Clacton 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 ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

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 ...

since

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage ( ; born 3 April 1964) is a British politician and broadcaster who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Clacton (UK Parliament constituency), Clacton and Leader of Reform UK since 20 ...

of the

Reform UK Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Nigel Farage has been Leader of Reform UK and Richard Tice deputy leader since 2024. It has five members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons and one membe ...

party. It is centred on the seaside town of Clacton, hence its name.

Constituency profile

Clacton is almost completely coastal, comprising

seaside resort A seaside resort is a city, resort town, town, village, or hotel that serves as a Resort, vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of an official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requi ...

s along the Tendring peninsula, including

Clacton-on-Sea Clacton-on-Sea, often simply called Clacton, is a seaside town and seaside resort, resort in the county of Essex, on the east coast of England. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District, wi ...

Frinton-on-Sea Frinton-on-Sea is a seaside town and (as just Frinton) a former civil parish, now in the parish of Frinton and Walton, in the Tendring district of Essex, England. In 2018 it had an estimated population of 4,837. History The place-name 'Fri ...

and Walton-on-the-Naze. It shares an inland boundary with just one constituency – Harwich and North Essex. Similar to other coastal seats, such as

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

in Dorset, Clacton's electorate comprises among the oldest in the country with a high proportion of

retirees A pensioner is a person who receives a pension, most commonly because of retirement from the workforce. This is a term typically used in the United Kingdom (along with OAP, initialism of old-age pensioner), Ireland and Australia where someone of p ...

and not many non-white residents. The area has experienced a considerable influx of

White British White British is an ethnicity classification used for the White population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population was 49 ...

families from multicultural areas of

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

such as Barking and

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Fo ...

, leading to the town of Clacton becoming known as "Little Dagenham". The

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

of Jaywick was, in both the indices of deprivation 2010 and 2015, identified as the single most deprived LSOA in England, out of around 32,000, with unemployment estimated at almost 50%. Many homes are essentially

beach hut A beach hut (also known as a beach cabin, beach box or bathing box) is a small, usually wooden and often brightly coloured, box above the high tide mark on popular bathing beaches. They are generally used as a shelter from the sun or wind, c ...

s and lack basic amenities. In 2018, Jaywick was visited by the

United Nations special rapporteur Special rapporteur (or independent expert) is the title given to independent human rights experts whose expertise is called upon by the United Nations (UN) to report or advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective. De ...

for Poverty, Professor Philip Alston, as part of his examination into the causes of

extreme poverty Extreme poverty is the most severe type of poverty, defined by the United Nations (UN) as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, ...

. Jaywick was named the most deprived place in the UK for the third consecutive year in 2019.

Electoral Calculus Electoral Calculus is a political consultancy and pollster, known for its political forecasting website that attempts to predict future United Kingdom general election results. It uses MRP (Multi-level Regression and Post-stratification) to c ...

categorises the seat as being part of the "Strong Right" demographic, those who have fiscally conservative views on the economy but are also fairly nationalist and socially conservative, alongside strong support for

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

. Clacton is also, in general, highly deprived, in terms of employment, income and education, when measured comparatively with the rest of the UK, with 64% of the constituency being impoverished, according to the site. In addition to this, the latest government labour data has also revealed that economic inactivity in Clacton is at 46.8% – more than twice the 21.7% UK average.

History

Anciently under the jurisdiction of the

Bishop of Rochester The Bishop of Rochester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury. The town of Rochester, Kent, Rochester has the bishop's seat, at the Rochester Cathedral, Cathedral Chur ...

and part of the

Petre Petre is a surname and given name derived from Peter. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Petre * Charles Petre Eyre (1817–1902), English Roman Catholic prelate * Ion Petre Stoican (circa 1930–1990), Romanian vi ...

estates, the

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...

of Clacton was established for the 2010 general election following a

review A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a content rating, ...

of parliamentary representation of

by the

Boundary Commission for England In the United Kingdom, the boundary commissions are non-departmental public bodies responsible for determining the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies for elections to the House of Commons. There are four boundary commissions: one each f ...

. It was formed out of the abolished Harwich constituency, excluding the town of

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...

itself and surrounding areas. The constituency's Member of Parliament until 3 May 2017, was Douglas Carswell, who had previously sat for the

constituency since gaining that seat for the

Conservatives 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 civilizati ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

. On 28 August 2014, Carswell announced his defection to

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...

