List of parliamentary constituencies in Essex

The

Conservative MPs by more than 50% of the vote at the 2019 United Kingdom general election

Constituencies

Constituency^{[nb 1]}	Electorate^[1]	Majority^[2]^{[nb 2]}	Majority (percentage)
Basildon and Billericay BC	69,906	20,412	46.3%	John Baron †	Andrew Gorgon ‡
Braintree CC	75,208	24,673	49.1%	James Cleverly †	Joshua Garfield ‡
Brentwood and Ongar CC	75,255	29,065	54.9%	Alex Burghart †	Oliver Durose ‡
Castle Point BC	69,608	26,634	60.1%	Rebecca Harris †	Katie Curtis ‡
Chelmsford BC	80,394	17,621	30.8%	Vicky Ford †	Marie Goldman ¤
Clacton CC	70,930	24,702	56.8%	Giles Watling †	Kevin Bonavia‡
Colchester BC	82,625	9,423	17.6%	Will Quince †	Tina McKay ‡
Epping Forest CC	74,304	22,173	44.1%	Eleanor Laing †	Vicky Ashworth Te Velde ‡
Harlow CC	68,078	14,063	32.5%	Robert Halfon †	Laura McAlpine ‡
Harwich and North Essex CC	74,153	20,182	38.9%	Bernard Jenkin †	Stephen Rice ‡
Maldon CC	72,438	30,041	59.6%	John Whittingdale †	Stephen Capper ‡
Rayleigh and Wickford CC	78,930	31,000	56.5%	Mark Francois †	David Flack ‡
Rochford and Southend East CC	75,624	12,286	26.7%	James Duddridge †	Ashley Dalton ‡
Saffron Walden CC	87,017	27,594	43.8%	Kemi Badenoch †	Mike Hibbs ¤
South Basildon and East Thurrock CC	74,441	19,922	44.0%	Stephen Metcalfe †	Jack Ferguson ‡
Southend West BC	69,043	12,280	82.7%	Anna Firth †	Jason Pilley
Thurrock BC	79,659	11,482	24.4%	Jackie Doyle-Price †	John Kent ‡
Witham CC	70,402	24,082	48.8%	Priti Patel †	Martin Edobor ‡

2010 boundary changes

Under the

Boundary Commission for England increased Essex's representation from 17 to 18 MPs, with the creation of the constituency of Witham

. This had a significant impact on the boundaries of the majority of the existing constituencies and also resulted in several name changes.

Former name	Boundaries 1997-2010	Current name	Boundaries 2010–present
Basildon BC Billericay CC Braintree CC Brentwood and Ongar CC Castle Point BC Colchester BC Epping Forest CC Harlow CC Harwich CC Maldon and East Chelmsford CC North Essex CC Rayleigh CC Rochford and Southend East CC Saffron Walden CC Southend West BC Thurrock BC West Chelmsford CC		Basildon and Billericay BC Braintree CC Brentwood and Ongar CC Castle Point BC Chelmsford BC Clacton CC Colchester BC Epping Forest CC Harlow CC Harwich and North Essex CC Maldon CC Rayleigh and Wickford CC Rochford and Southend East CC Saffron Walden CC South Basildon and East Thurrock CC Southend West BC Thurrock BC Witham CC

Proposed boundary changes

See 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies for further details.

Following the abandonment of the

Boundary Commission for England formally launched the 2023 Review on 5 January 2021.^[3]

Initial proposals were published on 8 June 2021 and, following two periods of public consultation, revised proposals were published on 8 November 2022. The final proposals were published on 28 June 2023.

The commission has proposed retaining the current number of constituencies in Essex, as detailed below, with minor boundary changes to reflect changes to electoral wards within the county and to bring the electorates within the statutory range. It is proposed that Southend West be renamed Southend West and Leigh, and Rochford and Southend East renamed Southend East and Rochford to acknowledge that Southend-on-Sea had achieved city status during the course of the review.^[4] In addition, Saffron Walden will be abolished and replaced with North West Essex.

