Harlow 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 (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...

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. ...

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 supremac ...

since 2010 by

Robert Halfon Robert Henry Halfon (; born 22 March 1969) is a British Conservative Party politician, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Harlow since 2010. Halfon was formerly a researcher for Conservative MPs, including as Chief of Staff to Shadow Chancellor ...

, 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 i ...

History

This seat was created for the February 1974 general election from the abolished seat of

Epping Epping may refer to: Places Australia * Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Epping railway station, Sydney * Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly * Epping Forest, Kearns, a he ...

, and has been subject only to minor changes since.

Boundaries and boundary changes

1974–1983: The Urban District of Harlow, and in the Rural District of Epping and Ongar the parishes of Magdalen Laver, Matching, Nazeing, North Weald Bassett, Roydon, and Sheering. 1983–1997: The District of Harlow, and the District of Epping Forest wards of Nazeing, North Weald Bassett, Roydon, and Sheering. Minor loss to

Brentwood and Ongar Brentwood and Ongar is a constituency in Essex represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Alex Burghart, a Conservative, serving since September 2021 as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Apprenticeships and ...

. 1997–2010: The District of Harlow, and the District of Epping Forest wards of Nazeing, Roydon, and Sheering. North Weald Bassett transferred to

Epping Forest Epping Forest is a area of ancient woodland, and other established habitats, which straddles the border between Greater London and Essex. The main body of the forest stretches from Epping in the north, to Chingford on the edge of the London ...

. 2010–present: The District of Harlow, and the District of Epping Forest wards of Hastingwood, Matching and Sheering Village, Lower Nazeing, Lower Sheering, and Roydon. Marginal changes due to redistribution of local authority wards.

Constituency profile

The seat has been a

bellwether A bellwether is a leader or an indicator of trends.bellwether
" ''Cambridge Dictionary''. Ret ...

since the result in 1983. Included are above county-average levels 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, def ...

,2011 census interactive maps 31.2% of property is socially rented, higher than the other districts in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

underemployment and

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (human activity), w ...

as at the 2001 census and the associated 2000 Index of Multiple Deprivation; however, the new town has brought growth sustained in part by more commuting, with an increasingly-used and separate Mill station in the

London Commuter Belt The London metropolitan area is the metropolitan area of London, England. It has several definitions, including the London Travel to Work Area, and usually consists of the London urban area, settlements that share London's infrastructure, and ...

, and has seen a 9.2% increase in the number of apartments to 2011, which brings the proportion of the housing market made up by flats and apartments to 23.8%.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Graphical representation

Notes

References

External links

BBC News coverage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harlow (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in Essex Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1974 Harlow