| Woking | |
| Parliament: | uk |
| Year: | 1950 |
| Type: | Borough |
| Electorate: | 71,737 (2023)[1] |
| Mp: | Will Forster |
| Party: | Liberal Democrat |
| Region: | England |
| County: | Surrey |
Woking is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Will Forster, a Liberal Democrat. Since it was first created for the 1950 general election, it had only ever returned Conservative Party candidates until it elected a Liberal Democrat for the first time in 2024.
The seat comprises the Borough of Woking, which has one main town: Woking. Voters are, on average, wealthier than the UK average.[2]
The seat was created in 1950 from the county constituencies of Chertsey and lightly populated parts of Farnham.
Prior to 2024, and with exceptions only in 1974 (February election), 1997, 2005 and 2010, this constituency returned a Conservative with majorities exceeding 15% of votes cast.
At the 2015 and 2017 general elections, the Labour candidates polled in second place, whereas in 2019 the Lib Dem candidate did so. Until the election of 2024, similar second place results had been emulated locally eight and nine times respectively by Labour and the Lib Dems.
A Conservative win by 11.2% of the vote in 1997 was a notably marginal result. By contrast, at the 2015 general election the seat was the 41st-safest of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority, 40 percentage points ahead of Labour.[3]
By 2024, the Liberal Democrats had a very sizeable majority on Woking Borough Council and there were no Conservative councillors left on the authority, although historically the Conservatives had been the dominant force on the council.
Local Conservatives won the previously relevant Guildford wards of Pirbright and Normandy over many election cycles, but these two villages become part of the Surrey Heath constituency from 2024 onwards following boundary changes.
The 1974-recipient seat of Frimley and Camberley was North West Surrey (abolished in 1997).
The 1997-recipient seat of Ash and Ash Vale was Surrey Heath.
The Boundary Commission for England made no boundary changes for Woking in the review before the 2010 general election.
Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, the composition of the constituency for the 2024 United Kingdom general election was reduced by transferring the wards of Pirbright and Normandy to the constituency of Surrey Heath. The constituency boundaries of Woking thereby became coterminous with those of the Borough of Woking.[4]
| Election | Member | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Harold Watkinson | Conservative | ||
| 1964 | Sir Cranley Onslow | Conservative | ||
| 1997 | Humfrey Malins | Conservative | ||
| 2010 | Jonathan Lord | Conservative | ||
| 2024 | Will Forster | Liberal Democrats | ||
| 2019 notional result[5] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Vote | % | |
| 24,358 | 48.3 | ||
| 15,675 | 31.1 | ||
| 8,444 | 16.7 | ||
| 1,398 | 2.8 | ||
| Others | 600 | 1.2 | |
| Turnout | 50,475 | 70.4 | |
| Electorate | 71,737 | ||
This constituency underwent boundary changes between the 1992 and 1997 general elections and thus change in share of vote is based on a notional calculation.