The proposed constituencies are a follows: ^[5]^[6]

Containing electoral wards from Basildon

Containing electoral wards from Braintree

Braintree (part)
Witham (part)

Containing electoral wards from Brentwood

Brentwood and Ongar (part)

Containing electoral wards from Castle Point

Castle Point (part)

Containing electoral wards from Chelmsford

Containing electoral wards from

Colchester

Colchester
Harwich and North Essex (part)
Witham (part)

Containing electoral wards from Epping Forest

Brentwood and Ongar (part)
Epping Forest
Harlow (part)

Containing electoral wards from Harlow

Harlow (part)

Containing electoral wards from Maldon

Maldon (part)
Witham (part)

Containing electoral wards from Rochford

Rayleigh and Wickford (part)
Southend East and Rochford
(part)

Containing electoral wards from

Southend-on-Sea

Southend East and Rochford (part)
Southend West and Leigh

Containing electoral wards from Tendring

Clacton
Harwich and North Essex (part)

Containing electoral wards from Thurrock

South Basildon and East Thurrock (part)
Thurrock

Containing electoral wards from Uttlesford

Braintree (part)
Harlow (part)

North West Essex (part)

Results history

Primary data source: House of Commons research briefing - General election results from 1918 to 2019^[7]

2019

The number of votes cast for each political party who fielded candidates in constituencies comprising Essex in the 2019 general election were as follows:

Party	Votes	%	Change from 2017	Seats	Change from 2017
Conservative	577,118	64.5%	6.0%	18	0
Labour	189,471	21.2%	7.8%	0	0
Liberal Democrats	95,078	10.6%	4.8%	0	0
Greens	20,438	2.3%	0.8%	0	0
Others	12,502	1.4%	3.8%	0	0
Total	894,607	100.0		18

Percentage votes

Election year	1974 (Feb)	1974 (Oct)	1979	1983	1987	1992	1997	2001	2005	2010	2015	2017	2019
Conservative	40.3	40.9	52.5	51.9	54.1	53.9	40.3	42.8	46.0	49.2	50.3	58.5	64.5
Labour	32.9	35.2	28.9	17.8	18.9	23.5	36.4	34.7	28.9	18.6	18.4	29.0	21.2
Liberal Democrat¹	26.7	23.8	17.7	29.7	26.6	21.7	18.2	16.7	19.1	21.3	6.7	5.8	10.6
Green Party	-	-	-	-	*	*	*	*	*	1.0	3.0	1.5	2.3
UKIP	-	-	-	-	-	-	*	*	*	4.1	20.5	4.6	*
Other	-	0.1	0.9	0.6	0.3	1.0	5.0	5.8	6.0	5.8	1.1	0.6	1.4

¹1974 & 1979 - Liberal Party; 1983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance

* Included in Other

Seats

Election year	1974 (Feb)	1974 (Oct)	1979	1983	1987	1992	1997	2001	2005	2010	2015	2017	2019
Conservative	11	11	12	15	16	15	10	11	13	17	17	18	18
Labour	3	3	2	1	0	1	6	5	3	0	0	0	0
Liberal Democrat¹	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	0	0	0
UKIP	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Total	14	14	14	16	16	16	17	17	17	18	18	18	18

¹1974 & 1979 - Liberal Party; 1983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance

Maps

1885-1910

1885
1886
1892
1895
1900
1906
Jan 1910
Dec 1910

1918-1945

1918
1922
1923
1924
1929
1931
1935
1945

1950-1970

1950
1951
1955
1959
1964
1966
1970

1974-present

Feb 1974
Oct 1974
1979
1983
1987
1992
1997
2001
2005
2010
2015
2017
2019

Historical representation by party

A cell marked → (with a different colour background to the preceding cell) indicates that the previous MP continued to sit under a new party name.

Key: bulk or all of areas marked † form part of present-day Greater London.

