| Southend West and Leigh | |
| Parliament: | uk |
| Year: | 1950 |
| Type: | Borough |
| Elects Howmany: | One |
| Electorate: | 76,824 (2023)[1] |
| Region: | England |
| Towns: | Southend-on-Sea, Leigh-on-Sea, Westcliff-on-Sea |
Southend West and Leigh is a constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. In the 2024 general election the seat was won by David Burton-Sampson for Labour.[2] It was previously held by Anna Firth who won the 2022 by-election,[3] following the murder of the incumbent MP, David Amess.[4]
Prior to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the constituency was known as Southend West up until the 2024 general election.[5]
The constituency was created for the 1950 general election under the Representation of the People Act 1948, when the Parliamentary Borough of Southend-on-Sea was split in two.
From its creation until 2024, the seat was held by the Conservative Party, with majorities ranging from 5.7% during the Labour Landslide of 1997 to 43.4% in 1955 until the 2024 general election when it was won by Labour with a 35.6% share.[6] [7] It had historically been seen by pundits as a safe Conservative seat.
Because four members of the Guinness family have held the seat (or its predecessor, Southend) it has been dubbed in political analyses in the media as "Guinness-on-Sea".[8]
The seat was represented by David Amess for 24 years, from 1997 to 15 October 2021, when he was murdered.[4] Amess was previously the MP for Basildon from 1983. A by-election was held to elect a replacement MP. In a similar vein to the subsequent by-election following the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox in 2016, all major contender parties stated they would not field candidates in opposition to the Conservative nominee.[9]
Formed primarily from western parts of the abolished Parliamentary Borough of Southend-on-Sea.
Realignment of boundary with Southend East.
Marginal changes following the redistribution of wards in the Borough of Southend-on-Sea.
Further marginal changes were due to a redistribution of local authority wards.
Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency comprises the whole of the current Southend West seat with the addition of St Luke's ward from Rochford and Southend East.[14]
The constituency comprises a small part of the west of Southend-on-Sea, and includes Leigh-on-Sea and Westcliff-on-Sea. It is bounded to the north and east by Rochford and Southend East, to the north by Rayleigh and Wickford, to the west by Castle Point, and to the south by the very end of the Thames Estuary.
Southend prior to 1950
| Election | Member | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Sir Henry Channon | Conservative | ||
| 1959 by-election | Paul Channon | Conservative | ||
| 1997 | Sir David Amess | Conservative | ||
| 2022 by-election | Anna Firth | Conservative | ||
| 2024 | David Burton-Sampson | Labour | ||
| 2019 notional result[15] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Vote | % | |
| 30,367 | 59.1 | ||
| 14,913 | 29.0 | ||
| 5,449 | 10.6 | ||
| Others | 692 | 1.3 | |
| Turnout | 51,421 | 66.9 | |
| Electorate | 76,824 | ||
Jack Monroe had previously been standing[16] for the National Health Action Party, before withdrawing their candidacy on 11 May 2017, citing death threats and concern for their health.[17] [18]