East Surrey is a constituency 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 suprema ...

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 ...

Claire Coutinho Claire Coryl Julia Coutinho (born 8 July 1985) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Surrey since the 2019 general election. She has been serving as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Fam ...

, 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 in ...

. The seat covers an affluent area in the English

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

of Surrey. Since its creation in 1918, East Surrey has elected a Conservative MP on an absolute majority (over 50% of the vote) at every general election, and is therefore regarded as a Conservative safe seat. Its greatest share of the vote for any opposition candidate was 33.75% in February 1974.

Boundaries

1832–1868: The Hundreds of Brixton, Kingston, Reigate, Tandridge and Wallington. 1868–1885: The Hundred of Tandridge, and so much of the Hundred of Wallington as included and lay to the east of the parishes of Croydon and Sanderstead, and so much of the Hundred of Brixton as included and lay to the east of the parishes of Streatham, Clapham and Lambeth. ''For period to 1918 see completely new single-member Wimbledon and Reigate seats, also termed N.E. and S.E. Divisions of Surrey.'' 1918–1950: The Urban Districts of Caterham, and Coulsdon and Purley, and the Rural District of Godstone. 1950–1974: The Urban Districts of Caterham and Warlingham, and Coulsdon and Purley. 1974–1983: The Urban District of Caterham and Warlingham, and the Rural District of Godstone. 1983–1997: The District of Tandridge. (Equivalent to the above) 1997–2010: The District of Tandridge, and the Borough of Reigate and Banstead wards of Horley East and Horley West. 2010–present: As above plus Horley Central.

Constituency profile

East Surrey is a well-connected inner

Home Counties The home counties are the counties of England that surround London. The counties are not precisely defined but Buckinghamshire and Surrey are usually included in definitions and Berkshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent are also often included ...

seat, combining the town of

Horley Horley is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England, south of the towns of Reigate and Redhill. The county border with West Sussex is to the south with Crawley and Gatwick Airport close to the town. It has its own eco ...

with Surrey's residual District Tandridge (as opposed to Boroughs which the other 10 parts have been created) which is made up of

Caterham Caterham () is a town in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. The town is administratively divided into two: Caterham on the Hill, and Caterham Valley, which includes the main town centre in the middle of a dry valley but rises to equal ...

and modest commuter settlements, farming and retirement homes. Horley is one of two towns adjoining London Gatwick Airport and part of Reigate and Banstead borough. The area borders the

London Borough of Croydon The London Borough of Croydon () is a London borough in south London, part of Outer London. It covers an area of . It is the southernmost borough of London. At its centre is the historic town of Croydon from which the borough takes its name; ...

to the north, the county of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

to the east, and the county of

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

to the south. The northern part of the seat is inside the M25 motorway —

Whyteleafe Whyteleafe is a village in the district of Tandridge, Surrey, England, with a few streets falling inside the London Borough of Croydon. The village, in a dry valley of the North Downs, has three railway stations (on two parallel lines). Neighbouri ...

and

Warlingham Warlingham is a village in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England, south of the centre of London and east of the county town, Guildford. Warlingham is the centre of a civil parish that includes Hamsey Green, a contiguous, smaller sett ...

form green-buffered, elevated commuter belt, with good rail connections to Central London and well-connected by all modes of transport to

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

. Elsewhere, the seat is more rural and includes a low part of the

Greensand Ridge The Greensand Ridge, also known as the Wealden Greensand is an extensive, prominent, often wooded, mixed greensand/sandstone escarpment in south-east England. Forming part of the Weald, a former dense forest in Sussex, Surrey and Kent, it r ...

and features

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

and many

golf courses A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

. The

Conservatives 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 in ...

have prevented any opposition party achieving more than 33.75% of the vote since 1974; including at the

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 ...

and 2001 United Kingdom general elections when opposition was greatest nationally in Conservative safe seats. Most local wards are won by the Conservatives with the Liberal Democrats often picking up seats somewhere in the dual-council system, particularly in Whyteleafe or Caterham Valley. As is typical in seats of this kind, the Labour vote is typically very modest. The party finished in third place at the elections between

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

and 2015. In

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

the party's candidate polled second, in a poorer showing for the Liberal Democrats and the party's " Corbyn Surge". In the 2019 election the Liberal Democrats took second place and Labour fell to third. The area saw a majority vote in favour of

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC ...

in the 2016 EU Referendum; whereas the then-MP Sam Gyimah opposed Brexit and later joined the Liberal Democrats.

History

Victorian dual-member constituency 1832–1885

The 13th century-created, dual-member constituency for the county took in over a third of today's Greater London and its population far exceeded the average for a county. It was recognised as needing or meriting four MPs, so division, under the

Great Reform Act, 1832 The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major changes to the electo ...

