Billericay (UK Parliament constituency)

Billericay was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Billericay
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Billericay in Essex in 2005.
Location of Essex within England.
CountyEssex
1983–2010
Number of membersOne
Replaced byBasildon and Billericay
South Basildon and East Thurrock
Rayleigh and Wickford
Created fromBasildon and Thurrock[1]
1950–February 1974
Replaced byBasildon
Created fromSouth East Essex

It returned Conservative MPs at every election except 1966.

History

The seat was first created as a county constituency for the 1950 general election under the Representation of the People Act 1948, as a successor to the abolished seat of South East Essex. The First Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies brought in for the 1955 general election resulted in major boundary changes and it was abolished by the Second Review for the February 1974 general election.

It was re-established for the 1983 general election, with further major changes for the 1997 general election, and abolished once again for the 2010 general election.

Boundaries and boundary changes
Billericay in Essex 1955-74
Billericay in Essex 1983-97

1950–1955: The Urban Districts of Billericay, Benfleet, Canvey Island, and Rayleigh.[2]

Formed from the abolished South-Eastern Division of Essex, excluding the Rural District of Rochford.

1955–1974: The Urban Districts of Billericay and Brentwood.[2]

Benfleet, Canvey Island and Rayleigh (together with Rochford) now formed the re-established County Constituency of South East Essex. Billericay was combined with Brentwood, which had previously been included in Romford.

On abolition, the Urban District of Billericay, which had been reconstituted as the Urban District of Basildon, formed the new Borough Constituency of Basildon.  The Urban District of Brentwood formed the basis for the new County Constituency of Brentwood and Ongar.

1983–1997: The District of Basildon wards of Billericay East, Billericay West, Burstead, Laindon, Wickford North, and Wickford South, and the Borough of Thurrock wards of Corringham and Fobbing, Orsett, Stanford-le-Hope, and The Homesteads.[3]

Re-established as a County Constituency, formed from northern parts of the constituency of Basildon, including Billericay and Wickford, together with northern parts of the constituency of Thurrock.

1997–2010: The District of Basildon wards of Billericay East, Billericay West, Burstead, Laindon, Pitsea East, Pitsea West, Wickford North, and Wickford South.[4]

Major realignment of boundaries with Basildon; Pitsea was transferred from Basildon in exchange for the northern part of the Borough of Thurrock.

The seat was abolished once again for the 2010 general election. The majority, comprising Billericay, Burstead and Laindon, was included in the new Borough Constituency of Basildon and Billericay; Pitsea was included in the new County Constituency of South Basildon and East Thurrock; and Wickford was included in the new County Constituency of Rayleigh and Wickford.

Changes proposed for 2022

The Boundary Commission for England submitted their final proposals in respect of the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster Constituencies (the 2018 review) in September 2018. If these proposals had been approved by Parliament they would of reduced the total number of MPs from 650 to 600 and come into effect at the next UK general election which had been due to take place in May 2022 under the terms of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011.

The Commission had recommended that a constituency named Billericay be re-established. This would include Billericay, Burstead and Laindon from the abolished Basildon and Billericay constituency, together with South Woodham Ferrers and rural areas to the south of Chelmsford, transferred from Maldon. The village of Writtle would be transferred from Saffron Walden.[5]

Members of Parliament

Billericay has elected somewhat colourful characters to Westminster, namely Harvey Proctor, the right-wing MP who resigned after homosexual sex charges, and Teresa Gorman, the Maastricht rebel who stood down after accusing the Commons Standards and Privileges committee of sexism over questions surrounding her registered business dealings.

MPs 1950–1974
ElectionMember[6] Party
1950 Bernard Braine Conservative
1955 Richard Body Conservative
1959 Edward Gardner Conservative
1966 Eric Moonman Labour
1970 Robert McCrindle Conservative
Feb 1974 constituency abolished: see Basildon

MPs 1983–2010
ElectionMember[6] Party
1983 Harvey Proctor Conservative
1987 Teresa Gorman Conservative
2001 John Baron Conservative
2010 constituency abolished: see Basildon and Billericay

