Hammersmith (UK Parliament constituency)

Boundaries 1885–1918

The parliamentary borough of Hammersmith was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 and consisted of the civil parish of Hammersmith (in Middlesex only until 1889 when it fell within the approximately 30,000 acres (120 km²) that became part of the County of London under the Local Government Act 1888). Like almost all seats created from 1885 it returned one Member of Parliament. This was the first parliamentary constituency to be based on the town, which from 1868–1885 was at the westernmost part of Chelsea and previously had been part of the parliamentary county of Middlesex. In 1900 the Metropolitan Borough of Hammersmith was formed, but this did not affect the constituency's boundaries.

The seat bordered to the west the Ealing seat, to the north the large Harrow division of Middlesex seat, to the east Kensington North and Kensington South and to the south the large Kingston division of Surrey and, to the southeast, Fulham. In 1918 the Hammersmith constituency was divided into Hammersmith North and Hammersmith South constituencies.

Boundaries 1983–1997

The second parliamentary borough constituency of Hammersmith was created in 1983. By then the area was part of Greater London and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (both created in 1965). The constituency consisted of ten wards of the London borough, namely Addison, Broadway, Brook Green, College Park and Old Oak, Coningham, Grove, Ravenscourt, Starch Green, White City and Shepherd's Bush, and Wormholt. The seat was entirely formed from the previous Hammersmith North constituency.

BBC Television Centre, Shepherd's Bush Market and the Hammersmith Apollo was in this version of the constituency for its 14-year existence, however Westfield London shopping centre had not yet been built.

The constituency was abolished in 1997 and mostly replaced by Hammersmith and Fulham. A northern slice of the seat became part of Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush. The new Hammersmith and Fulham constituency included the town centres of both Hammersmith and Fulham.

Boundaries from 2010

Following a review of parliamentary boundaries in North London, the Boundary Commission for England created a new Hammersmith constituency for the 2010 general election, following major changes in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The review also created new seats of Chelsea and Fulham and Kensington.

The current Hammersmith constituency is made up of ten electoral wards of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham:

The 2005 notional result was Labour 44.6%, Conservative 31.1% and Liberal Democrat 19.2%.

Constituency profile

The constituency includes the western part of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, stretching from Wormwood Scrubs down to the River Thames. It takes in the commercial and business hub of Hammersmith itself, parts of northwestern Fulham, the western part of Earl's Court (the Exhibition Centre itself straddles the boundary between this constituency and the Kensington seat), West Kensington, Shepherd's Bush, and White City. The seat has northern areas with a much higher proportion of social housing dependency than the London average and overall this leads to the seat having slightly higher rates of unemployment and underemployment.

The Labour Party candidate took a marginal majority of 7.5% of the vote in 2010. Slaughter's majority in 2015, 13.6%, made it the 156th safest of the party's 232 seats by percentage of majority.

Elections in the 2010s

The percentage change values were based on the 2005 notional results because this was a newly created seat.

Election results 1983–1992