Vauxhall (UK Parliament constituency)

Vauxhall was a constituency[n 1] in London. It was represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by members of the Labour Party for the whole of its creation from 1950 until its abolition for the 2024 general election.

Vauxhall
Former borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Outline map
Boundary of Vauxhall in Greater London
CountyGreater London
Electorate88,659 (December 2019)[1]
Major settlementsNorth Lambeth, Vauxhall, Stockwell, Kennington, Clapham, Brixton (part)
19502024
SeatsOne
Created fromKennington and Lambeth North
Replaced byClapham and Brixton Hill, Vauxhall and Camberwell Green

Under the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the majority of the constituency was incorporated into the new seat of Vauxhall and Camberwell Green, with the wards of Clapham Town, Ferndale and Larkhall being included in the new constituency of Clapham and Brixton Hill.[2]

Boundaries

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Map of boundaries 2010–2024

1950–1974: The Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth wards of Bishop's, Marsh, Oval, Prince's, and Vauxhall.

1974–1983: The London Borough of Lambeth wards of Bishop's, Oval, Prince's, Stockwell, and Vassall.

1983–1997: The London Borough of Lambeth wards of Bishop's, Clapham Town, Ferndale, Larkhall, Oval, Prince's, Stockwell, and Vassall.

1997–2010: The London Borough of Lambeth wards of Angell, Bishop's, Clapham Town, Ferndale, Larkhall, Oval, Prince's, Stockwell, and Vassall.

2010–2024: The London Borough of Lambeth wards of Bishop's, Clapham Town, Ferndale, Larkhall, Oval, Prince's, Stockwell, and Vassall.

Vauxhall was wholly within the London Borough of Lambeth. The core of the constituency, unchanged from the former Lambeth North, was delimited by the River Thames to the west and north and the boundary with Southwark to the east.

Constituency profile

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The seat included all of Vauxhall, North Lambeth, Stockwell, Kennington and some of Brixton and north Clapham. Its landmarks included the London Eye, The Oval cricket ground, Royal Vauxhall Tavern, SIS building and the National Theatre. Among Britain's most ethnically diverse constituencies, Vauxhall had sizable Jamaican, Portuguese, Ghanaian and Ecuadorian communities.

At just over 6% of the population, Vauxhall (which was located in the London Borough of Lambeth) had the largest proportion of LGBT+ people in the country as of 2016.[3]

Political history

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Vauxhall in the Parliamentary County of London from 1950 to 1974

The area has consistently voted in parliamentary elections for Labour Members of Parliament since 1929, except in 1931. This includes the results of the former seat of Lambeth North, which had near-identical boundaries.[citation needed]

Since a 1989 by-election, the seat had been represented by Kate Hoey. Continuing a history as a safe seat for Labour, since her 1989 election, Hoey consistently achieved majorities of 9,100 to 20,200 votes. The 2015 result made the seat the 105th safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority.[4]

Despite Hoey being a prominent campaigner for leaving the European Union, Vauxhall voted to remain in the EU by 77.6% in the national referendum on 23 June 2016.[5] This made it the strongest pro-EU constituency to be represented by a pro-Brexit MP. In the 2017 general election, this led to her seat being targeted by pro-Remain organisations and high-profile individuals seeking to oust her in favour of the pro-EU Liberal Democrat candidate.[6] There had been a change.org petition calling for Hoey's deselection as the Labour candidate for the seat; however, due to party rules this was unsuccessful.[7][8] In the 2017 election, Hoey significantly increased her majority to the largest the seat had ever seen; the Liberal Democrat vote total more than trebled, and they moved back into second place having fallen to fourth behind the Conservatives and the Greens in 2015. In May 2018, Hoey's local party passed a vote of no confidence in her, vowing to deselect the MP as well.[9] On 8 July 2019 Hoey announced that she would retire from the House of Commons, and would not seek re-election as a Labour candidate at the next general election.[10]

Prominent frontbenchers

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George Strauss was appointed Minister of Supply from 1947 to 1951 during the Attlee Ministry. Kate Hoey was Minister for Sport (1999–2001) during the Blair Ministry.[11]

Local government results

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The constituency shared boundaries with the Vauxhall electoral division for election of councillors to the Greater London Council at elections in 1973, 1977 and 1981.

The local government wards in the constituency are currently entirely represented by Labour on Lambeth London Borough Council.

A single Conservative councillor represented the Clapham Town ward from 2002 until losing their seat by sixty votes in the 2006 Council Elections.

