South Basildon and East Thurrock 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, ...

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 its 2010 creation by Stephen Metcalfe, 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 i ...

History

The seat was created for the 2010 general election following a review of the Parliamentary representation of

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 ...

by the

Boundary Commission for England The boundary commissions in the United Kingdom are non-departmental public bodies responsible for determining the boundaries of constituencies for elections to the House of Commons. There are four boundary commissions: * Boundary Commission for ...

. It was formed from the majority of the abolished constituency of Basildon, but excluding the centre of Basildon itself, together with the town of

Pitsea Pitsea is a small town and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Basildon, in south Essex, England. It comprises five sub-districts: Eversley, Northlands Park Neighbourhood (previously known as Felmores), Chalvedon, Pitsea Mount and B ...

from the abolished

Billericay Billericay ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Basildon, Essex, England. It lies within the London Basin and constitutes a commuter town east of Central London. The town has three secondary schools and a variety of open spaces. It is ...

constituency. Its predecessor seat,

Basildon Basildon ( ) is the largest town in the borough of Basildon, within the county of Essex, England. It has a population of 107,123. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1159. It lies east of Central London, south of the city of Chelmsford and ...

, was a much-referenced bellwether seat, having consistently voted for the most successful party (in terms of number of seats) in each election since its 1974 creation. However, the boundaries of the new South Basildon and East Thurrock seat were considered much more favourable to the Conservatives than those of the old Basildon seat. Before 1974 the area came within the older version of the

constituency and, for just five years before 1950, this area was the eastern part of the Thurrock seat – from 1885 to 1945 the area was within the South East Essex seat. From 1832 to 1885 the area was in the South Essex seat.

Boundaries

* The Borough of Thurrock wards of Corringham and Fobbing, East Tilbury, Orsett, Stanford East and Corringham Town, Stanford-le-Hope West and The Homesteads * The

Borough of Basildon The Borough of Basildon is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in south Essex in the East of England, centred on the town of Basildon. It was formed as the Basildon District on 1 April 1974 from the former area of Basildon U ...

wards of Langdon Hills, Nethermayne,

North West, Pitsea South East and Vange. Despite its long name, this new constituency is to the greatest extent the successor to the

constituency. The Basildon constituency that existed after 1997 was never wholly within the Basildon district, nor even contained the whole of the

urban area, but it extended south into the Thurrock council area to take in towns such as Stanford-le-Hope and Corringham. This new seat retained all of the Thurrock wards, lost some areas around central Basildon, and replaced them with

to the east of Basildon. Additionally, the ward of

East Tilbury East Tilbury is a village and former civil parish in the unitary authority of Thurrock borough, Essex, England, and one of the traditional Church of England parishes in Thurrock. In 1931 the parish had a population of 353. History In Saxon ti ...

was added from the

Thurrock Thurrock () is a unitary authority area with borough status and unparished area in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The l ...

constituency.

Constituency profile

The seat has a very similar proportion (4.0%) of jobseekers to the national average of 3.8%, based on ''

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 Gu ...

s November 2012 study. This is higher than the average for the Eastern counties of 3.1% but significantly lower than Bedford, Great Yarmouth, Peterborough, Luton South, Rochford and Southend East, and Thurrock seats.Unemployment claimants by constituency
''

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

:* ''Served as an MP in the 2005–2010 Parliament''

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basildon South And East Thurrock Politics of Thurrock Parliamentary constituencies in Essex Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 2010 Politics of the Borough of Basildon