Clacton is a constituency[n 1] in Essex represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Giles Watling of the Conservative Party. It is centred on the seaside town of Clacton, hence its name.
Clacton is almost completely coastal, comprising seaside resorts along the Tendring peninsula, including Clacton-on-Sea, Frinton-on-Sea and Walton-on-the-Naze. It shares an inland boundary with just one constituency – Harwich and North Essex.
Similar to other coastal seats, such as Christchurch in Dorset, Clacton's electorate comprises among the eldest in the country with a high proportion of retirees and not many non-white residents. The area has experienced a considerable influx of White British families from multicultural areas of East London such as Barking and Dagenham, leading to the town of Clacton becoming known as "Little Dagenham".[3]
The village of Jaywick was, in both the indices of deprivation 2010 and 2015, identified as the single most deprived LSOA in England, out of around 32,000, with unemployment estimated at almost 50%. Many homes are essentially beach huts and lack basic amenities. In 2018, Jaywick was visited by the United Nations special rapporteur for Poverty, Professor Philip Alston, as part of his examination into the causes of extreme poverty.[4] Jaywick was named the most deprived place in the UK for the third consecutive year in 2019.[5]
Electoral Calculus categorises the seat as being part of the “Strong Right” demographic, those who have fiscally conservative views on the economy but are also fairly nationalist and socially conservative, alongside strong support for Brexit. Clacton is also, in general, highly deprived, in terms of employment, income and education, when measured comparatively with the rest of the UK, with 64% of the constituency being impoverished, according to the site.[6] In addition to this, the latest government labour data has also revealed that economic inactivity in Clacton is at 46.8% - more than twice the 21.7% UK average.[7]
Anciently under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rochester in Essex and part of the Petre estates,[8] the seat of Clacton was established for the 2010 general election following a review of parliamentary representation of Essex by the Boundary Commission for England.[9] It was formed out of the abolished Harwich constituency, excluding the town of Harwich itself and surrounding areas.
Douglas Carswell, who was previously the Conservative MP for Harwich, won the seat at the 2010 general election. In August 2014, Carswell announced his defection to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) triggering a by-election in the constituency, winning with a large majority and thereby becoming UKIP's first-elected MP. The then UKIP leader Nigel Farage declared that the result in Clacton had "shaken up British politics".[10] Carswell retained the seat at the 2015 general election; this was the only constituency won by UKIP at the election. In March 2017, Carswell left UKIP to become an independent MP; he did not stand for re-election in the 2017 general election, when Giles Watling was victorious for the Conservatives.
At the 2019 general election, Watling was re-elected with a majority of 24,702, increasing his vote share by 11.1% from 2017. Ahead of the 2024 general election, it was announced that Nigel Farage, who had taken over as leader of Reform UK mid-campaign, would contest the Clacton constituency.[11] A YouGov poll published on 19 June 2024 (using the MRP technique) predicted that Farage would defeat Watling.[12]
The District of Tendring wards of Alton Park, Beaumont and Thorpe, Bockings Elm, Burrsville, Frinton, Golf Green, Hamford, Haven, Holland and Kirby, Homelands, Little Clacton and Weeley, Pier, Rush Green, St Bartholomews, St James, St Johns, St Marys, St Osyth and Point Clear, St Pauls and Walton.[13]
The new seat consisted essentially of the former Harwich constituency, minus the town of Harwich itself and a few nearby villages, plus St Osyth and Weeley, transferred from the abolished North Essex constituency.
Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the composition of the constituency is as follows (as they existed on 1 December 2020):
The revised contents correspond to the existing constituency, expanded slightly by the addition of some inland rural areas and villages, transferred from Harwich and North Essex.
Harwich prior to 2010
The constituency's Member of Parliament until 3 May 2017, was Douglas Carswell, who had previously sat for the Harwich constituency since gaining that seat for the Conservatives in 2005.[15][16]
On 28 August 2014, Carswell announced his defection to UKIP.[17] Although not required to seek re-election following a change of party allegiance, Carswell triggered a by-election, held on 9 October 2014, in which he was elected as the UKIP candidate.[18] He became the first elected UKIP MP.[19] Carswell retained the seat for UKIP at the 2015 general election, seeing his majority cut by roughly three-quarters, with an 11% swing to the Conservatives. Carswell then became UKIP's sole MP in the House of Commons, as Mark Reckless, a fellow Conservative defector, lost his seat.[20]
On 25 March 2017, Carswell announced on his blog that he was quitting UKIP to sit as an independent MP,[21] saying that "I switched to UKIP because I desperately wanted us to leave the EU. Now we can be certain that that is going to happen, I have decided that I will be leaving UKIP".[22]
After Prime Minister Theresa May called a snap election on 19 April 2017, Carswell announced that he would not stand for re-election and endorsed the Conservative Party candidate Giles Watling.[23] Watling was elected at the 2017 general election; at that election, UKIP's share of the vote fell by 36.8%, one of its largest declines in the country, and the subsequent Conservative victory in Clacton marked the first time every constituency in Essex had returned a Conservative MP since 1987. In 2019, Giles Watling, won re-election on the back of a majority of 24,702, increasing his vote share by 11.1% from 2017.
Tony Mack was originally announced as the Reform UK candidate, but was deselected in favour of Nigel Farage on June 3. Mack subsequently announced that he would run as an independent.[25]
51°50′N 1°09′E / 51.83°N 1.15°E / 51.83; 1.15