County Greater London European Parliament constituency London | Electorate 72,707 (December 2010) Number of members 1 | |
 | ||
Member of parliament Rosena Allin-Khan
(Labour) Replaced by Battersea South, Wandsworth Central, Streatham Created from Battersea South, Wandsworth Central, Streatham | ||
Tooting is a constituency created in 1974 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2016 by Rosena Allin-Khan, a member of the Labour Party.
Contents
Boundaries
1974-1983: The London Borough of Wandsworth wards of Bedford, Furzedown, Graveney, Springfield, and Tooting.
1983-2010: As above plus Earlsfield, and Nightingale
2010-present: As above minus Springfield, plus Wandsworth Common.
Tooting is the south-eastern third of the London Borough of Wandsworth. As well as Tooting itself, it also includes the districts of Earlsfield, Furzedown and Streatham Park and part of Balham. The constituency includes all of Wandsworth Common, a rectangular open space that lends its name to one of the seven wards.
Tooting is bordered by the constituencies of Battersea, Mitcham and Morden, Putney, Streatham and Wimbledon.
History
The constituency was created for the February 1974 election from areas immediately before that election within Battersea South, Streatham and Wandsworth Central.
Political history
Labour-held since its creation, Tooting was a hope for the Conservatives in the 2010 general election after the party made gains in local elections, however Sadiq Khan was able to hold on to the seat. The Conservatives do best in the northern half of the seat (Bedford, Earlsfield, Nightingale, Wandsworth Common), whereas Labour are strongest in the southern half, which covers Tooting ward itself, Graveney and Furzedown.
The 2015 result gave the seat the 24th most marginal majority of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority. Had the majority obtained by Allin-Khan at her 2016 by-election win been part of the 2015 results, the seat would have been the 136th safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority.
As in the other two seats in the Borough of Wandsworth, voters have in part supported the Conservatives at the local level, however this southern area has strong Labour support to have consistently returned at least seven Labour councillors since 1992.
Prominent frontbenchers
Sadiq Khan, a solicitor by profession, was the Minister of State for Transport and Minister of State for Communities in the government of Gordon Brown. In opposition after 2010, he became the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor. He was the Labour Party's candidate in the 2016 London mayoral election to elect the Mayor of London. Following his election as Mayor, Khan announced his intention to resign as MP for Tooting, and on 9 May 2016 he was appointed to the ancient office of Crown Steward and Bailiff of The Three Chiltern Hundreds, triggering a by-election.
Constituency profile
The modern Tooting seat is a simplified name, as it contains much of Balham, Wandsworth Common and Earlsfield, yet the southernmost parts of the area that self-identifies as Tooting are actually in the London Borough of Merton and so in the Mitcham and Morden seat.
Transport links to central London are good, and the population has expanded steadily due to the area's popularity with commuters looking for somewhere affordable to live.
Unemployment benefit claimants, registered jobseekers, in November 2012 were lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 3.2% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.