Epping Forest (UK Parliament constituency)

Epping Forest is a parliamentary 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.

Boundaries

The constituency of Epping Forest comprises Loughton, Epping, Waltham Abbey, Chigwell, Buckhurst Hill, Theydon Bois, North Weald, the surrounding villages and the ancient Forest itself.

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Essex, the Boundary Commission for England has created a modified Epping Forest constituency with the following electoral wards:

• Broadley Common, Epping Upland and Nazeing, Buckhurst Hill East, Buckhurst Hill West, Chigwell Row, Chigwell Village, Epping Hemnall, Epping Lindsey and Thornwood Common, Grange Hill, Loughton Alderton, Loughton Broadway, Loughton Fairmead, Loughton Forest, Loughton Roding, Loughton St John’s, Loughton St Mary’s, Theydon Bois, Waltham Abbey High Beach, Waltham Abbey Honey Lane, Waltham Abbey North East, Waltham Abbey Paternoster, and Waltham Abbey South West.

Other wards of Epping Forest have been used in the creation of a modified Harlow seat.

Historic wards

Redrawn boundaries of the Eppring Forest constituency to be in use after 2005

In the boundaries in place from the February 1974 general election to the 1983 general election the constituency officially was made up of:

• Urban Districts:
  • Chigwell Urban District: Loughton, Chigwell, Buckhurst Hill
  • Epping Urban District: Epping
  • Waltham Holy Cross Urban District: Waltham Abbey
• Rural Districts: Part of Epping and Ongar Rural District
  • Civil Parishes of Epping Upland, Lambourne, Stapleford Abbots, Stapleford Tawney, Theydon Bois, Theydon Garnon, Theydon Mount

Political geography

When Epping Forest was first created, it was instinctively more pro-Conservative than the old Epping seat, as it lost the new town of Harlow (inside the old Epping Rural District) and gained the less pro-Labour Chigwell Urban District. During the Thatcher period the Labour Party's vote was crushed. Even though the Liberals managed to move into second place, their vote did little more than follow national trends and as soon as 1987 they lost votes far faster than would be expected when looking at national results.

Labour almost took the seat in 1997, but since then, Epping Forest has swung far quicker to the right than the country as a whole, and the majority the Conservatives got in 2005 would resemble a Tory national victory in the early 1990s, even though Labour won with a 66-seat majority in 2005.

Two former candidates in the Epping Forest constituency have also stood for election as Mayor of London: Steve Norris (Conservative; MP 1988-97) and Julian Leppert (British National Party).

Members of Parliament

The constituency was created in 1974 from the seats of Epping & Chigwell; the former had been represented by Winston Churchill throughout his tenure as Prime Minister during the Second World War. The present MP is the Conservative Eleanor Laing.

Election		Member	Party
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	Feb 1974	Sir John Biggs-Davison	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1988 by-election	Steve Norris	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1997	Eleanor Laing	Conservative

Election results

Elections in the 2000s

Confirmed candidates for the next UK general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Ann Haigh
	Conservative	Eleanor Laing
	UKIP	Andrew Smith
	Labour	Bill Turner
	English Democrat	Robin Tilbrook

General Election 2005: Epping Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Eleanor Laing	23,783	53.0	+3.9
	Labour	Bambos Charalambous	9,425	21.0	−8.3
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Heavens	8,279	18.5	−0.1
	BNP	Julian Leppert	1,728	3.9	N/A
	UKIP	Andrew Smith	1,014	2.2	−0.7
	English Democrat	Robin Tilbrook	631	1.4	N/A
Majority			14,358	32.0
Turnout			44,860	61.6	+3.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	+6.1

General Election 2001: Epping Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Eleanor Laing	20,833	49.1	+3.6
	Labour	Christopher Naylor	12,407	29.3	−6.3
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Heavens	7,884	18.6	+5.2
	UKIP	Andrew Smith	1,290	3.0	N/A
Majority			8,426	19.8
Turnout			42,414	58.4	−14.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	+5.0

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Epping Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Eleanor Laing	24,117	45.5	−14.0
	Labour	Stephen Murray	18,865	35.6	+12.6
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Robinson	7,074	13.3	−3.7
Majority			5,252	9.9
Turnout			53,007	72.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	-13.3

General Election 1992: Epping Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Steve Norris	32,407	59.5	−1.4
	Labour	Stephen Murray	12,219	22.4	+4.0
	Liberal Democrats	Beryl Austen	9,265	17.0	−2.4
	Epping Forest Residents Association	A O'Brien	552	1.0	N/A
Majority			20,188	37.1
Turnout			54,443
	Conservative hold		Swing	-2.7

Elections in the 1980s

Epping Forest by-election, 1988

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Steven Norris	13,183	39.5	−21.5
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Thompson	8,679	26.0	+6.6
	Labour	Stephen Murray	6,261	18.7	+0.4
	SDP	Michael Pettman	4,077	12.2	−7.2
	Green	Andrew Simms	672	2.0
	Independent National Front	Tina Wingfield	286	0.6
	Monster Raving Loony	David Sutch	208	0.6
	Rainbow Alliance - Change the World	Jackie Moore	33	0.1
	Vote no Belsen for South Africans	Brian Goodier	16	0.0
Majority			4,504	13.5
Turnout			33,415	49.1	−27.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1987: Epping Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Biggs-Davison	31,536	60.9	+4.4
	Liberal	A Humphris	10,023	19.4	−5.4
	Labour	S Murray	9,499	18.4	+1.3
	Green	R Denhard	695	1.3	N/A
Majority			21,513	41.6
Turnout			51,753	76.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	+4.9

General Election 1983: Epping Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Biggs-Davison	27,373	56.5	−1.2
	Liberal	M Pettman	11,995	24.8	+12.0
	Labour	HJ Bryan	8,289	17.1	−10.3
	Ecology	R Boenke	452	0.9	N/A
	BNP	S Smith	330	0.7	N/A
Majority			15,378	31.8
Turnout			48,439	72.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	-6.6

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Epping Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Biggs-Davison	29,447	57.7	+10.0
	Labour	W D Shepherd	13,994	27.4	−5.9
	Liberal	D Kitching	6,528	12.8	−6.3
	National Front	B Wilkins	1,110	2.2	N/A
Majority			15,453	30.3
Turnout			51,079	76.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	+8.0

General Election 1974 October: Epping Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Biggs-Davison	22,392	47.7	+0.9
	Labour	S J Palfreman	15,618	33.3	+2.2
	Liberal	D F J Wood	8,952	19.1	−3.0
Majority			6,774	14.4
Turnout			46,962	73.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.7

General Election 1974 February: Epping Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Biggs-Davison	24,290	46.8	−7.5
	Labour	W J Sheaff	16,123	31.1	−14.7
	Liberal	D F Wood	11,478	22.1	+22.1
Majority			8,167	15.7
Turnout			51,891	81.8	+8.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.6

Notional results (before 1974)

Notional General Election 1970: Epping Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Biggs-Davison	35,010	54.3	+9.2
	Labour		29,506	45.7	+4.3
Majority			5,504	8.5
Turnout			64,516	73.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.5

Notional General Election 1966: Epping Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative		21,834	44.1
	Labour		20,504	41.4
	Liberal		7,202	14.5
Majority			1,330	2.7
Turnout				82.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Essex