Rochester and Strood

Rochester and Strood
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Interactive map of boundaries since 2024
Map of constituency
Boundary of Rochester and Strood in South East England
CountyKent
Electorate72,155 (2023)[1]
Major settlementsRochester, Strood, Chatham (part)
Current constituency
Created2010
Member of ParliamentLauren Edwards (Labour)
SeatsOne
Created fromMedway

Rochester and Strood is a constituency[n 1] in Kent represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Lauren Edwards from the Labour Party.[2] It was previously represented from 2015 by Kelly Tolhurst, a Conservative, who served as Government Deputy Chief Whip and Treasurer of the Household.[n 2]

Constituency profile

Rochester viewed from Strood. Rochester Cathedral (left) and Rochester Castle (right) are both visible.

Rochester and Strood is a constituency in Kent in South East England, within the Medway borough. It is named after its two main towns, Rochester and Strood, which are situated on opposite banks of the River Medway. The constituency also includes Chatham town centre, whilst the rest of Chatham lies outside this constituency. Other settlements in Rochester and Strood include the villages of Brompton, St Mary's Island, Cuxton, Halling, Chattenden, Hoo St Werburgh and Cliffe Woods.

The Medway towns have a maritime heritage. This constituency contains the former Chatham Dockyard, once the Royal Navy's foremost shipbuilding facility, which has now been redeveloped. Rochester is traditionally a cathedral city and Strood is a mostly suburban town largely built in the early 20th century. The constituency also covers the rural Hoo Peninsula which contains a large industrial area centred on the energy sector, including power stations and oil refineries. The constituency has overall average levels of wealth; there is some deprivation in Chatham where most residents live in dense flats or terraces whilst the suburban areas are more affluent.[3][4] House prices are similar to the national average but lower than the rest of South East England.[5]

Rochester and Strood has a low retired population and an above-average proportion of working-age adults with families.[6] Residents have average levels of income and homeownership and the child poverty rate is below average.[5][7] They generally have low levels of education and a high proportion work in the business administration and construction sectors.[5][8] The percentage claiming unemployment benefits is in line with the overall UK rate.[7] White people made up 86% of the population at the 2021 census.[9]

At the local council, the Rochester, Strood and central Chatham are represented by Labour Party councillors. The villages on the outskirts of the towns and the newly-developed St Mary's Island elected Conservatives and the Hoo Peninsula is mostly represented by independents. Voters in Rochester and Strood strongly supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum; an estimated 65% voted in favour of Brexit compared to the UK-wide rate of 52%.[5]

History

The Rochester constituency has ancient origins dating to the 16th century, but it has seen many changes in the 20th century. From 1885 to 1918 the wider area was split between Chatham, Gillingham and the "old", rural, Medway constituency. The Chatham seat joined Rochester to form Rochester and Chatham in 1950, which formed the core of Medway in 1983.

When the boroughs of Rochester upon Medway and Gillingham merged in 1998 to form, then confusingly, a unitary authority named Medway, the parliamentary constituency of Medway only covered part of the new borough, so in the boundary changes before the 2010 election the seat was renamed to more accurately reflect the area of Rochester and Strood which it now covers.

The seat of Rochester and Chatham, followed by Medway and then Rochester and Strood, had elected members of the party which won the popular vote in the UK at every election since 1959. This had meant that from 1959 to 2014 the area had always been represented by a member of the governing party, apart from the brief period between the February and October elections in 1974 (since Labour formed a minority government in February despite the Conservatives winning the popular vote).

In 2014, the sitting Conservative MP Mark Reckless defected to the UK Independence Party (UKIP), becoming the second MP in a matter of weeks to do so. Reckless resigned his seat, triggering a by-election in which he stood as the UKIP candidate. He won the by-election by just under 3,000 votes and became UKIP's second MP after Douglas Carswell. At the 2015 general election, Reckless was defeated by Conservative candidate Kelly Tolhurst, who had also fought the by-election. Tolhurst secured a majority of over 7,000 votes, meaning the Rochester area once again had an MP on the government benches.

Tolhurst retained her seat at the 2017 and 2019 elections with comfortable majorities, but was defeated by Labour's Lauren Edwards in 2024, maintaining the trend for the area's MP to be a member of the governing party.