Elections

Elections in the 1950s
General election 1950: Billericay[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Bernard Braine 23,803 50.5
Labour Co-op Albert Oram 19,437 41.3
Liberal Sidney Hayden 3,872 8.2
Majority 4,366 9.2
Turnout 47,112 79.6
Conservative win (new seat)
General election 1951: Billericay[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Bernard Braine 26,936 56.7 +6.2
Labour Co-op Brian Clapham 20,613 43.3 +2.0
Majority 6,323 13.4 +4.2
Turnout 47,549 77.1 +2.5
Conservative hold Swing +2.0
General election 1955: Billericay[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Richard Body 24,327 54.7 −2.0
Labour Co-op Brian Clapham 20,121 45.3 +2.0
Majority 4,206 9.4 -4.0
Turnout 44,448 75.5 −1.6
Conservative hold Swing −1.9
General election 1959: Billericay[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Edward Gardner 29,224 46.4 −7.3
Labour Co-op Rita Smythe 24,402 38.8 −6.5
Liberal Peter Sheldon-Williams 9,347 14.8 New
Majority 4,822 7.6 -1.8
Turnout 45,626 80.4 +4.9
Conservative hold Swing −0.4

Elections in the 1960s
General election 1964: Billericay[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Edward Lucas Gardner 35,347 44.3 −2.1
Labour Co-op Rita Alison Smythe 33,755 42.3 +3.5
Liberal Peter Sheldon-Williams 10,706 13.4 −1.4
Majority 1,592 2.0 -5.6
Turnout 79,512 82.48 +2.0
Conservative hold Swing +2.83
General election 1966: Billericay
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Eric Moonman 40,013 46.54 +4.2
Conservative Edward Lucas Gardner 38,371 44.63 +0.3
Liberal Lionel Wernick 7,587 8.8 −4.6
Majority 1,642 1.9 N/A
Turnout 85,971 84.1 +1.6
Labour gain from Conservative Swing +2.1

Elections in the 1970s
General election 1970: Billericay
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Robert McCrindle 47,719 52.2 +7.6
Labour Eric Moonman 43,765 47.8 +1.3
Majority 3,954 4.4 New
Turnout 91,784 74.2 −9.9
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +3.2

Elections in the 1980s
General election 1983: Billericay[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Harvey Proctor 29,635 53.7
Liberal Patrick Bonner 15,020 27.2
Labour Christopher Sewell 10,528 19.1
Majority 14,615 26.5
Turnout 55,183 73.8
Conservative win (new seat)
General election 1987: Billericay[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Teresa Gorman 33,741 54.9 +1.2
SDP Michael Birch 15,755 25.6 −1.6
Labour Richard Howitt 11,942 19.4 +0.3
Majority 17,986 29.3 +2.8
Turnout 61,438 77.2 +3.4
Conservative hold Swing +1.4

Elections in the 1990s
General election 1992: Billericay[14][15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Teresa Gorman 37,406 56.5 +1.6
Liberal Democrats Francis Bellard 14,912 22.5 −3.1
Labour Alison Miller 13,880 21.0 +1.6
Majority 22,494 34.0 +4.7
Turnout 66,198 82.5 +5.3
Conservative hold Swing +2.3
General election 1997: Billericay[16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Teresa Gorman 22,033 39.8 −17.9
Labour Paul Richards 20,677 37.3 +17.2
Liberal Democrats Geoff Williams 8,763 15.8 −6.5
Loyal Conservative Brian Hughes 3,377 6.1 New
ProLife Alliance John Buchanan 570 1.0 New
Majority 1,356 2.4
Turnout 55,420 72.6 -9.9
Conservative hold Swing - 17.5

Elections in the 2000s
General election 2001: Billericay[17]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Baron 21,608 47.4 +7.6
Labour Amanda Campbell 16,595 36.4 −0.9
Liberal Democrats Francis Bellard 6,323 13.9 −1.9
UKIP Nicholas Yeomans 1,072 2.4 New
Majority 5,013 11.0 +8.6
Turnout 45,598 58.1 −14.5
Conservative hold Swing +4.2
General election 2005: Billericay[18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Baron 25,487 52.2 +4.8
Labour Anneliese Dodds 14,281 29.2 −7.2
Liberal Democrats Mike Hibbs 6,471 13.2 −0.7
BNP Bryn Robinson 1,435 2.9 New
UKIP Seantino Callaghan 1,184 2.4 0.0
Majority 11,206 23.0 +12.0
Turnout 48,858 61.4 +3.3
Conservative hold Swing +6.0

See also

Notes and references
  1. "'Billericay', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  2. Craig, Fred W. S. (1972). Boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 1885-1972;. Chichester: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 0900178094. OCLC 539011.
  3. "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1983". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
  4. "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1995". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
  5. Boundary Commission for England, 2018 Review (September 2016). "Final recommendations report" (PDF).
  6. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 3)
  12. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  13. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  14. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  15. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 Dec 2010.
  16. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  17. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  18. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
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