Gillingham and Rainham 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 ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

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 its 2010 creation by

Rehman Chishti Atta-Ur-Rehman Chishti (born 4 October 1978) is a Pakistani-born British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gillingham and Rainham since 2010. He served under Theresa May as both the Vice Chair of the ...

, 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 ...

. It replaced the previous constituency of Gillingham.

Boundaries

The

Medway Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to ...

wards of Gillingham North, Gillingham South, Hempstead and Wigmore, Rainham Central, Rainham North, Rainham South,

Twydall Twydall is a suburb of Gillingham, Medway, Gillingham in Kent in south-east England. In 1998 responsibility for local government was transferred from Kent County Council to the newly created Unitary Authority of Medway, The origin of the name Tw ...

and Watling.

Constituency profile

The constituency is generally suburban and centred on Gillingham, historically a small port, which is within 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 ...

. Local retail, industry, business parks, trades and professions provide constituents with a high level of employment, mostly on moderate to middle incomes; however, the area is not wholly resilient to unemployment. Registered claimants who were registered jobseekers were marginally lower than the national average of 3.8% at 3.5% of the population, according to a statistical compilation by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

''. Residents' wealth is around average for the UK, but below average for the South East region.Electoral Calculus https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/seatdetails.py?seat=Gillingham+and+Rainham The predecessor constituency of Gillingham was a Labour-Conservative

marginal seat A marginal seat or swing seat is a constituency held with a small majority in a legislative election, generally one conducted under a single-winner voting system. In Canada, they may be known as target ridings. The opposite is a safe seat. The ...

, but the current constituency can be considered a safe Conservative seat.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Paul Clark was the incumbent MP for Gillingham.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillingham And Rainham (Uk Parliament Constituency) Politics of Medway Parliamentary constituencies in Kent Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 2010 Gillingham, Kent