1885 to 1918

Conservative

Independent Labour

Independent Labour Party Labour Liberal Liberal-Labour

Constituency	1885	1886	88	92	1892	93	94	95	1895	97	1900	01	1906	08	Jan 1910	Dec 1910	11	12	17
Chelmsford	Beadel			Usborne							Rasch			Pretyman
Colchester	Trotter		Greville		Naylor-Leyland			Pearson							Worthington-Evans
Epping	Selwin-Ibbetson				Lockwood														Colvin
Essex South East	Makins	Rasch									Tufnell		Whitehead		Kirkwood			Guinness
Harwich	Round												Lever		Newton
Maldon	Kitching	Gray			Dodd				Strutt				T. Bethell		Flannery
Saffron Walden	Gardner								Gold		Wodehouse	Pease			Proby	Beck
Romford†	Westlake	Theobald					Money-Wigram			Sinclair			J. Bethell
Walthamstow†	Buxton	Makins			Byrne					Woods	Morgan		Simon
West Ham North†	Cook	Fulton			Grove				Gray				Masterman				de Forest
West Ham South†	Leicester	Banes			Hardie	→			Banes				Thorne

1918 to 1945

British Socialist (1919-20) / Communist (1920-22)

Coalition Liberal (1918-22) / National Liberal

(1922-23)

Coalition National Democratic & Labour

Common Wealth Conservative Constitutionalist

Independent

Labour Liberal National Liberal (1931-68) National Socialist

Constituency	1918	18	19	20	21	1922	1923	1924	24	26	27	28	1929	31	1931	34	1935	37	40	42	45
Chelmsford	Pretyman						Robinson	Curtis-Bennett		Howard-Bury					Henderson		Macnamara				Millington
Colchester	Worthington-Evans												Lewis
Epping	Colvin						Lyle	Churchill	→
Essex South East	Hilder						Hoffman	Looker					Oldfield		Raikes
Harwich	Newton					Hillary		Rice					Pybus	→			Holmes
Maldon	Flannery					Ruggles-Brise	Crittall	Ruggles-Brise												Driberg
Saffron Walden	Beck		→		→	Mitchell							Butler
Southend	R. Guinness										G. Guinness						H. Channon
Romford†	Martin						Rhys						Muggeridge		Hutchison		Parker
Walthamstow East†	Johnson							Greenwood	→				Wallace		Beauchamp
Walthamstow West†	Jesson					McEntee		Crawfurd					McEntee
Leyton East†	Malone		→	→		Alexander	Church	Alexander					Brockway		Mills
Leyton West†	Wrightson		Newbould			Cassels							Sorensen		Sugden		Sorensen
Silvertown†	Jones	→																	Hollins
Stratford†	Lyle					Groves
East Ham North†	Bethell					Crook	Lawrence	Crook		Lawrence					Mayhew
East Ham South†	Edwards					Barnes									Campbell-Jn		Barnes
Ilford†	Griggs		Wise									Hamilton						Hutchinson
Plaistow†	Thorne
Upton†	Wild					Margesson	Gardner	Holt					Gardner		Chotzner	Gardner

1945 to 1974

Common Wealth Conservative Labour Independent Group (1949-50) Labour National Liberal (1931-68)

Constituency	1945	46	49	1950	1951	54	1955	56	57	59	1959	61	1964	1966	67	68	69	1970
Leyton East†	Bechervaise
Silvertown†	Comyns
Stratford†	Nicholls
Chelmsford	Millington	→		Ashton									St John-Stevas
Colchester	Smith			Alport								Buck
East Ham North†	Daines								Prentice
East Ham South†	Barnes						Oram
Epping	Manning			Davies	Finlay								Newens					Tebbit
Essex South East	Gunter						Braine
Harwich	Holmes					Ridsdale										→
Ilford North†	Ridealgh			Hutchinson		Iremonger
Leyton West / Leyton (1950)†	Sorensen
Maldon	Driberg						Harrison
Romford†	Macpherson			Lockwood			Ledger											Leonard
Saffron Walden	Butler
Southend / Southend W (1950)	H. Channon									P. Channon
Walthamstow E†	Wallace						Harvey							Robinson			McNair-Wilson
Walthamstow W†	McEntee			Attlee				Redhead							Silvester			Deakins
West Ham S†	Elwyn Jones
West Ham N†	Lewis
Woodford / Woodford & Wanstead (1964)†	Churchill												Jenkin
Ilford South†	Ranger			Cooper										Shaw				Thorne
Barking†	Hastings										Driberg
Dagenham†	Parker
Hornchurch†	Bing						Lagden							Lee Williams				Squire
Thurrock	Solley		→	Delargy
Southend East				McAdden
Billericay				Braine			Body				Gardner			Moonman				McCrindle
Chigwell							Biggs-Davison

1974 to present