Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven is a

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

of the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

since the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

by Chris Ward of the Labour Party. Before the

the constituency was called Brighton Kemptown, though local political parties referred to it by its current name.

Boundaries

Historic (Brighton Kemptown)

1950–1955: The County Borough of Brighton wards of Elm Grove, Hanover, King's Cliff, Lewes Road, Moulsecoomb, Pier, Queen's Park, Rottingdean, and St John's. 1955–1983: The County Borough of Brighton wards of Elm Grove, Falmer, Hanover, King's Cliff, Lewes Road, Moulsecoomb, Pier, Queen's Park, Rottingdean, and Warren. 1983–1997: The Borough of Brighton wards of Hanover, King's Cliff, Marine, Moulsecoomb, Queen's Park, Rottingdean, Tenantry, and Woodingdean. 1997–2010: The Borough of Brighton wards of King's Cliff, Marine, Moulsecoomb, Queen's Park, Rottingdean, Tenantry, and Woodingdean, and the District of Lewes wards of East Saltdean, Peacehaven East, Peacehaven North, Peacehaven West, and Telscombe Cliffs. 2010–2024: The City of Brighton and Hove wards of East Brighton, Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, Queen's Park, Rottingdean Coastal, and Woodingdean, and the District of Lewes wards of East Saltdean and Telscombe Cliffs, Peacehaven East, Peacehaven North, and Peacehaven West.

Current (Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven)

Further to the

2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies The 2023 review of Westminster constituencies was the most recent cycle of the process to redraw the Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, constituency map for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The new constituency b ...

which came into effect for the

, the composition of the renamed constituency (based on the ward structure in place at 1 December 2020) was expanded slightly in order to bring the electorate within the permitted range by transferring from

Brighton Pavilion The Royal Pavilion (also known as the Brighton Pavilion) and surrounding gardens is a Grade I listed former royal residence located in Brighton, England. Beginning in 1787, it was built in three stages as a seaside retreat for George, Prince o ...

part of the Hanover and Elm Grove ward – namely polling district PHEA, and that part of polling district PHEF to the east of Queen's Park Road. Following a local government boundary review in Brighton and Hove which came into effect in May 2023, the constituency now comprises the following from the 2024 general election: * The City of Brighton and Hove wards of: Coldean & Stanmer (part); Hanover & Elm Grove (small part – see above); Kemptown; Moulsecoomb & Bevendean (most); Queen's Park; Rottingdean & West Saltdean; Whitehawk & Marina; Woodingdean. * The District of Lewes wards of: East Saltdean & Telscombe Cliffs; Peacehaven East; Peacehaven North; Peacehaven West.

Constituency profile

The constituency takes in the eastern part of Brighton and semi-rural suburbs and villages stretching out to the east. The seat has a large student population, from those that attend the

University of Brighton The University of Brighton is a public university based in Brighton on the south coast of England. Its roots can be traced back to 1858 when the Brighton School of Art was opened in the Royal Pavilion. It achieved university status in 1992. T ...

and

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

. At 10.3% of the population, Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven has the second highest proportion of LGBTQ+ people in the country. From west to east it includes Queen's Park; Kemptown, the centre of Brighton's LGBTQ+ community; the council estates of

Whitehawk Whitehawk is a suburb in the east of Brighton, England, south of Bevendean and north of Brighton Marina. The area is a large, modern housing estate built in a downland dry valley historically known as Whitehawk Bottom. The estate was originall ...

and Moulsecoomb; and beyond the racecourse affluent and genteel coastal villages like

Rottingdean Rottingdean is a village in the city of Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England. It borders the villages of Saltdean, Ovingdean and Woodingdean, and has a historic centre, often the subject of picture postcards. Name The name Rotting ...

Woodingdean Woodingdean is an eastern suburb of the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, separated from the main part of the city by downland and the Brighton Racecourse. The name Woodingdean came from Woodendean (i.e. wooded valley) Farm which was s ...

Saltdean Saltdean is a coastal village in the city of Brighton and Hove, with part (known as East Saltdean) outside the city boundary in Lewes (district), Lewes district. Saltdean is approximately east of central Brighton, west of Newhaven, and south ...

and the town of

Peacehaven Peacehaven is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Lewes (district), Lewes district of East Sussex, England. It is above the chalk cliffs of the South Downs about east of Brighton city centre, on the A259 road. It is the ...

