County East Sussex Electorate 77,430 (December 2010) Created from Brighton Member of parliament Caroline Lucas Replaced by Brighton | Population 103,593 (2011 census) Created 1950 European Parliament constituency South East England Number of members 1 | |
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Brighton Pavilion is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Caroline Lucas of the Green Party who on election became the first MP for that party in the United Kingdom.
Contents
Boundaries
1950-1983: The County Borough of Brighton wards of Hollingbury, Montpelier, Patcham, Pavilion, Preston, Preston Park, Regency, St Nicholas, St Peter's, and West.
1983-1997: The Borough of Brighton wards of Hollingbury, Patcham, Preston, Regency, St Peter's, Seven Dials, Stanmer, and Westdene.
1997-2010: The Borough of Brighton wards of Hanover, Hollingbury, Patcham, Preston, Regency, St Peter's, Seven Dials, Stanmer, and Westdene.
2010-present: The City of Brighton and Hove wards of Hanover and Elm Grove, Hollingbury and Stanmer, Patcham, Preston Park, Regency, St Peter's and North Laine, and Withdean.
Constituency history and profile
The constituency was created in 1950 from the former two-seat constituency of Brighton (one of the last remaining multi-member constituencies), for which Brighton Pavilion's first Member of Parliament, Sir William Teeling, had previously been the joint representative.
The present name is derived from the Royal Pavilion. On current boundaries, the pavilion itself is right on the South-Eastern border of the seat – the opposite side of the road is Brighton Kemptown. It encompasses the heart of the city, including the Georgian and Regency alleyway properties of The Lanes and the bohemian North Laine shopping area. The developed centre of the promenade above the pebbled beach has Brighton Pier, major entertainment venues and the city's largest hotels including the Grand Hotel and Hilton Brighton Metropole. It is a relatively affluent seat, since average income is higher than the UK average (based upon 2001 statistics) and unemployment is lower.
From 1950 until 1997 the seat had Conservative Party representatives. In 1997, David Lepper of the Labour Party began service as MP for 13 years by winning the two subsequent elections. The Conservatives' share of the vote has declined at every election since 1983.
In July 2007, the Green Party selected Caroline Lucas to contest the seat, at which point she was neither Leader nor Principal Speaker for the party. In November 2009 Charlotte Vere was selected as the Conservative Party candidate at an open primary attended by local Party members and residents. In January 2010 the Liberal Democrats also selected a female candidate, Bernadette Millam. Labour had selected Nancy Platts, a local campaigner and former union worker, as their candidate in June 2007. This meant that, distinctively, all of the four leading parties in the constituency had female candidates. In 2010 Labour's share of the vote fell by 6.5%, and Lucas, by then leading the Green Party, won the seat. In contrast to national results, the Conservative and Liberal Democrat share of the vote fell.
Lucas held the seat for the Green Party in the 2015 General Election with an increased majority. Purna Sen, who held senior roles at the Commonwealth, LSE and Amnesty International, was selected to contest the seat for Labour. Clarence Mitchell, a former BBC News reporter and spokesman for the family of Madeleine McCann, was selected as the Conservative Party candidate.