Three Liberal Democrat councillors represented the Bishop's ward from 1990 to 2014; they subsequently lost the three ward seats to Labour, as did the sole Liberal Democrat councilors in the Oval and Vassall wards. They failed to gain them back in 2018.

At the 2018 council elections, Labour won all of the ward seats in the constituency. The Liberal Democrats finished second in the wards of Bishop's, Oval, Stockwell and Prince's. The Conservatives finished the runner up in Clapham Town and the Green Party in Vassall, Ferndale and Larkhall.

Members of Parliament

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Election Member[12] Party
1950 George Strauss Labour
1979 Stuart Holland Labour
1989 by-election Kate Hoey Labour
2019 Florence Eshalomi Labour Co-op

Elections

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Elections in the 2010s

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General election 2019: Vauxhall[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Florence Eshalomi 31,615 56.1 −1.2
Liberal Democrats Sarah Lewis 12,003 21.3 +0.8
Conservative Sarah Bool 9,422 16.7 −1.9
Green Jacqueline Bond 2,516 4.5 +2.5
Brexit Party Andrew McGuinness 641 1.1 New
Independent Salah Faissal 136 0.2 New
Majority 19,612 34.8 −2.0
Turnout 56,333 63.5 −3.6
Registered electors 88,659
Labour Co-op hold Swing −1.0
General election 2017: Vauxhall[14][15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Kate Hoey 31,576 57.3 +3.5
Liberal Democrats George Turner 11,326 20.5 +13.6
Conservative Dolly Theis 10,277 18.6 −8.7
Green Gulnar Hasnain 1,152 2.0 −5.6
Women's Equality Harini Iyengar 539 0.9 New
Pirate Mark Chapman 172 0.3 −0.1
Majority 20,250 36.8 +10.3
Turnout 55,042 67.1 +9.2
Registered electors 82,055
Labour hold Swing −5.1

13.6% was the largest vote share increase in a Labour held seat for the Liberal Democrats at the 2017 general election.[16] UKIP stood down their candidate in order to ensure Hoey was re-elected.[17]

General election 2015: Vauxhall[18][19]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Kate Hoey 25,778 53.8 +4.0
Conservative James Bellis 13,070 27.3 +5.8
Green Gulnar Hasnain 3,658 7.6 +6.0
Liberal Democrats Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett 3,312 6.9 −18.2
UKIP Ace Nnorom 1,385 2.9 New
Pirate Mark Chapman 201 0.4 New
Left Unity Simon Hardy 188 0.4 New
CISTA Louis Jensen 164 0.3 New
Whig Waleed Ghani 103 0.2 New
Socialist (GB) Daniel Lambert 82 0.2 −0.2
Majority 12,708 26.5 +1.8
Turnout 47,941 58.3 +0.6
Registered electors 82,231
Labour hold Swing +0.9
General election 2010: Vauxhall[20]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Kate Hoey 21,498 49.8 −2.0
Liberal Democrats Caroline Pidgeon 10,847 25.1 −2.1
Conservative Glyn Chambers 9,301 21.5 +7.0
Green Joseph Healy 708 1.6 −2.8
English Democrat Jose Navarro 289 0.7 +0.1
Christian Lana Martin 200 0.5 New
Socialist (GB) Daniel Lambert 143 0.3 −0.3
Anticapitalists Jeremy Drinkall 109 0.3 New
Animal Welfare James Kapetanos 96 0.2 New
Majority 10,651 24.7 −2.0
Turnout 43,191 57.7 + 9.3
Registered electors 74,811
Labour hold Swing +0.1

Elections in the 2000s

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General election 2005: Vauxhall
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Kate Hoey 19,744 52.9 −6.2
Liberal Democrats Charles Anglin 9,767 26.1 +6.0
Conservative Edward Heckels 5,405 14.5 +1.1
Green Tim Summers 1,705 4.6 +0.2
UKIP Robert McWhirter 271 0.7 New
Socialist (GB) Daniel Lambert 240 0.6 New
English Democrat Janus Polenceus 221 0.6 New
Majority 9,977 26.8 −12.2
Turnout 37,363 46.9 +2.1
Registered electors 79,637
Labour hold Swing
General election 2001: Vauxhall
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Kate Hoey 19,738 59.1 −4.7
Liberal Democrats Anthony Bottrall 6,720 20.1 +4.1
Conservative Gareth Compton 4,489 13.4 −1.8
Green Shane Collins 1,485 4.4 +2.2
Socialist Alliance Theresa Bennett 853 2.6 New
Independent Martin Boyd 107 0.3 New
Majority 13,018 39.0 −8.8
Turnout 33,392 44.8 −10.7
Registered electors 74,474
Labour hold Swing −4.4

