Brentford and Isleworth ( ) 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 ...

represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

of the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

. It forms the eastern part of the

London Borough of Hounslow The London Borough of Hounslow ( ) is a London borough in west London, England, forming part of Outer London. It is governed by Hounslow London Borough Council. The borough stretches from near Central London in the east (Chiswick) to the b ...

. Since 2015, it has been represented by

Ruth Cadbury Ruth Margaret Cadbury (born 14 May 1959) is a British politician and planner who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Brentford and Isleworth since 2015. A member of the Labour Party, she was a Member of Hounslow Council from 1986 to ...

of the Labour Party. Following the completion of 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 ...

, the seat was subjected to boundary changes which moved Whitton from

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

into the constituency, and moved

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district in West London, split between the London Borough of Hounslow, London Boroughs of Hounslow and London Borough of Ealing, Ealing. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist Wi ...

to the newly created constituency of Hammersmith and Chiswick.

Constituency profile

The seat is a mixture of very suburban London and urban district centres with many differing heights and types of homes. It stretches along the north bank of the Thames and then to the west, encompassing the London districts (former villages) of

, most of

Hounslow Hounslow ( ) is a large suburban district of West London, England, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 14 metropolitan cen ...

Isleworth Isleworth ( ) is a suburban town in the London Borough of Hounslow, West London, England. It lies immediately east of Hounslow and west of the River Thames and its tributary the River Crane, London, River Crane. Isleworth's original area of ...

(from Old Isleworth to

Osterley Osterley ( ) is an affluent district of Isleworth in west London, England, from Charing Cross in the London Borough of Hounslow. Most of its land use is mixed agricultural and aesthetic parkland at Osterley House (National Trust), charity-r ...

) and the former market town of

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

. The seat is affluent nearest the Thames and

Osterley Park Osterley Park is a Georgian era, Georgian country estate in west London, which straddles the London boroughs of London Borough of Ealing, Ealing and London Borough of Hounslow, Hounslow. Originally dating from the 1570s, the estate contains a ...

, yet it has a few tall tower blocks and other council housing set back from it in parts of Isleworth and Brentford. Brentford has a wide range and long history of

social housing Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

, which is mostly, by a narrow margin, private housing, following the 1980s

Right to Buy The Right to Buy scheme is a policy in the United Kingdom, with the exception of Scotland since 1 August 2016 and Wales from 26 January 2019, which gives Secure tenancy, secure tenants of Council house, councils and some housing associations the N ...

reform. Locally, 21st century development includes a large proportion of shared ownership and housing authority homes. The seat has seen more unemployment (11.7% in 2017) than London (5.3%) or the UK (4.4%) overall. About three wards make up Hounslow in the west, and two for Brentford in the centre, which, excluding its expensive Quay and North Quarter parts, have an above-average rank in the

Index of Multiple Deprivation Index (: indexes or indices) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Index (''A Certain Magical Index''), a character in the light novel series ''A Certain Magical Index'' * The Index, an item on the Halo Array in the ...

; many of these homes are affordable for workers on lower incomes, and are generally strong for the Labour Party. In the far east of the seat are three

wards that return

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

councillors. Chiswick's large public sector economic component, and relatively young profile for a wealthy area sees a three-way or broader split in its general election votes. The only part of the seat with a London postcode – W4, it abounds with high-income office workers, small-to-mid-size business directors and senior governmental workers. Its parks, gardens, long Thames riverside, proximity to

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

, united Piccadilly and District tube lines and housing stock mean it resembles the neighbouring

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of Royal Parks of London, London's Royal Parks and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I of England, Cha ...

seat socio-economically. The wards of

, Spring Grove and Hounslow South have long alternated between, or generated a split result between, Conservative and Labour councillors, and there is no evidence to suggest they lean more to the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * ''Left'' (Helmet album), 2023 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relativ ...

of their local results at

general elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

. The Liberal Democrats (including their two predecessor parties) took their largest share of the vote here in 2010, but they have lacked local councillors, and the party received less than a quarter of the vote in what was essentially a three-candidate race. The

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

kept its deposits in three of the four contests before 2017. In the election that year it chose not to field a candidate, in order to help Labour defend its 400-vote majority. ;Economy The

Brentford Community Stadium The Brentford Community Stadium, currently known as the Grey Technology (Gtech), Gtech Community Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a Association football, football stadium in Brentford, West London that is the home of Premier League football c ...

