Battersea 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 ...

in the

London Borough of Wandsworth Wandsworth () is a London boroughs, London borough in South West (London sub region), South West London, England. It forms part of Inner London and has an estimated population of 329,677 inhabitants. Its main communities are Battersea, Balham, P ...

. It has been represented since 2017 by Marsha de Cordova of the Labour Party. The seat has had two periods of existence (1885–1918 and 1983 to date). In the first Parliament after the seat's re-creation it was Labour-represented, bucking the national result, thereafter from 1987 until 2017 the affiliation of the winning candidate was that of the winning party nationally – a 30-year

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

. In the 2016 referendum to leave the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, the constituency voted remain by an estimated 77%, the highest by a constituency with a Conservative MP at the time.

Boundaries

The seat covers the north-eastern third of the

. As drawn and redrawn since 1983, it includes central

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its name ...

and in the same way as Chelsea on the opposite bank, it adjoins the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

before it flows through central London. It takes in all of the district of Battersea, including its large

Battersea Park Battersea Park is a 200-acre (83-hectare) green space at Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth in London. It is situated on the south bank of the River Thames opposite Chelsea, London, Chelsea and was opened in 1858. The park occupies ...

(which hosts frequent live entertainment events and seasonal festivals), riverside and London Heliport, and stretches eastwards to include

Nine Elms Nine Elms is an area of south-west London, England, within the London Borough of Wandsworth, with some parts (including the Nine Elms tube station, tube station) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Lambeth. It lies on the River Thame ...

. Surrounding Battersea Park, it includes Queenstown, large neighbourhoods of Battersea Town, and, going westwards, it includes most of

town, including the riverside,

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

and East Hill. Battersea also stretches south between Wandsworth Common and

Clapham Common Clapham Common is a large triangular urban park in Clapham, south London, England. Originally common land for the parishes of Battersea and Clapham, it was converted to parkland under the terms of the Metropolitan Commons Act 1878. It is of gr ...

to include

Balham Balham () is an List of areas of London, area in south-west London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, with small parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Lambeth. It has been settled since Saxon times and appears in t ...

Ward and the eastern end of Balham (the west, for general elections, being placed since 1983 in

Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre-Anglo-Saxons, Saxon times. The name is of Anglo-Saxon ori ...

). 1885–1918: Wards 2 and 3 of Battersea Parish, and that part of No. 4 Ward bounded on the south by Battersea Rise, and on the east by St John's Road. 1983–2010: The

wards of Balham, Fairfield, Latchmere, Northcote, Queenstown, St John, St Mary's Park and Shaftesbury. St John Ward was abolished for the 2002 Wandsworth elections. St John was thus not in use at the next general election in 2005. For that general election, the seat included a small part of Wandsworth Town (the majority being in

constituency) and most of Fairfield (a small part being in

Putney Putney () is an affluent district in southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ...

). 2010–2024: The London Borough of Wandsworth wards of Balham, Fairfield, Latchmere, Northcote, Queenstown, St Mary's Park and Shaftesbury. 2024–present: Following to the

2023 review of Westminster constituencies The 2023 review of Westminster constituencies was the most recent cycle of the process to redraw the constituency map for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The new constituency boundaries were approved by the Privy Council on 15 Nov ...

, which was based on the ward boundaries in place at 1 December 2020, the composition of the constituency from the 2024 general election was reduced to bring it in within the permitted electoral range by transferring the majority of the Fairfield ward (polling districts FFA, FFB and FFC) to

. Polling district FFD was retained. Following a local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2022, the Fairfield ward was largely replaced by the Wandsworth Town ward. The constituency now comprises the following wards of the London Borough of Wandsworth from the 2024 general election: * Balham (majority); Battersea Park; Falconbrook; Lavender; Nine Elms; Northcote; Shaftesbury & Queenstown; St Mary's (most); Wandsworth Town (part).