Elections in the 1990s

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General election 1997: Vauxhall
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Kate Hoey 24,920 63.8 +7.7
Liberal Democrats Keith Kerr 6,260 16.0 +1.6
Conservative Richard Bacon 5,952 15.2 −11.4
Socialist Labour Ian Driver 983 2.5 New
Green Shane Collins 862 2.2 New
Socialist (GB) Richard Headicar 97 0.3 New
Majority 18,660 47.8 +20.9
Turnout 39,074 55.5 −6.9
Registered electors 70,424
Labour hold Swing +3.1
General election 1992: Vauxhall
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Kate Hoey 21,328 54.8 +4.6
Conservative Bernard Gentry 10,840 27.8 −1.2
Liberal Democrats Mike Tuffrey 5,678 14.6 −3.6
Green Penny Shepherd 803 2.1 +0.3
Independent A Khan 156 0.4 New
Revolutionary Communist S. Hill 152 0.4 New
Majority 10,488 27.0 +5.8
Turnout 38,957 62.4 −1.6
Registered electors 62,473
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1980s

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1989 Vauxhall by-election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Kate Hoey 15,191 52.7 +2.5
Conservative Michael Keegan 5,425 18.8 −10.2
SLD Mike Tuffrey 5,043 17.5 −0.7
Green Henry Bewley 1,767 6.1 +4.3
The People's Candidate Hewie Andrew 302 1.1 New
The Greens Dominic Allen 264 0.9 New
Independent Rudy Narayan 179 0.6 New
Revolutionary Communist Don Milligan 177 0.6 New
Official National Front Patrick Harrington 127 0.4 New
Monster Raving Loony Screaming Lord Sutch 106 0.4 New
Christian Alliance David Black 86 0.3 New
National Front Ted Budden 83 0.3 New
Fellowship Geoffrey Rolph 24 0.1 New
Leveller Party William Scola 21 0.1 New
Majority 9,766 33.9 +12.7
Turnout 28,795 44.4 −19.6
Registered electors 64,905
Labour hold Swing
General election 1987: Vauxhall
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Stuart Holland 21,364 50.2 +3.7
Conservative David Lidington 12,345 29.0 +2.3
SDP Simon Acland 7,764 18.2 −6.1
Green Janice Owens 770 1.8 New
Communist Dave Cook 223 0.5 0.0
Red Front Kunle Oluremi 117 0.3 New
Majority 9,019 21.2 +1.3
Turnout 42,583 64.0 −0.5
Registered electors 66,538
Labour hold Swing
General election 1983: Vauxhall
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Stuart Holland 18,234 46.5 −5.9
Conservative Kingsley Manning 10,454 26.7 −7.1
SDP Roger Liddle[21] 9,515 24.3 +16.9
National Front J. Wright 508 1.3 −2.3
Monster Raving Loony P. Lingard 266 0.7 New
Communist Dave Cook 199 0.5 New
Workers Revolutionary G Shorter 38 0.1 −0.5
Majority 7,780 19.9 +1.1
Turnout 39,214 64.5 +2.0
Registered electors 64,867
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1970s

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General election 1979: Vauxhall
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Stuart Holland 13,058 52.4 −10.8
Conservative Philip Linnell Heslop 8,358 33.6 +10.2
Liberal Frederick Harrison[22] 1,842 7.4 −6.1
National Front Vernon Atkinson[22] 879 3.6 New
Labour Alliance Party Douglas Elliot[22] 565 2.3 New
Workers Revolutionary Sarah Hannigan[22] 153 0.6 New
Democratic Monarchist Public Safety White Resident Bill Boaks 44 0.2 New
Majority 4,700 18.8 −21.0
Turnout 24,899 62.5 +9.8
Registered electors 39,870
Labour hold Swing
General election October 1974: Vauxhall
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour George Strauss 15,493 63.2 +10.8
Conservative Victor MacColl 5,727 23.4 −2.7
Liberal Edward Cousins 3,300 13.5 −4.4
Majority 9,766 39.8 +9.5
Turnout 24,520 52.7 −9.5
Registered electors 46,502
Labour hold Swing
General election February 1974: Vauxhall
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour George Strauss 16,135 52.4 −11.2
Conservative Margaret Marshall 7,494 26.1 −10.3
Liberal Edward Cousins 5,139 17.9 New
Majority 8,641 30.3 +2.9
Turnout 28,768 62.2 +7.8
Registered electors 46,261
Labour hold Swing
General election 1970: Vauxhall
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour George Strauss 13,046 63.6 −3.0
Conservative Clive W Jones 7,477 36.4 +3.0
Majority 5,569 27.2 −6.0
Turnout 20,523 54.4 −4.2
Registered electors 37,707
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s

