Esher and Walton

Esher and Walton
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Interactive map of boundaries from 2024
Map of constituency
Boundary of Esher and Walton in South East England
CountySurrey
Electorate73,280 (2023)[1]
Major settlements
Current constituency
Created1997
Member of ParliamentMonica Harding (Liberal Democrats)
SeatsOne
Created from

Esher and Walton (/ˌiːʃər  ...  ˈwɔːltən/ is a constituency in Surrey represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament.[n 1] Since 2024, it has been represented by Monica Harding of the Liberal Democrats. Before this, Dominic Raab of the Conservative Party, who served as deputy prime minister before resigning from that role in April 2023 due to bullying allegations, had served as the MP from 2010.[2]

Constituency profile

Esher and Walton is more than half of the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, to be in East Surrey from April 2027. Studded with well-kept green spaces - and keeping some such buffers to its north-east - it is due to its few contiguous neighbourhoods recognised economically and in academic geography as part of London's built-up area. Settlements comprise the populous towns of Esher and Walton-on-Thames and their attached villages of Molesey, Long Ditton/Thames Ditton, Hersham and Claygate. All of the area is well-connected to central London by the South West Main Line and the triple-lane A3 road for commutes to South London, business areas by the M25, London's main airports and Guildford. The constituency is highly affluent with low levels of deprivation,[3] and house prices are more than double the national average.[4]

In general, residents are well-educated and have very high levels of income and professional employment. White people made up 86% of the population at the 2021 census.[4] For the new council 11 Liberal Democrat councillors were elected in 2026, one residents' association, one Conservative.[5]. An estimated 59% of voters here supported remaining in the European Union in the 2016 referendum, higher than the nationwide figure of 48%.[4]

Boundaries

Current

Further to the 2023 review which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency comprises (as these wards existed on 1 December 2020):

  • The Borough of Elmbridge wards of Claygate, Esher, Hersham Village, Hinchley Wood & Weston Green, Long Ditton, Molesey East, Molesey West, Oatlands & Burwood Park, Thames Ditton, Walton Central, Walton North, and Walton South.[6]

The electorate was reduced to bring it within the permitted range by transferring Cobham, Oxshott and Stoke D'Abernon to Runnymede and Weybridge, partly offset by moving the village of Oatlands in the opposite direction.

Historic

From 1997, until 2024, it comprised Borough of Elmbridge wards of Claygate, Cobham and Downside, Cobham Fairmile, Esher, Hersham North, Hersham South, Hinchley Wood, Long Ditton, Molesey East, Molesey North, Molesey South, Oxshott and Stoke D'Abernon, Thames Ditton, Walton Ambleside, Walton Central, Walton North, Walton South, Weston Green. This was the borough excluding Weybridge.

History

Almost all of the present area had seen 'Tory' representation for 154 years – 1870 saw the death of wealthy Liberal John Ivatt Briscoe so a resultant by-election for a set-to-be-soon-divided vast tract West Surrey; he was one of two joint MPs and for his empty seat only a Tory stood. One brief and tiny exception exists; the elections of 1910 ended four years of Liberal tenure "for Chertsey" and specifically thus Weybridge parish, covering the west of today's Oatlands ward.[7][8][9] As Briscoe co-served with a Tory, as to the vast bulk of this seat the last time its local MPs (including the pre-1885 centuries-old set-up of two co-MPs) lacked Conservatives was 1832 to 1835, when both MPs for West Surrey were Whigs, prompting 189 years of having a Conservative MP to turn to and represent the area's interests.

Ian Taylor held the seat from 1997 to 2010, having held the previous Esher seat from 1987. Taylor stood down at the 2010 election, and Dominic Raab was elected as the new Conservative MP for this seat.

For the 2019 general election, 60 seats, including this seat, were written into the Remain Alliance between the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and Plaid Cymru not to vie against one another there.[10] These were parties opposed to Britain's departure from the European Union. In consequence, Laura Harmour,[11] for the Green Party, did not stand. Axel Thill,[12] the for the Brexit Party, was one of those withdrawn by party leader Nigel Farage before nominations closed,[13] not fielding his candidates in Conservative-held seats.

