| Runnymede and Weybridge | |
| Parliament: | uk |
| Electorate: | 73,778 (2023) [1] |
| Type: | County |
| Year: | 1997 |
| Region: | England |
| Elects Howmany: | One |
Runnymede and Weybridge is a constituency in Surrey represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Ben Spencer, a Conservative.
The constituency was created for the 1997 general election and represented from then until 2019 by Philip Hammond, who served as Foreign Secretary from 2014 to 2016 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2016 to 2019. Hammond sat as a Conservative before becoming an Independent backbencher for the last two months of his final term.
1997–2024:
Addlestone North; Addlestone South; Chertsey Riverside; Chertsey St Ann's; Egham Hythe; Egham Town; Englefield Green East; Englefield Green West; Longcross, Lyne and Chertsey South; New Haw; Ottershaw; Thorpe; Virginia Water; Woodham and Rowtown
Oatlands and Burwood Park; Weybridge Riverside; Weybridge St George's Hill[2]
Since 1997 and until 2024 the constituency and comprised the whole of the area of the Borough of Runnymede plus the town of Weybridge in the Borough of Elmbridge, all in north Surrey.
2024–present:
Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, from the 2024 United Kingdom general election, changes in the constituency described as the following:
Runnymede mainly low-density villages Englefield Green and Virginia Water have been transferred to the Berkshire seat of Windsor, creating a cross-county constituency. To compensate, two similar southern wards that lay in Esher and Walton, including Cobham are gained, partly offset by the similar village ward of Oatlands lost in return.
The constituency was created in 1997 from parts of the former constituencies of Chertsey and Walton and North West Surrey.
From its creation until 2019, it was represented by Philip Hammond, of the Conservative Party, who served as a Cabinet Minister throughout the Cameron–Clegg coalition before holding in succession two of the Great Offices of State: Foreign Secretary from 2014 to 2016, and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2016 to 2019.
Runnymede and Weybridge is a Conservative safe seat based on both length of tenure and size of majorities – the narrowest margin of victory was in the 1997 general election, of 19.2% of the vote.
The constituency is roughly bisected by the M25. To the east are a series of affluent towns including part of Staines, Chertsey, Addlestone and Weybridge. There is more open land to the west, bordering Windsor Great Park and Chobham Common.
The constituency has incomes well above the national average, and lower than average reliance upon social housing.[4] At the end of 2012 the unemployment rate in the constituency stood as 1.3% of the population claiming jobseekers allowance, compared to the regional average of 2.4%.[5] The borough contributing to the bulk of the seat has a low 14.7% of its population without a car, 18.3% of the population without qualifications and a high 29.9% with level 4 qualifications or above.
In terms of tenure 69.2% of homes are owned outright or on a mortgage as at the 2011 census across Runnymede.[6]
Chertsey and Walton prior to 1997
| Election | Member | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Philip Hammond | Conservative | ||
| September 2019 | Independent | |||
| 2019 | Ben Spencer | Conservative | ||
| 2019 notional result[7] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Vote | % | |
| 28,028 | 53.2 | ||
| 11,956 | 22.7 | ||
| 9,347 | 17.7 | ||
| Others | 1,923 | 3.7 | |
| 1,415 | 2.7 | ||
| Turnout | 52,669 | 71.4 | |
| Electorate | 73,778 | ||