Hastings and Rye 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 ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East ...

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

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 ...

by Sally-Ann Hart 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 ...

. From 2010 until 2019, it was represented by

Amber Rudd Amber Augusta Rudd (born 1 August 1963) is a British former politician who served as Home Secretary from 2016 to 2018 and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2018 to 2019. She was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Hastings and Rye, fir ...

, who served as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change,

Minister for Women and Equalities The minister for women and equalities is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom which leads the Government Equalities Office. This is an independent department within the wider Cabinet Office that has responsibility for addressing all form ...

Secretary of State for the Home Department The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

and

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions The secretary of state for work and pensions, also referred to as the work and pensions secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the busin ...

under the governments of

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 ...

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 ...

. Since

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

(inclusive) election campaigns have resulted in a minimum of 35.1% of votes at each election consistently for the same two parties' choice for candidate, the next-placed party's having fluctuated between 3.3% and 15.7% of the vote—such third-placed figures attained higher percentages in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...

and

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 ...

. The result in

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was the 24th-closest nationally (of 650 seats), whereby 174 voters would have been capable of changing the outcome by their choice of candidate, the margin of votes being 346.

Boundaries

*1983–2010: The Borough of Hastings, the District of Rother wards of Camber, Fairlight, Guestling and Pett, Rye, Winchelsea *2010–present: The Borough of Hastings, the District of Rother wards of Brede Valley, Eastern Rother, Marsham, Rye

Constituency profile

As its name suggests, the main settlements in the constituency are the seaside resort of

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

and smaller nearby tourist town of Rye. The constituency also includes the

Cinque Port The Confederation of Cinque Ports () is a historic group of coastal towns in south-east England – predominantly in Kent and Sussex, with one outlier ( Brightlingsea) in Essex. The name is Old French, meaning "five harbours", and alludes to t ...

Winchelsea Winchelsea () is a small town in the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex, England, located between the High Weald and the Romney Marsh, approximately south west of Rye and north east of Hastings. The ...

and the villages of Fairlight,

Winchelsea Beach Winchelsea Beach is a seaside village in the parish of Icklesham in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. The village is located about ten miles (15 km) east of Hastings, and about 1.5 miles (2 km) south east of Winchelsea. ...

, Three Oaks,

Guestling Guestling is a village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. The village is located north-east of Hastings on the A259 road to Rye. Its parish church is dedicated to St Laurence. History Guestling, referred to in t ...

Icklesham Icklesham is a village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. The village is located about six miles (10 km) east of Hastings, on the main A259 Hastings to Rye road. The surrounding countryside is a made up of fi ...

Playden Playden is a village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. The village is located one mile (1.6 km) north-west of Rye. History Playden is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Pleidena; it is a largely rural parish ...

, Iden,

Rye Harbour Rye Harbour is a village located on the East Sussex coast in southeast England, near the estuary of the River Rother: it is part of the civil parish of Icklesham and the Rother district. Rye Harbour is located some two miles (3.2 km) down ...

East Guldeford East Guldeford is a village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. The village is located one mile (1.6 km) east of Rye on the A259 road. The parish is controlled by a parish meeting. It is in the civil parish of ...

Camber Camber may refer to a variety of curvatures and angles: * Camber angle, the angle made by the wheels of a vehicle * Camber beam, an upward curvature of a joist to compensate for load deflection due in buildings * Camber thrust in bike technology * ...

, and

Pett Pett is a village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. The village is located north-east of Hastings on the edge of Pett Level, the one-time marshes stretching along the coast of Rye Bay. The road through the villa ...

. The constituency is set in a relatively isolated part of the southeast from the railways perspective and so does not enjoy some of the more general affluence of this part of the country. In the 2000 index of multiple deprivation a majority of wards fell within the bottom half of rankings so it can arguably be considered a deprived area. Hastings has some light industry, while Rye has a small port, which includes hire and repair activities for leisure vessels and fishing. Hastings is mostly Labour-voting, whereas Rye and the rest of the areas from Rother council are Conservative. Property prices in the villages are however rising and are in affluent areas, unlike residential estates in the towns. Three Oaks does enjoy a nearby train station for its residents, which has services allowing connecting services to London.

History

The constituency was created in 1983 by combining most of

with a small part of Rye. 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 ...

MP for Hastings since 1970, Kenneth Warren, won the new seat.. Warren held Hastings and Rye until he chose to retire in 1992; during this period its large majorities suggested it was a Conservative safe seat, with the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

(now the Liberal Democrats) regularly coming second.

Jacqui Lait Jacqueline Anne Harkness Lait (born 16 December 1947) is a British Conservative Party politician and former Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituencies of Hastings and Rye (1992–1997) and Beckenham (1997–2010). Early life Lait was bo ...

won the seat on Warren's retirement, but in 1997 the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

candidate Michael Foster narrowly defeated Lait, becoming the second-least expected (on swing) Labour MP in the landslide of that year and since 2001 setting a pattern that suggests the seat is a two-way Labour-Conservative

marginal Marginal may refer to: * ''Marginal'' (album), the third album of the Belgian rock band Dead Man Ray, released in 2001 * ''Marginal'' (manga) * '' El Marginal'', Argentine TV series * Marginal seat or marginal constituency or marginal, in polit ...

. Foster held the seat, again with slim majorities over Conservatives, in 2001 and 2005, but lost it to

in 2010. Rudd was re-elected with an increased majority in 2015. In the 2017 general election, the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

declined to contest the seat and instead called on its supporters to back the

candidate. Rudd held the seat with a slim majority of 346.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Notes

References

Sources

Election 2005 Result: Hastings & Rye
BBC News, 23 May 2005
Vote 2001 - Hastings & Rye
BBC News, 8 June 2001

Election Demon

Election Demon {{DEFAULTSORT:Hastings And Rye (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in South East England Politics of East Sussex Politics of Hastings Rother District Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1983