Sutton and Cheam 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
Greater London
Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...
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 ...
by
Luke Taylor, a
Liberal Democrat
Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...
.
Political history
The area's voters produced a 32.6%
swing to the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world.
The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...
in the
1972 by-election. In the nine prior elections it only returned
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 ...
MPs and the Liberal candidate polled third behind
Labour six times and none stood three times.
The seat is a
marginal seat
A marginal seat or swing seat is a constituency held with a small majority in a legislative election, generally one conducted under a single-winner voting system. In Canada, they may be known as target ridings. The opposite is a safe seat. T ...
which has since 1970 frequently flipped between electing Conservative and Liberal/
Liberal Democrat
Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...
candidates. During the
Conservative Government 1979–1990, the seat was won by a sufficient majority to be branded a Conservative
safe seat
A safe seat is an electoral district which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both. With such seats, there is very little chance of a seat changing h ...
. It was regained by the Liberal Democrats in the
1997 general election and subsequently held in the
2001
The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
,
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 ...
and
2010
The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
general elections. In the
2015 general election the seat was regained by the Conservatives. In June 2016, an estimated
51.28% of local adults voting in the EU membership referendum chose to leave the European Union instead of to remain.
This was matched in two January 2018 votes in Parliament by its MP.
At the
2017 general election, the incumbent Conservative MP,
Paul Scully
Paul Stuart Scully (born 29 April 1968) is a former British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sutton and Cheam from 2015 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as Minister for London from February 20 ...
, gained an 8.3% swing which moved the seat away from the typical "marginal" band of analysis: Scully won by a 24.4% majority. Due to the
secret ballot
The secret ballot, also known as the Australian ballot, is a voting method in which a voter's identity in an election or a referendum is anonymous. This forestalls attempts to influence the voter by intimidation, blackmailing, and potential vote ...
only opinion polls can determine if this rise in popularity had more to do with the campaign of the Liberal Democrat candidate and/or the Conservatives picking up votes from the non-standing party
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 ...
, whose withdrawal was common in 2017 nationwide, following the
vote to leave the EU. UKIP had 378 candidates across the UK, 346 fewer than in 2015. Also not standing, and having lost their deposits in 2015, were two
left-wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...
minor candidates. An 11.6% extra vote share was on hand for four parties as the candidate list fell from seven to four.
The seat had ranked from 2015 to 2017 the 39th-slimmest margin of majority, specifically in share of the vote as opposed to number of votes, among the 331 Conservative seats. Labour achieved their highest in Sutton and Cheam since 1970 but still finished third; a swing of several percentage points would have been required to make Labour the closest challengers to the Conservatives. The Conservatives finished in fourth place in the
European Election 2019, trailing significantly behind the Liberal Democrats, the
Brexit Party
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 ...
, and the Labour Party.
Prominent members
Richard Sharples, the constituency's Conservative MP
from 1954, was a former major in the army, and served as a
Home Office
The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...
Minister, before resigning his seat in 1972 to become
Governor of Bermuda
The governor of Bermuda (officially Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Somers Isles (alias the Islands of Bermuda)) is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Bermuda.
For the purposes of this arti ...
.
Boundaries
Historic

1945–1950: The
Municipal Borough of Sutton and Cheam.
1950–1964: ''as above'' (from 1965 becoming wards of the
London Borough of Sutton
The London Borough of Sutton () is an Outer London London boroughs, borough in south London, England. It covers an area of and is the 80th largest local authority in England by population. It borders the London Borough of Croydon to the east, ...
but not described as such in boundary legislation itself for a time).
1964–1978: The London Borough of Sutton wards of Belmont, Cheam North, Cheam South, Cheam West, Sutton Central, Sutton East, Sutton North, Sutton North East, Sutton South, Sutton South East, Worcester Park North, and Worcester Park South.
1978–2002: The London Borough of Sutton wards of Belmont, Cheam South, Cheam West, North Cheam, Rosehill, Sutton Central, Sutton Common, Sutton East, Sutton South, Sutton West, Worcester Park North, and Worcester Park South.
2002–2024: The London Borough of Sutton wards of Belmont, Cheam, Nonsuch, Stonecot, Sutton Central, Sutton North, Sutton South, Sutton West, and Worcester Park.
Current
Further to 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
This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world.
* 2024 United Nations Security Council election
* 2024 national electoral calendar
* 2024 local electo ...
, the boundaries of the constituency are virtually unchanged. However, following a review of local authority ward boundaries which came into effect on 4 May 2022, the composition of the seat is now composed of the following London Borough of Sutton wards:
* Belmont, Cheam, North Cheam, Stonecot, Sutton Central, Sutton North, Sutton South, Sutton West & East Cheam, Worcester Park North, and Worcester Park South.
Constituency profile
The area maintains separate schooling systems, with
grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...
s and comprehensive schools, similar to
Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...
; it has more semi-detached, terraced and detached properties than the
Greater London
Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...
average.
Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.1% of the population based on a statistical compilation by ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
''.
Unemployment claimants by constituency
''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
''
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 1960s
Elections in the 1950s
Elections in the 1940s
See also
* List of parliamentary constituencies in London
The Regions of England, region of Greater London, including the City of London, is divided into 75 United Kingdom constituencies, parliamentary constituencies all of which are sub-classified as borough constituencies, affecting the type of electo ...
Notes
References
External links
Politics Resources
(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, 51.362, -0.209, type:city_region:GB-STN, display=title
Politics of the London Borough of Sutton
Parliamentary constituencies in London
Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1945
Sutton, London