022, having previously held the office from 2010 to 2012 and again from 2015 to 2021. He has served at the Department for ...
of the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
. Gibb had worked for the party for over ten years, and became an MP at his third attempt. After thirteen years in opposition, he joined
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
's coalition government after the
2010 general election, becoming
Minister of State for School Standards, working under
Education Secretary Michael Gove
Michael Andrew Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations since 2021. He has been Member of Par ...
. He left the government in a 2012 reshuffle, being replaced by
David Laws
David Anthony Laws (born 30 November 1965) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Yeovil from 2001 to 2015. A member of the Liberal Democrats, in his third parliament he served at the outset as a Cabinet Mini ...
. He then returned to the same department, now run by
Nicky Morgan, as
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Childcare, Education and School Reform in 2014. The following year, he again took up his previous post, which he has now held under three Prime Ministers (Cameron,
Theresa May
Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...
and
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as ...
) and five Education Secretaries (Gove, Morgan,
Justine Greening
Justine Greening (born 30 April 1969) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Education from 2016 to 2018. Prior to that, she served as Economic Secretary to the Treasury from 2010 to 2011, Secretary of State for Transpor ...
,
Damian Hinds and
Gavin Williamson). He was dismissed from this position in 2021.
Members of Parliament
Elections
Elections in the 2010s
Elections in the 2000s
Elections in the 1990s
See also
*
List of parliamentary constituencies in West Sussex
*
Notes
References
Sources
Election result, 2005(BBC)
Election results, 1997 - 2001(BBC)
(Election Demon)
(Guardian)
External links
nomis Constituency Profile for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton— presenting data from the ONS annual population survey and other official statistics.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bognor Regis And Littlehampton (Uk Parliament Constituency)
Parliamentary constituencies in South East England
Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1997
Politics of West Sussex
Arun District
Littlehampton