Streatham (UK Parliament constituency)

Streatham Green is at the centre of Streatham

Streatham in London 1918-49

A map showing the wards of Wandsworth Metropolitan Borough as they appeared in 1916.

Streatham is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Chuka Umunna, a Labour Party MP.^{[n 2]}

Boundaries

1918-1974: The Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth ward of Streatham.

1974-1983: The London Borough of Lambeth wards of Clapham Park, St Leonard's, Streatham South, Streatham Wells, and Thornton.

1983-1997: The London Borough of Lambeth wards of Clapham Park, St Leonard's, Streatham Hill, Streatham South, Streatham Wells, Thornton, and Town Hall.

1997-2010: The London Borough of Lambeth wards of Clapham Park, St Leonard's, St Martin's, Streatham Hill, Streatham South, Streatham Wells, Thornton, Town Hall, and Tulse Hill.

2010-present: The London Borough of Lambeth wards of Brixton Hill, Clapham Common, St Leonard’s, Streatham Hill, Streatham South, Streatham Wells, Thornton, and Tulse Hill.

Streatham is a long constituency running down the western side of the London Borough of Lambeth.^[2] The town of Streatham constitutes only the four wards in the southern half of the constituency. At its north-western tip it includes half of Clapham Common, while in the north-east it takes in part of the district of Brixton which is also split between neighbouring Vauxhall and Dulwich and West Norwood.

The northern boundary follows Clapham Park Road, Acre Lane, and Coldharbour Lane through Clapham and Brixton to Lambeth Town Hall. The north-eastern boundary generally follows Effra Road and Tulse Hill, but runs east of the main road to include the part of the Tulse Hill estate and the Cressingham Gardens estate west of Brockwell Park. The boundary skirts the Tulse Hill district centre, following Hardel Rise, Christchurch Road and Norwood Road, and then runs along Leigham Vale and Leigham Court Road. The southern and western constituency boundaries follow Lambeth's borough boundaries with Croydon, Merton and Wandsworth.

History

The constituency of Streatham was contested under the name at the 1918 general election, and approximately followed the historic parish boundaries of Streatham, including a substantial part of Balham.

The constituency was carved out of the former constituency of Wandsworth. The rest of the Wandsworth constituency was divided into Putney, Wandsworth Central and Balham and Tooting under the Representation of the People Act 1918, the fourth major UK reform, that for the first time led to single member constituencies, and roughly equal electorates.

The 1918 boundaries remained unchanged until the 1965 changes to Greater London local government were eventually reflected in the constituency boundaries fought at the February 1974 general election. This resulted in a net reduction in the size of the Streatham constituency. The western district Streatham Park (location of the Streatham Conservative Club) and the remainder of Furzedown ward went into Tooting.

The rest of the constituency, including the town of Streatham was now in the London Borough of Lambeth, and Streatham became one of four Borough constituency divisions of Lambeth, along with 'Vauxhall', 'Norwood' and 'Lambeth Central'. The Clapham constituency was abolished as part of the 1974 changes. The Clapham Park area and Hyde Farm (commonly thought of as part of Balham) came into the Streatham seat, whereas the rest of Clapham went into the Vauxhall seat - a split which continues to the present.

With the abolition of Lambeth Central at the 1983 election, the constituency gained much of southern Brixton. Following further population decline, Lambeth was paired with Southwark in the next boundary review, and from the 1997 election, Streatham constituency gained areas around Tulse Hill from the former Norwood constituency, the rest of which became part of Dulwich and West Norwood.

Political history

Having lost Streatham in 1992, the Conservatives were beaten into third place by a Liberal Democrat in 2001, and there were swings from Labour to the Liberal Democrats at the two subsequent general elections with only a marginal improvement in the Conservative share of the vote in 2010, when the Labour incumbent, Keith Hill, retired.

Constituency profile

In all its forms, the Streatham Constituency was represented by the Conservatives from 1918 until 1992.

Once a byword for solidly Tory suburbia - the seat was so safe that the Conservatives still won it when Labour gained large majorities such as in 1945 and 1966, and it was the only seat in the former LCC area (Inner London) apart from the Chelsea/Kensington/Westminster/City central core to remain consistently Conservative - Streatham has swung heavily against the Conservative Party since the 1980s, even more than other similar seats in South London (such as Croydon North, Dulwich, Lewisham East and West). In effect, demographic and voting pattern changes combined with unfavourable boundary changes to turn Streatham first into a marginal, then into a safe Labour seat.

Today much of the seat would be better described as 'inner London' rather than 'suburban'. In many areas, the large Victorian houses have been either demolished or converted into far smaller flats, though there are still pockets of significant affluence in the seat, especially in the areas around Tooting Bec Common and close to Clapham Common.

The high street from Brixton to Streatham has become a leisure hub for South London, with restaurants, cinemas, music venues and an ice rink attracting visitors from, for example, Tooting, Norbury and Mitcham.

The seat has a substantial black population, particularly in the wards near Brixton, as well as significant numbers of Asian voters.

Members of Parliament

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

NB Percentage comparions in the table above are against the notional result on the new constituency boundaries.

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

Election in the 1940s

Elections in the 1930s

Elections in the 1920s

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London

Notes

References

Sources

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 5)

Coordinates: 51°26′20″N 0°07′30″W / 51.439°N 0.125°W / 51.439; -0.125