, home of

Brentford F.C. Brentford Football Club is a professional association football club based in Brentford, England. The team competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Nicknamed "The Bees", the club was founded in 1889 and played home matc ...

, is within the seat, as is

Fuller's Brewery Fuller's Brewery in Chiswick, west London, England, was the brewing division of Fuller, Smith & Turner PLC, a family-run business from its foundation in 1845 until 2019, when it was sold to the Japanese Asahi Breweries. John Fuller's Griffin Br ...

, and various headquarters of multinational and market-leading domestic companies, including

GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc (an acronym from its former name GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a Mergers an ...

and

BSkyB Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), trading as Sky, is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers ...

. The districts have tube or rail services to the east and west of London (to

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

, Ealing and/or Weybridge), which are major centres of employment. ;Political history (summary) From 1979 until 2015, the seat proved to be a national

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

. The 2015 result gave the seat the 4th most marginal majority of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority. During the seat's existence, the two largest parties nationally have jostled for the winning candidate. In 2015, Labour gained the seat, despite the Conservatives winning a majority nationally, thus ending its streak as a bellwether constituency.

Split of votes in local council elections

In 2010, council seats split evenly (15—15) between the two main parties, reflecting the result of the general election held on the same day, in which the parliamentary seat was narrowly gained by the Conservatives. From 1998 to 2001, three wards at the centre of the constituency returned Independent Community Group councillors, reaching seven seats at their peak. These wards were taken by Labour in 2010. Labour added Hounslow South in 2014, and took one of the three Osterley and Spring Grove seats, leaving them with 19 seats and the Conservatives with 11. In 2018, Labour gained the remaining Conservative seats in Osterley and Spring Grove, which gave Labour 21 seats to the Conservatives on 9.

Boundaries

1974–1983: The

wards of Clifden, Gunnersbury, Homefields, Hounslow Central, Hounslow South, Isleworth North, Isleworth South, Riverside, Spring Grove, and Turnham Green. 1983–1997: The above wards as renamed: Brentford Clifden, Chiswick Homefields, Chiswick Riverside, Gunnersbury, Hounslow Central, Hounslow South, Isleworth North, Isleworth South, Spring Grove, and Turnham Green. 1997–2010: As above plus Hounslow West. 2010–2024: The London Borough of Hounslow wards of Brentford, Chiswick Homefields, Chiswick Riverside, Hounslow Central, Hounslow Heath, Hounslow South, Isleworth, Osterley and Spring Grove, Syon, and Turnham Green. 2024–present: The London Borough of Hounslow wards of Brentford East; Brentford West; Heston East; Hounslow Central; Hounslow East; Hounslow Heath; Hounslow South; Isleworth; Osterley & Spring Grove; Syon & Brentford Lock; and the

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in south-west Greater London, London, England, forms part of Outer London and is the only London boroughs, London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller ...

ward of Whitton. :''The easternmost part of the constituency, comprising the district of

was transferred to the new constituency of Hammersmith and Chiswick. To partly compensate, the Hounslow Borough ward of Heston East and the Richmond upon Thames ward of Whitton came in from

Feltham and Heston Feltham and Heston is a constituency in Greater London created in 1974 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Since 2011, its Member of Parliament (MP) has been Seema Malhotra of the Labour and Co-operative Party, in poli ...

, and

respectively.''

Members of Parliament

The constituency was created in 1974, mostly replacing the former seat of Brentford and Chiswick.

Election results

Elections in the 2020s

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Notes

References

External links

nomis Constituency Profile for Brentford and Isleworth
— presenting data from the ONS annual population survey and other official statistics.

(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'' {{Coord, 51.4802, -0.3236, type:landmark_region:GB-HNS, display=title Parliamentary constituencies in London Politics of the London Borough of Hounslow Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1974 Brentford, London Isleworth