Misplaced Pages

Southampton, Itchen
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundaries since 1997
Boundary of Southampton Itchen in South East England
County	Hampshire
Electorate	72,150 (2023)
Major settlements	Southampton
Current constituency
Created	1950
Member of Parliament	Darren Paffey (Labour)
Seats	One
Created from	Southampton

Southampton, Itchen is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Darren Paffey from the Labour Party (UK). Before then, it had been held since 2015 by Royston Smith GM of the Conservative Party, who had announced his retirement from frontline politics in 2023 and did not seek re-election in 2024.

The constituency is named after the River Itchen, which flows through it and is the lesser of the two major rivers that reach the tidal estuary of Southampton Water at the city.

History

The constituency was created in 1950, when the two-member Southampton constituency was abolished.

Until 1979 it was a safe Labour seat – apart from 1965 to 1971, when Horace King became the first member of the Labour Party to serve as the Speaker of the House of Commons. A Conservative MP, Christopher Chope, was elected in 1983 and 1987 after the sitting MP Bob Mitchell left Labour in 1981 for the SDP. The combination of Mitchell as a strong SDP-Liberal Alliance candidate in both 1983 and 1987, together with Conservative landslides, made Southampton Itchen highly competitive.

Since 1987, campaigns in the seat have resulted in a minimum of 26.8% of votes at each election consistently for the same two parties' choice for candidate, and the next highest-placed share having fluctuated between 3% and 23% of the vote. In those recent elections, save for 2015 when UKIP surged nationally, the third-placed candidate has been a Liberal Democrat, whose candidate lost their deposit in the result perhaps uniquely for an English university city seat in 2017, but which takes in far fewer of the university areas than Southampton Test. The seat attracted nine candidates in 1997; three in 1992. Oldest elections in the seat were sometimes a two-candidate contest, as in comparator mid-twentieth century English elections.

Labour candidate John Denham, defeated Chope by 551 votes in 1992 and held the seat with low-to-average majorities until 2010 when he won by 192 votes. From 2010 to 2017, the three general election results in the seat presented themselves as two-party ultra-marginal (finely-balanced) contests.

Royston Smith GM gained the seat as a Conservative Party candidate in 2015. He had led his party's group on the city council and first contested the seat in 2010. He retained the seat in the 2017 general election with a majority of 31 votes, and subsequently at the 2019 general election with a majority of over 4,000 votes. Following Smith's retirement for the 2024 election, the seat was retaken for Labour by Darren Paffey on a swing of 12.8%, resulting in a majority of over 6,000.

Boundaries

Historic

1950–1955: The County Borough of Southampton wards of Bevois, Bitterne and Peartree, Bitterne and Sholing, Newtown, Northam, Portswood, St Denys, St Mary's, Trinity, and Woolston.

1955–1983: The County Borough of Southampton wards of Bitterne, Harefield, Peartree and Bitterne Manor, St Denys and Bitterne Park, St Luke's, St Mary's, Sholing, Swaythling, and Woolston.

1983–1997: The City of Southampton wards of Bargate, Bitterne, Bitterne Park, Harefield, Peartree, St Luke's, and Sholing.

1997–2023: The City of Southampton wards of Bargate, Bitterne, Bitterne Park, Harefield, Peartree, Sholing, and Woolston.

Current

Following a review of local authority ward boundaries, which became effective in May 2023, the constituency now comprises the following:

• The City of Southampton wards of Bargate, Bitterne Park, Harefield, Peartree, Sholing, Thornhill, and Woolston; and two polling districts from the Banister & Polygon ward.

The 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which was based on the ward structure in place at 1 December 2020, left the boundaries unchanged.

The constituency is bounded to the west by Southampton Test (Labour), to the north by Romsey and Southampton North (Conservative), to the north east by Eastleigh (Lib Dem) and to the south east by Hamble Valley (Conservative).

Constituency profile

The seat covers the eastern part of the City of Southampton, in southern England, specifically the city centre, the eastern port areas (the Port of Southampton is one of the principal ports of the UK), the exclusive Ocean Village quarter, the inner city council estates and the economically deprived Thornhill estate on its eastern boundary. It is seen as the more working class of the two constituencies in the city. The other is Southampton Test – named after the River Test.

Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 close to but slightly below than the national average of 3.8%, at 3.5% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian, above the average for the South East seats of 2.5% but below, for example, five seats in East Kent.

Members of Parliament

Southampton prior to 1950

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Southampton Itchen

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Darren Paffey	15,782	41.5	+0.5
	Conservative	Sidney Yankson	9,677	25.4	–25.1
	Reform UK	Alex Culley	6,853	18.0	N/A
	Green	Neil McKinnon Lyon Kelly	2,793	7.3	+5.1
	Liberal Democrats	James Edward Batho	2,684	7.1	+1.8
	TUSC	Declan Peter Clune	264	0.7	N/A
Majority			6,105	16.1	N/A
Turnout			38,053	55.7	–10.0
Registered electors			68,379
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	12.8

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Electorate: 76,603

Elections in the 1990s

Electorate: 76,869

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Hampshire
• List of parliamentary constituencies in the South East England (region)

Notes

1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)

References

1. "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition – South East". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
2. "Royston Smith: MP for Southampton Itchen set to step down". Daily Echo. 9 June 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
3. Representation of the People Act 1948, Sch 1
4. Craig, F.W.S., ed. (1972). Boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 1985-1972. Chichester, Sussex: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 0-900178-09-4.
5. LGBCE. "Southampton | LGBCE". www.lgbce.org.uk. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
6. "The Southampton (Electoral Changes) Order 2023".
7. "New Seat Details - Southampton Itchen". www.electoralcalculus.co.uk. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
8. "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 1 Part 6 South East region.
9. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
10. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "I"
11. "Statement of persons nominated, notice of poll and situation of polling stations" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 June 2024.
12. "Southampton Itchen - General election results 2024". BBC News.
13. "Southampton Itchen Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
14. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
15. Archived 15 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine
16. "BBC NEWS – Election 2015 – Southampton Itchen". BBC News.
17. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
18. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
19. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
20. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
21. "Politics Resources". Election 1997. Politics Resources. 1 May 1997. Archived from the original on 14 June 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
22. C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, p.150 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995)
23. The 1997 election result is calculated relative to the notional, not the actual, 1992 result.
24. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
25. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
26. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
27. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
28. The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1966.
29. The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1964.
30. The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1955.
31. The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1951.
32. The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1950.

External links

• Southampton, Itchen UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK
• Southampton, Itchen UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
• Southampton Itchen UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK

v t e Areas and suburbs of Southampton
City of Southampton electoral wards (and their neighbourhoods) listed by constituency — sources: 1 2
Southampton Itchen	Bargate Ward City Centre Holyrood estate Ocean Village The Polygon St Mary's Bitterne Ward Bitterne Thornhill Bitterne Park Ward Bitterne Park Bitterne Manor Midanbury Townhill Park Harefield Ward Harefield Peartree Ward Peartree Green Sholing Ward Sholing Woolston Ward Itchen Ferry village Woolston Weston
Southampton Test	Bevois Ward Bevois Valley Inner Avenue Nicholstown Northam Coxford Ward Lordshill Lordswood Freemantle Ward Freemantle Millbrook Ward Millbrook Regents Park Portswood Ward Portswood Highfield St Denys Redbridge Ward Redbridge Maybush Shirley Ward Shirley Southampton Common
Romsey and Southampton North	Bassett Ward Bassett Bassett Green Swaythling Ward Swaythling Mansbridge
Map City CentreBassettBassett GreenBevois ValleyBitterneBitterne ParkBitterne ManorFreemantleHarefieldHighfieldLordshillLordswoodMansbridgeMaybushMidanburyMillbrookNicholstownNorthamOcean VillagePeartree GreenPolygonPortswoodRedbridgeRegents ParkShirleySt DenysSt Mary'sSholingSwaythlingThornhillTownhill ParkWoolstonWestonclass=notpageimage| Suburbs of Southampton within the city boundary
Areas of Greater Southampton outside the City boundary include: Allbrook Ashurst Bishopstoke Botley Bursledon Chandler's Ford Chartwell Green Chilworth Fair Oak Hamble-le-Rice Hedge End Horton Heath Hound Netley Netley Marsh Nursling Rownhams Eastleigh Totton West End

50°55′N 1°21′W / 50.917°N 1.350°W / 50.917; -1.350

• Parliamentary constituencies in Hampshire
• Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1950
• Politics of Southampton