. The territory was incepted and absorbed two of three of Surrey's

rotten borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorate ...

s of

Bletchingley Bletchingley (historically "Blechingley") is a village in Surrey, England. It is on the A25 road to the east of Redhill and to the west of Godstone, has a conservation area with medieval buildings and is mostly on a wide escarpment of the Gr ...

and Gatton abolished under the Act. It overlapped the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

s of: *

Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earliest archaeological evidence for huma ...

(its double representation halved, which kept a narrow franchise and completely abolished 1868). * Lambeth, to be subdivided in 1885. * Southwark, to be subdivided in 1885. Often known as the Eastern Division of Surrey or Surrey Eastern, its enfranchised adult male property owners elected two MPs by bloc vote (a voter has a vote for each current vacancy). Notable, clockwise from north, outer reaches were Southwark, Rotherhithe, Addington, Lingfield,

Charlwood Charlwood is a village and civil parish in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England. It is immediately northwest of London Gatwick Airport in West Sussex, close west of Horley and north of Crawley. The historic county boundary between Surre ...

, Buckland, Surrey,

Cheam Cheam () is a suburb of London, England, south-west of Charing Cross. It is divided into North Cheam, Cheam Village and South Cheam. Cheam Village contains the listed buildings Lumley Chapel and the 16th-century Whitehall. It is adjacent to ...

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable ...

and Richmond (see map, top right). The area was split in two, doubling representation, under the Second Reform Act, starting from the 1868 general election; the area was still under-represented as shown by the setting up of a net increase of 14 metropolitan seats in 1885. The

Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict., c. 23) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that redistributed the seats in the House of Commons, introducing the concept of equal ...

went much further than the 1832 Act towards equal representation around the country. It here reflected growth in the county's population. Thus for elections from 1885 dual-member West, Mid Surrey and East Surrey dissipated to allow the creation of 16 rather than just 2 metropolitan Surrey seats (Lambeth and Southwark which saw subdivision) and these "county" seats: #The North-Western or Chertsey Division (usually recorded as Chertsey, Surrey N.W. or North-West) – included Woking and Egham #The South-Western or Guildford Division (as style shown above) – included Godalming, Farnham and surrounds #The South-Eastern or Reigate Division (as style shown above) – included Dorking sessional division save for two parishes in No. 4. #The Mid or Epsom Division (as style shown above) – included Kingston's southern and eastern sessional division components #The Kingston Division (invariably Kingston or Kingston-upon-Thames) – included Richmond #The North-Eastern or Wimbledon Division (as style shown above) – included sessional division of Croydon except its core and north in the Metropolis; plus Caterham, Chelsham, Farley, Warlingham.

Seat created in 1918

In 1918 the constituency was re-established in dwarf form, taking rural and nascent very suburban parts of South East Surrey ("Reigate") and North East Surrey ("Wimbledon"), and for the first time electing only one MP. It covered from the south of

to the

and

borders. It was to remain centred on Lingfield, Oxted,

Limpsfield Limpsfield is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs close to Oxted railway station and the A25.

, Godstone,

and

Woldingham Woldingham is a village and civil parish high on the North Downs between Oxted and Warlingham in Surrey, England, within the M25, southeast of London. The village has 2,141 inhabitants, many of whom commute to London, making Woldingham part o ...

. In 1950 East Surrey lost Addington parish on the eastern fringe of Croydon to the 1918-formed Croydon South seat, and its southern half to

. In 1974 the north-west of the area became part of Croydon South, reflecting the 1965 transfer of Purley and

Coulsdon Coulsdon (, traditionally pronounced ) is a town in south London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon, in the ceremonial county of Greater London since 1965. Prior to this it was part of the historic county of Surrey. History The loc ...

to the

in the new Greater London which then replaced the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

. The seat regained essentially the same land as it had lost to Reigate in 1950. Its MP until 1974,

William Clark William Clark (August 1, 1770 – September 1, 1838) was an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. A native of Virginia, he grew up in pre-statehood Kentucky before later settling in what became the state of Miss ...

, won the new Croydon South in that year's February election. Clark's successor, Sir Geoffrey Howe, later became Chancellor of the Exchequer and Foreign Secretary in

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

's cabinet.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1832–1885

MPs since 1918

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

This constituency underwent boundary changes between the 1992 and 1997 general elections and thus change in share of vote is based on a notional calculation.

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

Election in the 1940s

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1939–40: Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected; *Conservative: Charles Emmott *Labour:

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1910s

Elections in the 1880s

Elections in the 1870s

* Caused by Buxton's death.

Elections in the 1860s

Elections in the 1850s

Elections in the 1840s

* Caused by Alsager's death.

Elections in the 1830s

Notes

References

Sources

Election result, 2010
BBC News
Election result, 2005
BBC News
Election results, 1997 – 2001
BBC News

Election Demon

Election Demon
Election results, 1992 – 2010
The Guardian

Politics Resources {{DEFAULTSORT:Surrey East Parliamentary constituencies in South East England Politics of the London Borough of Croydon Politics of Surrey Politics of the London Borough of Merton Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1832 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1885 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1918