Southend East was a

parliamentary 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 ...

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 ...

. It returned one

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) to 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

Parliament of the United Kingdom 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 suprema ...

History

The constituency was created for the 1950 general election under the

Representation of the People Act 1948 The Representation of the People Act 1948 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered the law relating to parliamentary and local elections. It is noteworthy for abolishing plural voting for parliamentary elections, including ...

, when the Parliamentary Borough of

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

was split in two. It was abolished for the 1997 general election when it was replaced by Rochford and Southend East. Southend East was a mostly safe

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 ...

seat throughout its existence, although their majority was only just over 500 votes in 1966, and at the

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in 1980 when the Conservatives held the seat by only 430 votes. From this by-election until its abolition, Southend East was held by the Conservative

Teddy Taylor Sir Edward MacMillan Taylor (18 April 1937 – 20 September 2017) was a British Conservative Party politician who was a Member of Parliament (MP) for forty years, from 1964 to 1979 for Glasgow Cathcart and from 1980 to 2005 for Southend Eas ...

Boundaries and boundary changes

1950–1955: The County Borough of Southend-on-Sea wards of All Saints, Pier, Shoebury, Southchurch, and Thorpe, and the Rural District of Rochford. Formed primarily from eastern parts of the abolished Parliamentary Borough of

. The Rural District of Rochford and the former Urban District of Shoeburyness (which had been absorbed by the

County Borough of Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea was a local government district from 1866 to 1974 around the seaside resort of Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England. Its origin was a local board formed for the parish of St John the Baptist, which had been split off from Prittlewell f ...

) had previously been part of the abolished South-Eastern Division of Essex. 1955–1983: The County Borough of Southend-on-Sea wards of All Saints, Milton, Pier, Shoebury, Southchurch, Temple Sutton, Thorpe and Victoria. Realignment of boundary with Southend West. The Rural District of Rochford transferred back to the re-established constituency of South East Essex. 1983–1997: The Borough of Southend-on-Sea wards of Milton, St Luke's, Shoebury, Southchurch, Thorpe, and Victoria. Marginal changes following the redistribution of wards in the

Borough of Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

. The constituency included Southend town centre, and parts of the Borough of Southend to the east. In 1997, Southend East was abolished and expanded to the north to include the town of

Rochford Rochford is a town in Essex, England, north of Southend-on-Sea, from London and from Chelmsford, the county town. At the 2011 census, the Civil parishes in England, civil parish, which includes the town and London Southend Airport, had a popu ...

once again, forming the new constituency of Rochford and Southend East.C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, pp.12,139 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995)

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1990s

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Southend East (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in Essex (historic) Politics of Southend-on-Sea Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1950 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1997