The seat, safe in terms of length of tenure but not now convincingly by percentage majority for the Conservatives, was heavily targeted by the Liberal Democrats, particularly because the incumbent Conservative, Dominic Raab, had campaigned for a Leave vote in the EU referendum. The constituency voted in favour of remaining in the EU and is socially similar to the two Greater London seats it borders, namely Twickenham and Kingston & Surbiton, which are both strongholds for the Lib Dems. This resulted in a large swing to the Liberal Democrats of 18.5%, reducing the seat's majority to make it a marginal for the first time since its creation.

Raab, who had served as the UK's Foreign Secretary two years then as deputy prime minister before resignation in April 2023 due to bullying allegations,[2] did not contest the 2024 election and a further swing of 13.8% resulted in the Liberal Democrat Monica Harding winning the seat, a landmark change.

Members of Parliament

ElectionMember[14] Party
1997 Ian Taylor Conservative
2010 Dominic Raab Conservative
2024 Monica Harding Liberal Democrats

Elections

Election results 1997-2024

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Esher and Walton[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Monica Harding 28,315 52.6 +8.4
Conservative John Cope 16,312 30.3 −19.2
Reform Alastair Gray 4,777 8.9 N/A
Labour Yoel Gordon 2,846 5.3 +0.5
Green Maciej Pawlik 1,396 2.6 +2.4
SDP Richard Bateson 234 0.4 N/A
Majority 12,003 22.3 N/A
Turnout 53,880 72.8 −3.9
Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative Swing +13.8

Elections in the 2010s

2019 notional result[16]
Party Vote %
Conservative27,81949.5
Liberal Democrats24,80444.2
Labour2,6984.8
Others7251.3
Green1320.2
Turnout 56,178 76.7
Electorate 73,280

In 2019, Esher and Walton was one[17] of five English seats (the others being Cheltenham, East Devon, Westmorland and Lonsdale, and Winchester) where the Labour candidate failed to get over 5% votes cast so lost the deposit.

General election 2019: Esher and Walton[18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Dominic Raab 31,132 49.4 −9.2
Liberal Democrats Monica Harding 28,389 45.0 +27.7
Labour Peter Ashurst 2,838 4.5 −15.2
Independent Kylie Keens 347 0.6 N/A
Monster Raving Loony Baron Badger 326 0.5 0.0
Advance Kyle Taylor 52 0.1 N/A
Majority 2,743 4.4 −34.5
Turnout 63,084 77.7 +3.8
Conservative hold Swing −18.5
General election 2017: Esher and Walton[19]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Dominic Raab 35,071 58.6 −4.3
Labour Lana Hylands 11,773 19.7 +7.0
Liberal Democrats Andrew Davis 10,374 17.3 +7.9
Green Olivia Palmer 1,074 1.8 −2.3
UKIP David Ions 1,034 1.7 −8.0
Monster Raving Loony Baron Badger 318 0.5 N/A
Independent Della Reynolds 198 0.3 −0.1
Majority 23,298 38.9 −11.3
Turnout 59,842 73.9 +2.6
Conservative hold Swing −5.6
General election 2015: Esher and Walton[20]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Dominic Raab 35,845 62.9 +4.0
Labour Francis Eldergill 7,229 12.7 +2.0
UKIP Nicholas Wood 5,551 9.7 +6.4
Liberal Democrats Andrew Davis 5,372 9.4 −15.4
Green Olivia Palmer 2,355 4.1 N/A
CISTA Matthew Heenan 396 0.7 N/A
Independent Della Reynolds 228 0.4 N/A
Majority 28,616 50.2 +16.1
Turnout 56,976 71.3 −0.7
Conservative hold Swing
General election 2010: Esher and Walton[21]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Dominic Raab 32,134 58.9 +13.2
Liberal Democrats Lionel Blackman 13,541 24.8 −4.8
Labour Francis Eldergill 5,829 10.7 −8.7
UKIP Bernard Collignon 1,783 3.3 0.0
Independent Tony Popham 378 0.7 N/A
Monster Raving Loony Chinners Chinnery 341 0.6 −0.7
English Democrat Mike Kearsley 307 0.6 N/A
Best of a Bad Bunch Andy Lear 230 0.4 N/A
Majority 18,593 34.1 +18.0
Turnout 54,543 72.0 +9.8
Conservative hold Swing +9.0