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General election 1966: Vauxhall
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour George Strauss 15,233 66.6 +2.49
Conservative Spencer Le Marchant 7,645 33.4 −2.49
Majority 7,588 33.2 +4.98
Turnout 22,878 58.6 −0.58
Registered electors 39,042
Labour hold Swing
General election 1964: Vauxhall
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour George Strauss 15,458 64.11 +2.13
Conservative David Lane 8,653 35.89 −2.13
Majority 6,805 28.22 +4.26
Turnout 24,111 59.18 −5.77
Registered electors 40,743
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1950s

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General election 1959: Vauxhall
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour George Strauss 18,437 61.98 −2.71
Conservative Elizabeth Havers 11,312 38.02 +2.71
Majority 7,125 23.96 −5.42
Turnout 29,749 64.95 +2.21
Registered electors 45,802
Labour hold Swing
General election 1955: Vauxhall
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour George Strauss 19,220 64.69 −1.15
Conservative Edwin H. Lee 10,492 35.31 +1.15
Majority 8,728 29.38 −2.3
Turnout 29,712 62.74 −10.91
Registered electors 47,354
Labour hold Swing
General election 1951: Vauxhall
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour George Strauss 24,217 65.84 +3.34
Conservative Edwin H. Lee 12,564 34.16 +6.46
Majority 11,653 31.68 −3.22
Turnout 36,781 73.65 −2.05
Registered electors 49,939
Labour hold Swing
General election 1950: Vauxhall
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour George Strauss 23,988 62.5
Conservative Alfred Frank Lockwood 10,618 27.7
Liberal Walter Stanley Dyer 3,251 8.5
Communist Margot Heinemann 508 1.3
Majority 13,370 34.8
Turnout 38,365 75.7
Registered electors 50,673
Labour win (new seat)

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)

References

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  1. ^ Lambeth Democracy [@LBLDemocracy] (13 December 2019). "All 3 constituencies in #Lambeth have now been confirmed and announced. Dulwich & West Norwood, Vauxhall and Streatham have all been won by Labour candidates. #GE2019" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ^ "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume one: Report – London | Boundary Commission for England". boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  3. ^ "State of the Borough 2016" (PDF). Lambeth Council. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 November 2022. Retrieved 12 March 2023.[page needed]
  4. ^ "Labour Members of Parliament 2015". UK Political.info. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018.
  5. ^ "EU REF. Results for Lambeth.xlsx" (PDF). Lambeth Council. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 January 2022. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  6. ^ "Pro-EU campaigners draw up 'attack list' of Brexiteer MPs they want to unseat in the general election". The Independent. 25 April 2017. Archived from the original on 11 August 2022.
  7. ^ White, Roland (19 February 2017). "Kexit's a way off for Vauxhall remoaners". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  8. ^ Zeffman, Henry (25 April 2017). "Farron shrugs off gay sex row to target veteran's seat". The Times. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  9. ^ "Kate Hoey vows to fight deselection". BBC News. 27 May 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  10. ^ "Kate Hoey to stand down as MP for Vauxhall at next election". ITV News. 8 July 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  11. ^ "Under-Secretary of State (Hansard)".
  12. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "V"
  13. ^ "Statement of Persons Nominated" (PDF).
  14. ^ "Statement of Persons Nominated, Notice of Poll and Situation of Polling Stations" (PDF). lambeth.co.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 March 2022.
  15. ^ "General Election 2017: results and analysis" (PDF) (2nd ed.). UK Parliament. 29 January 2019. p. 92.
  16. ^ "General Election 2019: results and analysis" (PDF). UK Parliament (2nd ed.). 28 January 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 February 2023. Retrieved 12 March 2023.[page needed]
  17. ^ Cobb, Jason (29 April 2017). "UKip steps aside in Vauxhall so as not to clash with Brexiteer Hoey in general election". Brixton Buzz. Archived from the original on 2 July 2019. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  18. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  19. ^ "Election results for Vauxhall, 7 May 2015". moderngov.lambeth.gov.uk. 7 May 2015.
  20. ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  21. ^ "BBC News - UK POLITICS - Roger Liddle, centre stage once more". 26 October 2001.
  22. ^ a b c d Election Expenses. Parliament of the United Kingdom. 1980. p. 17. ISBN 0102374805.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Constituency represented by the father of the House
1974–1979
Succeeded by

51°28′55″N 0°07′08″W / 51.482°N 0.119°W / 51.482; -0.119