History

;History of boundaries This constituency was created in

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

when the two-member constituency of Brighton was split into three single-member seats. Boundary changes for the 1997 general election moved Peacehaven, a semi-rural area, into the constituency. This added a ward where the Conservatives had been favoured, but Labour gained the seat at its landslide victory. Des Turner held it until 2010, when

Simon Kirby Simon Gerard Kirby (born 22 December 1964), also known as Simon Radford-Kirby, is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brighton Kemptown in 2010. In 2016, he was appoin ...

of the Conservative Party won it. ;History of results For a total of 48 years since the seat's creation, it has been

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

-controlled (1950–1964; 1970–1997; 2010–2017). The only other party to hold the seat since its creation has been the Labour Party. Labour first won Kemptown in 1964, with a narrow majority of just seven votes. Dennis Hobden, the first Labour MP to ever be elected in

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, increased his majority in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

, but lost the seat in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, and another Labour MP was not returned until 1997. The seat was a national

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

from 1979 to 2015, but in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

elected a Labour MP when the country as a whole returned a hung parliament with the Conservatives being the largest party by a margin of 56 MPs. Liberal Democrats and their two predecessor parties following national trends formed the third-largest party in the constituency, 1950–2010 inclusive. The 2010 general election result for the party can be seen as 0.6% behind "its" highest, at 18.6%, if including its SDP forerunner. The Liberal Democrat vote share collapsed to 3% in 2015 (behind

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...

and Green Party candidates) and remained at the 3% level in 2017 despite the absence of UKIP and Green candidates for the seat at that election. The

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

candidate finished in fourth place at the 2005, 2010 and 2015 elections, retaining their deposit each time, with vote shares ranging from 5.5% to 7.0%. The Greens did not field a candidate in 2017 and endorsed Labour, who subsequently gained the seat with a majority of just under 10,000 votes. The 2015 general election result had made the seat the tenth-most marginal majority of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority. On 29 May 2024, Russell-Moyle announced that he had received a letter that he had been suspended from membership of the Labour Party, because of what he believed was a vexatious complaint, which made him ineligible to be their candidate at the

2024 United Kingdom general election The 2024 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 4 July 2024 to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. The opposition Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, won a lan ...

. Chris Ward was selected in his place and was subsequently elected as the Labour MP.

Members of Parliament

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

prior to 1950'' †: Lloyd Russell-Moyle was suspended from the Labour Party after Parliament had

prorogued A legislative session is the period of time in which a legislature, in both parliamentary and presidential systems, is convened for purpose of lawmaking, usually being one of two or more smaller divisions of the entire time between two elections. ...

on 24 May 2024 and a day before the

dissolution of Parliament The dissolution of a legislative assembly (or parliament) is the simultaneous termination of service of all of its members, in anticipation that a successive legislative assembly will reconvene later with possibly different members. In a democracy ...

on 30 May 2024.

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

As part of an electoral pact between the SDP and

Reform UK Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Nigel Farage has been Leader of Reform UK and Richard Tice deputy leader since 2024. It has five members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons and one membe ...

, both parties stood on a

joint ticket The term ticket can mean different things in relation to elections of councils or legislative bodies. First, it may refer to a single election choice which fills more than one political office or seat. For example, in Guyana, the candidates fo ...

. Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven was one of three English constituencies where the Reform UK vote decreased in the election, the other being

Barnsley North Barnsley North is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. Created as a result of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, it was first contested at the 2024 general election. It is represented by Dan Jarvis ...

and

Hartlepool Hartlepool ( ) is a seaside resort, seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is governed by a unitary authority borough Borough of Hartlepool, named after the town. The borough is part of the devolved Tees Valley area with an estimat ...

.https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/2024-general-election-performance-of-reform-and-the-greens/

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

Notes

References

Sources

Election result, 2005
(BBC)
Election results, 1997 – 2001
(BBC)

(Election Demon)

(Election Demon)

(Guardian)

(Keele University)

External links

nomis Constituency Profile for Brighton, Kemptown
– presenting data from the ONS annual population survey and other official statistics.

(boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at ''MapIt UK''

(boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at ''MapIt UK''

(boundaries from June 2024) at ''MapIt UK'' {{Coord, 50.824, -0.035, display=title, region:GB_scale:50000 Parliamentary constituencies in East Sussex Politics of Brighton and Hove Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1950