Constituency profile

A largely residential and ethnically diverse inner-city district of south London, the seat of Battersea includes half of

, along with parts of

and

. The iconic

Battersea Power Station Battersea Power Station is a decommissioned coal-fired power station located on the south bank of the River Thames in Nine Elms, Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It was built by the London Power Company (LPC) to the design of ...

along with

and the Patmore Estate. Battersea Power Station dominates the skyline, while Clapham Junction continues to be the busiest railway interchange in the UK. Thanks to the influx of commuters, the constituency's social and demographic profile has changed considerably over the last quarter of a century. At 65.5%, it has the highest proportion of people with a degree-level qualification or above amongst constituencies in England and Wales, according to Office for National Statistics 2021 Census figures. More than one in five has an associate professional and technical occupation. A former

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

seat, Battersea's winner came from the winning party from the 1987 to the 2015 general elections inclusive.

History

Major events

The

Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 23) was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (sometimes called the "Reform Act of 1885"). It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that r ...

provided that the Constituency was to consist of- *"No. 2 Ward of Battersea Parish, *No. 3 Ward of Battersea Parish, and *So much of No. 4 Ward of Battersea Parish as lies to the north of a line drawn along the centre of Battersea Rise, and to the west of a line drawn along the centre of the St. John's Road." Battersea constituency was originally created in 1885. From 1892 to 1918 the seat was held by trade union leader John Burns who served as a Minister (of the Crown) in the Liberal Cabinets of Sir

Henry Campbell-Bannerman Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman ( né Campbell; 7 September 183622 April 1908) was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1905 to 1908 and Leader of the Liberal Party from 1899 to 1908. ...

and

H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928) was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916. He was the last ...

from 1905 until 1914. The constituency was split in 1918 into: * Battersea North, which included the cheap housing accompanying

and railway-works focused Nine Elms; it saw gradual replacement in its lifespan to overcrowded terraces, and had only four years of a Conservative MP (from 1931). * Battersea South had average-middle income and few pockets of

slum clearance Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low-income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...

. It saw 38 years of a Conservative MP, lastly from 1959 to 1964, without electing one during new latter-day Conservative governments which came to power in 1970 and 1979. The two seats have been rejoined since 1983, such that some areas of Battersea South became part of the adjoining

seat. Alf Dubs (Labour), before the election the incumbent for Battersea South, won Battersea in 1983. Conservative John Bowis won in the next elections, 1987 and 1992. Martin Linton, a Labour politician, took it back in 1997 and held the seat until 2010, when it was recaptured by the Conservatives' Jane Ellison. The constituency's bellwether status was broken in 2017 when Marsha de Cordova won for Labour. She retained the seat in 2019 and again in 2024, when she achieved a records majority of 25.6%.

Minor events

In 2001, the candidate T.E Barber used the candidate description "No fruit out of context party", and advocated the end of, amongst other crimes against food, pineapples on pizza. In the book ''Things Can Only Get Better: Eighteen Miserable Years in the Life of a Labour Supporter'', John O'Farrell describes his experiences of being the secretary of Queenstown Branch of the Battersea Labour party, during which time the branch suffered a net loss at every local election and, in 1987, lost their MP, Alf Dubs. Benefiting from an exclusivity arrangement, the old Battersea North was one of two seats in London to have had a

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

MP: Shapurji Saklatvala represented the area from 1922 to 1929. A wealthy aristocratic Indian, he was among the five Communists elected to the national chamber in its history and was the third of the young Socialist Labour/Communist/Labour parties from an ethnic minority background. At first, Saklatvala had local Labour party support and was also a member of that party but then stood as a Communist in 1924 with local Labour party backing. The head office of the less radical Labour party mandated an official Labour candidate stand against him in 1929. The Battersea Labour Club (a drinking club not directly connected with the political party) had a notice on its notice board up until the 1980s banning Communists from admission to the club.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1910s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1880s

Morgan sought re-election after questions arose about a government contract his firm held.

Notes

References

;Further reading * ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918'', compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1974)
Debrett’s Illustrated Heraldic and Biographical House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1886

Debrett’s House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1901

Debrett’s House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1918

External links

(Election results from 1922 onwards)

(Election results from 1955 onwards)

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

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

(boundaries from June 2024) at ''MapIt UK'' {{Authority control Battersea Parliamentary constituencies in London Politics of the London Borough of Wandsworth Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1885 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1918 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1983