Luton South 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, ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

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 2019 by

Rachel Hopkins Rachel Louise Hopkins (born 30 March 1972) is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Luton South since 2019. A member of the Labour Party, she has been a Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office since 2021. Hopkins ...

, a member of the Labour Party.

History

This seat was created in 1983, primarily from the former seat of Luton East. The constituency and its predecessors the Luton East and

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

constituencies were long considered a

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

(they had elected an MP from the winning party in each election since the 1951 general election).

Margaret Moran Margaret Mary Moran (born 24 April 1955) is a former Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. Moran was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Luton South from the 1997 general election to 2010. In November 2012, jurors at Southwark Crown Cou ...

, who was the Labour MP from 1997, stood down at the 2010 general election after falsifying claims for her expenses. Bellwether status ended in the 2010 general election, when the constituency elected a Labour MP while the

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 ...

s were the largest party in the House of Commons. As a result, its new MP

Gavin Shuker Gavin Shuker (born 10 October 1981) is a British former politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Luton South from 2010 to 2019. Shuker was a Labour Party MP before defecting to form Change UK. He then left Change UK to become ...

became one of just two Labour MPs elected in 2010 in the East of England, alongside

Kelvin Hopkins Kelvin Peter Hopkins (born 22 August 1941) is a British politician. He was first elected as the Labour Member of Parliament for Luton North in 1997. Hopkins was suspended by the Labour Party in 2017 after allegations of sexual misconduct were ...

, the MP for the Luton North seat. Shuker and Hopkins had served as MPs for the two divisions of Luton since then, with their majorities increasing in both elections since, although the majority in South has not been larger than that of North since 2001.

Boundaries and boundary changes

1983–1997: The Borough of Luton wards of Biscot, Crawley, Dallow, Farley, High Town, Putteridge, Saints, South, and Stopsley, and the District of South Bedfordshire wards of Caddington and Slip End. This was a new Borough Constituency incorporating the abolished Borough Constituency of Luton East. It included the southernmost parts of the abolished Borough Constituency of Luton West and a small part from the south-east of the abolished County Constituency of

South Bedfordshire South Bedfordshire was, from 1974 to 2009, a non-metropolitan district of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. Its main towns were Dunstable, Houghton Regis and Leighton Buzzard. Creation The district was formed on 1 April 1974 as part of a gen ...

. 1997–2010: The Borough of Luton wards of Biscott, Crawley, Dallow, Farley, High Town, Putteridge, South, and Stopsley, and the District of South Bedfordshire wards of Caddington and Slip End. The Saints ward of the Borough of Luton transferred to Luton North. 2010–present: The Borough of Luton wards of Biscot, Crawley, Dallow, Farley, High Town, Round Green, South, Stopsley, and Wigmore, and the District of South Bedfordshire ward of Caddington, Hyde and Slip End. There were marginal changes due to revision of local authority wards. NB: the wards of the district of

now form the bulk of the

Caddington Caddington () is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. It is between the Luton/Dunstable urban area (to the north), and Hertfordshire (to the south). The western border of the parish is Watlin ...

ward of the

Central Bedfordshire Central Bedfordshire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It was created in 2009. Formation Central Bedfordshire was created on 1 April 2009 as part of a structural reform of local government in Bedfor ...

unitary authority, the former wards having been abolished at the conversion to

unitary Unitary may refer to: Mathematics * Unitary divisor * Unitary element * Unitary group * Unitary matrix * Unitary morphism * Unitary operator * Unitary transformation * Unitary representation * Unitarity (physics) * ''E''-unitary inverse semigrou ...

councils in Bedfordshire in 2009.

Constituency profile

The constituency covers the southern and eastern areas of Luton, inclusive of the town centre and

London Luton Airport London Luton Airport is an international airport located in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, situated east of the town centre, and north of Central London. The airport is owned by London Luton Airport Ltd (LLAL), a company wholly owned by ...

. It also comprises the rural country house estate of

Luton Hoo Luton Hoo is an English country house and estate near Luton in Bedfordshire and Harpenden in Hertfordshire. Most of the estate lies within the civil parish of Hyde, Bedfordshire. The Saxon word Hoo means the spur of a hill, and is more common ...

, in addition to the late medieval

Someries Castle Someries Castle (sometimes spelt Summeries castle) is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, in the Parish of Hyde, near the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England. It was built in the 15th century by Sir John Wenlock, whose ghost is reputed to haunt the ...

, and the villages/hamlets, extending south to the border of Hertfordshire and the town of Harpenden. The areas of Luton it spans include Stopsley, Wigmore, Butterfield Green, Hart Hill, Wardown Park, Bury Park, Dallow, Farley Hill, New Town, and Stockwood Park. Outside of the actual Borough of Luton, it also encompasses the small village of

East Hyde East Hyde is a hamlet located in Bedfordshire, England. East Hyde lies on the border with Hertfordshire, but is part of the wider Hyde parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within ...

on the Hertfordshire border, as well as

Slip End Slip End is a village and civil parish in Central Bedfordshire, England. The village is located very near to Luton. As well as the village of Slip End, the parish contains the hamlets of Lower Woodside, Woodside and Pepperstock. In 2001 it had ...

and Caddington, which are near the

M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston By-pass, which lat ...

. Demographically, the constituency is mixed, with large southern Asian communities in the Bury Park and Farley Hill areas. The largest community is

White British White British is an ethnicity classification used for the native white population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population wa ...

, though Africans and

Afro-Caribbeans Afro-Caribbean people or African Caribbean are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern African-Caribbeans descend from Africans taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean via the tr ...

, as well as newer immigrant arrivals from

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

, form substantial parts of the population. The town centre features The Mall Luton (the town's main shopping centre), the

University of Bedfordshire The University of Bedfordshire is a public research university with campuses in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England. The University has roots from 1882, however, it gained university status in 1993 as the University of Luton. The Universi ...

Luton campus, and various amenities such as The Galaxy entertainment complex, and Luton railway station on the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Nottingham and Sheffield in the Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham and Chesterfield in the East Midlands ...

Luton Town FC Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1 ...

, currently of the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

, is within the constituency, as would be their intended new home stadium at Power Court (to the immediate east of The Mall Luton). The railway station serving London Luton Airport,

Luton Airport Parkway Luton Airport Parkway railway station is on the Midland Main Line in England, serving south Luton and Luton Airport in Bedfordshire. It is situated in Park Town, Luton, and is down the line from London St Pancras between to the south and to ...

, is also within the constituency. A new rail link is being constructed between this station and the airport, which is due to be opened in 2021.

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...

still makes vehicles in this area, although the operations have reduced greatly since a large part of the facility closed in the early 2000s.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Incumbent MP

(formerly Labour) unsuccessfully sought reelection as an Independent candidate. On 2 November 2019, the Liberal Democrats decided not to stand a candidate and endorsed Shuker.

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luton South (Uk Parliament Constituency) Politics of Luton Parliamentary constituencies in Bedfordshire Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1983