Mitcham and Morden (UK Parliament constituency)

Mitcham and Morden
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Mitcham and Morden in Greater London
County	Greater London
Electorate	67,074 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1974 (1974)
Member of Parliament	Siobhain McDonagh (Labour)
Seats	One
Created from	Mitcham Merton & Morden

Mitcham and Morden is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election.

History

The constituency was created in 1974 from the former seats of Mitcham and Merton & Morden. Between 1974 and 1982 it was represented by Bruce Douglas-Mann who was elected as a Labour MP but defected in 1982 to the Social Democratic Party (SDP). On defecting he resigned his seat and sought re-election as an SDP MP, he was the only defector to have resigned his seat. In the subsequent By-Election held in May 1982 at the time of the Falklands War, the seat elected Angela Rumbold of the Conservative Party, this was the last time that any seat has been gained by a governing party in the UK. It was also the last time the Conservative Party would gain a seat at a by-election until 22 May 2008 when Edward Timpson took Crewe and Nantwich.

At the 1997 General Election the seat was won by Labour and Siobhain McDonagh was elected as Member of Parliament. At the 2001 General Election and the 2010 General Election, she was re-elected and her majority is 13,666 (31.2%).

Boundaries

Based within the London Borough of Merton, the constituency consists of the wards of Colliers Wood, Cricket Green, Figges Marsh, Graveney, Lavender Fields, Lower Morden, Longthornton, Pollards Hill, Ravensbury and St Helier.

The Boundary Commission recommondations, implemented at the 2010 election, were relatively minor with about 750 electors moving from Mitcham and Morden to Wimbledon and about 500 electors moving from Wimbledon to Mitcham and Morden. This has been caused by wards being aligned with constituency boundaries following the implementation of new ward boundaries for the London Borough of Merton at the 2002 Local Elections.

Proposed changes

As part of the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which commenced in 2011, the Boundary Commission for England proposes to divide the Mitcham and Morden seat. A new seat called 'Mitcham' would cover Mitcham, the Streatham South electoral ward, Colliers Wood, Ravensbury and South Wimbledon.

A redrawn version of 'Sutton and Cheam' would cover Sutton, Lower Morden, St Helier and Cheam.

Constituency profile

The seat is broadly suburban, with terraced houses and low-rise estates in Tooting and Streatham at the Northern end of the seat. In the south-west of the constituency is most affluent part - Lower Morden.

In the middle, the former coaching stop of Mitcham with its ancient cricket green retains some village-like characteristics and has poor transport connections with the rest of London. In the 20th century, Mitcham became surrounded by modern council estates and light industry.

Recent years have seen growth in the ethnic minority population and it now makes up approximately one third of the population.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Feb 1974	Bruce Douglas-Mann	Labour, then Independent SDP
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1982 by-election	Angela Rumbold	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1997	Siobhain McDonagh	Labour

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Mitcham and Morden

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Siobhain McDonagh	24,722	56.5	−0.3
	Conservative	Melanie Hampton	11,056	25.2	+0.6
	Liberal Democrats	Diana Coman	5,202	11.9	−2.1
	BNP	Tony Martin	1,386	3.2	N/A
	UKIP	Andrew Mills	857	2.0	N/A
	Green	Smarajit Roy	381	0.9	−2.6
	Independent	Rathy Alagaratnam	155	0.4	−0.1
	Independent	Ernest Redgrave	38	0.1	N/A
Majority			13,666	31.2	−0.9
Turnout			43,798	67.0	+6.2
	Labour hold		Swing	−0.4

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Mitcham and Morden

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Siobhain McDonagh	22,489	56.4	−4.0
	Conservative	Andrew Shellhorn	9,929	24.9	+0.8
	Liberal Democrats	Jo Christie-Smith	5,583	14.0	+3.9
	Green	Tom Walsh	1,395	3.5	+1.1
	Veritas	Adrian Roberts	286	0.7	N/A
	Independent	Rathy Alagaratnam	186	0.5	N/A
Majority			12,560	31.5
Turnout			39,868	61.2	+3.4
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.4

General Election 2001: Mitcham and Morden

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Siobhain McDonagh	22,936	60.4	+2.1
	Conservative	Harry Stokes	9,151	24.1	−5.6
	Liberal Democrats	Nick Harris	3,820	10.1	+2.5
	Green	Tom Walsh	926	2.4	+1.6
	BNP	John Tyndall	642	1.7	+0.6
	UKIP	Adrian Roberts	486	1.3	+1.0
Majority			13,785	36.3	+7.6
Turnout			37,961	57.8	−15.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Mitcham and Morden

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Siobhain McDonagh	27,984	58.4	+11.9
	Conservative	Angela Rumbold	14,243	29.7	−11.4
	Liberal Democrats	N Harris	3,632	7.6	−1.6
	Referendum	P Isaacs	810	1.7	N/A
	BNP	Linda Miller	521	1.1	N/A
	Green	T Walsh	415	0.9	−0.4
	Independent	K Vaikuntha Vasan	144	0.3	N/A
	UKIP	J Barrett	117	0.2	N/A
	Independent	N Dixon	80	0.2	N/A
Majority			13,741	28.7	+25.3
Turnout			47,946	73.3	−7.0
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+15.6

General Election 1992: Mitcham and Morden

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Angela Rumbold	23,789	46.5	−1.7
	Labour	Siobhain McDonagh	22,055	43.1	+7.9
	Liberal Democrats	JC Field	4,687	9.2	−7.5
	Green	TJ Walsh	655	1.3	N/A
Majority			1,734	3.4	−9.6
Turnout			51,186	80.3	+4.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	-4.8

Elections in the 1980s

Merton, Mitcham and Morden by-election, 1982

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Angela Rumbold	13,306	43.4	−0.5
	SDP	Bruce Douglas-Mann	9,032	29.4	N/A
	Labour	David Nicholas	7,475	24.4	−20.8
	National Front	Joseph Pearce	547	1.8	−0.2
	Independent Liberal	Edward Larkin	123	0.4	N/A
	Ethnic Minority Candidate	Roy Sawh	84	0.3	N/A
	Democratic Monarchist	Bill Boaks	66	0.2	N/A
	COPS	Jitendra Bardwaj	22	0.1	N/A
	Computer Democrat	Christopher Farnsworth	18	0.0	N/A
Majority			4,274	14.0
Turnout				48.5
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+10.2

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London