. Although not required to seek re-election following a change of party allegiance, Carswell triggered a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

, held on 9 October 2014, in which he stood as the UKIP candidate and was elected as the party's first MP. The then UKIP leader

declared that the result in Clacton had "shaken up British politics". Carswell retained the seat for UKIP at the 2015 general election, seeing his majority cut by roughly three-quarters, with an 11% swing to the Conservatives. Carswell then became UKIP's sole MP in the

, as Mark Reckless, a fellow Conservative defector, lost his seat. On 25 March 2017, Carswell announced on his

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

that he was quitting UKIP to sit as an independent MP, saying that "I switched to UKIP because I desperately wanted us to leave the EU. Now we can be certain that that is going to happen, I have decided that I will be leaving UKIP". After

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...

called a

snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a ma ...

on 19 April 2017, Carswell announced that he would not stand for re-election and endorsed the Conservative Party candidate

Giles Watling Giles Francis Watling (born 18 February 1953) is a British Conservative politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Clacton from 2017 until 2024. He was an actor prior to entering politics. Early life and education Giles Watli ...

. Watling was elected at the 2017 general election; at that election, UKIP's share of the vote fell by 36.8%, one of its largest declines in the country, and the subsequent Conservative victory in Clacton marked the first time every constituency in

had returned a Conservative MP since

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

. In

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, Giles Watling, won re-election on the back of a majority of 24,702, increasing his vote share by 11.1% from 2017. Ahead of the 2024 general election, it was announced that

, who had taken over as leader of

mid-campaign, would contest the Clacton constituency. A

YouGov YouGov plc is a international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm headquartered in the UK with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. History 2000–2010 Stephan Shakespeare and Nadhim ...

poll published on 19 June 2024 (using the MRP technique) predicted that Farage would defeat Watling. Farage won the seat with 46.2% of the vote. The swing from the Conservative Party to the Reform Party of 45.1% is the largest swing for any seat at a UK general election. For more detail see Clacton in the 2024 United Kingdom general election.

Boundaries

2010–2024

The District of Tendring

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

s of Alton Park, Beaumont and Thorpe, Bockings Elm, Burrsville, Frinton, Golf Green, Hamford, Haven, Holland and Kirby, Homelands, Little Clacton and Weeley, Pier, Rush Green, St Bartholomews, St James, St Johns, St Marys,

St Osyth St Osyth is an English village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Tendring District of north-east Essex, about west of Clacton-on-Sea and southeast of Colchester. It lies on the B1027, Colchester–Clacton road. The village is ...

and Point Clear, St Pauls and Walton. The new seat consisted essentially of the former Harwich constituency, minus the town of

itself and a few nearby villages, plus

and

Weeley Weeley is a village and civil parish in Tendring District, Tendring, east Essex, England. The population of the parish at the 2011 Census was 1,768. It is served by Weeley railway station on the Sunshine Coast Line. It has bus links to Clacton-on ...

, transferred from the abolished North Essex constituency.

Current

Following the

2023 periodic review of Westminster constituencies The 2023 review of Westminster constituencies was the most recent cycle of the process to redraw the Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, constituency map for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The new constituency b ...

, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the composition of the constituency is as follows (as they existed on 1 December 2020): * The District of Tendring wards of: Bluehouse; Burrsville; Cann Hall; Coppins; Eastcliff; Frinton; Homelands; Kirby Cross; Kirby-le-Soken & Hamford; Little Clacton; Pier; St. Bartholomew's; St. James; St. John's;

; St. Paul's; The Bentleys & Frating; The Oakleys & Wix; Thorpe, Beaumont & Great Holland; Walton; Weeley & Tendring; West Clacton & Jaywick Sands. ''The revised contents are expanded slightly by the addition of some inland rural areas and villages, transferred from Harwich and North Essex.''

Members of Parliament

prior to 2010''

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

Elections in the 2010s

Notes

References

External links

nomis Constituency Profile for Clacton
– presenting data from the ONS annual population survey and other official statistics.

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

(boundaries from June 2024) at ''MapIt UK'' {{Coord, 51.83, 1.15, type:adm2nd_dim:20000_region:GB-ESS, display=title Clacton-on-Sea Parliamentary constituencies in Essex Tendring Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 2010 Nigel Farage