County Greater London Created 1997 Member of parliament Teresa Pearce Party Labour Party | Electorate 69,718 (December 2010) European Parliament constituency London Number of members 1 | |
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Created from Woolwich and Erith & Crayford Replaced by Woolwich, Erith and Crayford | ||
Erith and Thamesmead /ˈiːrᵻθ ənd tɛmzmiːd/ is a constituency created in 1997 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Teresa Pearce of the Labour Party. It covers the areas of Erith and Thamesmead in the southeast of Outer London by the River Thames near the border of Greater London and Kent.
Contents
Its results in terms of length of any one party's tenure and size of majorities indicate it is a safe seat for Labour with the exception of 2010 in which year the party's candidate won a low majority of 13.4% of the votes cast.
History
It was created for the 1997 general election from parts of the old Woolwich and Erith and Crayford constituencies.
John Austin was the MP for this constituency from its creation for the 1997 general election until he stepped down at the 2010 election. The seat was then held for Labour by a local activist Teresa Pearce, who defeated the Conservatives candidate Colin Bloom, a councillor for Bickley Ward in Bromley.
Pearce increased her majority in the 2015 General Election to rank 125th of the party's 232 MPs then elected.
2010 Labour selection controversy
In April 2009, an investigation took place into the tampering of ballot boxes and abuse of the postal vote system used for the selection of the prospective Labour candidate for Erith and Thamesmead. A rerun of the candidate selection ballot resulted in victory for Teresa Pearce.
Boundaries
1997-2010: The London Borough of Bexley wards of Belvedere, Erith, Northumberland Heath, and Thamesmead East, and the London Borough of Greenwich wards of Abbey Wood, Eynsham, Glyndon, Lakedale, St Nicholas, and Thamesmead Moorings.
2010-present: The London Borough of Bexley wards of Belvedere, Erith, Lesnes Abbey, Northumberland Heath, and Thamesmead East, and the London Borough of Greenwich wards of Abbey Wood, Plumstead, and Thamesmead Moorings.
The cross-border constituency of Erith and Thamesmead currently stretches from Plumstead, and Abbey Wood in the west, to Lesnes Heath, and Erith in the east. The Conservatives' strongest wards are in the Bexley part of the seat, in particular Northumberland Heath Ward. The remaining wards from Bexley and Greenwich have traditionally seen more support for the Labour Party, in both local and national elections.
Boundary review
Following their review of parliamentary representation in South London, and as a consequence of changes to ward boundaries, the Boundary Commission for England recommended that parts of Glyndon ward and Colyers ward be transferred from Erith and Thamesmead to the constituencies of Greenwich and Woolwich and Bexleyheath and Crayford respectively; that part of Plumstead ward be transferred to Erith and Thamesmead from Eltham; and that parts of Lesnes Abbey ward, Nothumberland Heath ward and Erith ward be transferred to Erith and Thamesmead from Bexleyheath and Crayford.