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Esher and Walton[22]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ian Taylor 21,882 45.7 −3.3
Liberal Democrats Mark Marsh 14,155 29.6 +7.1
Labour Richard C.H. Taylor 9,309 19.4 −4.2
UKIP Bernard Collignon 1,582 3.3 −1.6
Monster Raving Loony Chinners Chinnery 608 1.3 N/A
Socialist Labour Richard G. Cutler 342 0.7 N/A
Majority 7,727 16.1 −9.3
Turnout 47,878 62.2 +0.3
Conservative hold Swing −5.2
General election 2001: Esher and Walton[23]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ian Taylor 22,296 49.0 −0.8
Labour Joe McGowan 10,758 23.6 +0.8
Liberal Democrats Mark Marsh 10,241 22.5 +2.1
UKIP Bernard Collignon 2,236 4.9 +3.9
Majority 11,538 25.4 −1.6
Turnout 45,531 61.9 −12.4
Conservative hold Swing −0.9

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Esher and Walton[24]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ian Taylor 26,747 49.8 −10.9
Labour Julie A. Reay 12,219 22.8 +5.4
Liberal Democrats Gary M. Miles 10,937 20.4 −1.6
Referendum Andrew A.C. Cruickshank 2,904 5.4 N/A
UKIP Bernard Collignon 558 1.0 N/A
Rainbow Dream Ticket Simone Kay 302 0.6 N/A
Majority 14,528 27.0
Turnout 53,667 74.3
Conservative win (new seat)

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ As with all constituencies, Esher and Walton elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at most every five years.

References

  1. ↑ "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition – South East". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  2. 1 2 "Dominic Raab resigns as UK deputy prime minister over bullying claims". Financial Times. 21 April 2023. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  3. ↑ "Constituency data: Deprivation in England". commonslibrary.parliament.uk. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 "Seat Details - Esher and Walton". electoralcalculus.co.uk. Retrieved 27 January 2026.
  5. ↑ East Surrey Council election results, 2026 for shadowing roles and April 2027-2030 substantive representation
  6. ↑ "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 1 Part 6 South East region.
  7. ↑ Ordnance Survey Six-inch-to-the-mile map, late 1890s of western Parliamentary Boundary until 1918 National Library of Scotland
  8. ↑ Youngs, Frederic A Jr. (1979). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol.I: Southern England. London: Royal Historical Society. ISBN 0-901050-67-9.(1979) pp. 764–766
  9. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885–1918 (Craig)
  10. ↑ Com, Politicshome (7 November 2019). "FULL LIST: All the seats being targeted by the cross-party anti-Brexit Unite to Remain group". PoliticsHome.com.
  11. ↑ "General Election Candidates 2019 | Green Party". Green Party Members' Website.
  12. ↑ "Home". Axel Thill PPC. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  13. ↑ Ferguson, Emily (11 November 2019). "Election 2019 LIVE: Corbyn INVISIBLE on Labour leaflets -Leader's unpopularity hurts party". Express.co.uk.
  14. ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 2)
  15. ↑ "Esher and Walton results". BBC News. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  16. ↑ "Notional results for a UK general election on 12 December 2019". Rallings & Thrasher, Professor David Denver (Scotland), Nicholas Whyte (NI) for Sky News, PA, BBC News and ITV News. UK Parliament. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  17. ↑ "Election results 2019: Greens lose the most deposits". BBC News. 13 December 2019.
  18. ↑ "Esher & Walton Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  19. ↑ "Esher and Walton Candidates". Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  20. ↑ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  21. ↑ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  22. ↑ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  23. ↑ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  24. ↑ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

Sources

51°23′N 0°23′W / 51.38°N 0.38°W / 51.38; -0.38

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