Boundaries

2010–2024

The Borough of Medway wards of Cuxton and Halling, Peninsula, River, Rochester East, Rochester South and Horsted, Rochester West, Strood North, Strood Rural and Strood South.[10]

Current

Further to the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the composition of the constituency was reduced to bring its electorate within the permitted range by transferring the Rochester South and Horsted ward (as it existed on 1 December 2020) to Chatham and Aylesford.[11]

Following a local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2023,[12][13] the constituency now comprises the following wards of the Borough of Medway from the 2024 general election:

  • All Saints; Chatham Central & Brompton (part); Cuxton, Halling & Riverside; Fort Pitt (small part); Hoo St Werburgh & High Halstow; Rochester East & Warren Wood (most); Rochester West & Borstal; St Mary's Island; Strood North & Frindsbury; Strood Rural; Strood West; and a very small part of Gillingham North.[14]

Members of Parliament

ElectionMember[15] Party
2010 Mark Reckless Conservative
2014 by-election UKIP
2015 Kelly Tolhurst Conservative
2024 Lauren Edwards Labour

Elections

Election results 2010-2024

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Rochester and Strood
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Lauren Edwards 15,403 36.2 +8.1
Conservative Kelly Tolhurst 12,473 29.3 −29.2
Reform Daniel Dabin 9,966 23.4 N/A
Green Cat Jamieson 2,427 5.7 +3.1
Liberal Democrats Graham Colley 1,894 4.5 –2.7
Workers Party John Innes 245 0.6 N/A
Heritage Peter Burch 190 0.5 N/A
Majority 2,930 6.9 N/A
Turnout 42,598 57.4 –4.5
Registered electors 74,257
Labour gain from Conservative Swing Increase18.7

Elections in the 2010s

2019 notional result[16]
Party Vote %
Conservative26,09858.5
Labour12,54528.1
Liberal Democrats3,1707.1
Others1,6673.7
Green1,1552.6
Turnout 44,635 61.9
Electorate 72,155
General election 2019: Rochester and Strood[17]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Kelly Tolhurst 31,151 60.0 +5.7
Labour Teresa Murray 14,079 27.1 –8.9
Liberal Democrats Graham Colley 3,717 7.2 +5.0
Green Sonia Hyner 1,312 2.5 +1.0
UKIP Roy Freshwater 1,080 2.1 –3.3
Independent Chris Spalding 587 1.1 New
Majority 17,072 32.9 +14.6
Turnout 51,926 63.3 –1.8
Conservative hold Swing +7.3
General election 2017: Rochester and Strood
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Kelly Tolhurst 29,232 54.3 +10.2
Labour Teresa Murray 19,382 36.0 +16.2
UKIP David Allen 2,893 5.4 –25.1
Liberal Democrats Bart Ricketts 1,189 2.2 –0.2
Green Sonia Hyner 781 1.5 –1.4
CPA Steve Benson 163 0.3 New
Independent Primerose Chiguri 129 0.2 New
Majority 9,850 18.3 +4.7
Turnout 53,840 65.1 –1.4
Conservative hold Swing –3.0
General election 2015: Rochester and Strood[18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Kelly Tolhurst 23,142 44.1 –5.1
UKIP Mark Reckless 16,009 30.5 N/A
Labour Naushabah Khan 10,396 19.8 –8.7
Green Clive Gregory 1,516 2.9 +1.4
Liberal Democrats Prue Bray 1,251 2.4 –13.9
TUSC Dan Burn 202 0.4 New
Majority 7,133 13.6 –7.1
Turnout 52,516 66.5 +1.6
Conservative hold Swing
By-election 2014: Rochester and Strood[19][20]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
UKIP Mark Reckless 16,867 42.1 New
Conservative Kelly Tolhurst 13,947 34.8 –14.4
Labour Naushabah Khan 6,713 16.8 –11.7
Green Clive Gregory 1,692 4.2 +2.7
Liberal Democrats Geoff Juby 349 0.9 –15.4
Monster Raving Loony Hairy Knorm Davidson 151 0.4 New
Independent Stephen Goldsborough 69 0.2 New
People Before Profit Nick Long 69 0.2 New
Britain First Jayda Fransen 56 0.1 New
Independent Mike Barker 54 0.1 New
Independent Charlotte Rose 43 0.1 New
Patriotic Socialist Party Dave Osborn 33 0.1 New
Independent Christopher Challis 22 0.1 New
Majority 2,920 7.3 N/A
Turnout 40,065 50.6 –14.3
UKIP gain from Conservative Swing +28.3
General election 2010: Rochester and Strood[21][22]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Mark Reckless 23,604 49.2 +6.6
Labour Teresa Murray 13,651 28.5 −13.1
Liberal Democrats Geoff Juby 7,800 16.3 +3.9
English Democrat Ron Sands 2,182 4.5 New
Green Simon Marchant 734 1.5 New
Majority 9,953 20.7 +19.7
Turnout 47,971 64.9 +2.5
Conservative hold Swing +9.8

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
  2. ↑ As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least 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 25 June 2024.
  2. ↑ "Rochester and Strood – General election results 2024". BBC News. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  3. ↑ "Constituency data: Deprivation in England". commonslibrary.parliament.uk. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  4. ↑ "Accommodation type - Census Maps, ONS". ons.gov.uk. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Seat Details - Rochester and Strood". electoralcalculus.co.uk. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  6. ↑ "Constituency data: Population, by age". commonslibrary.parliament.uk. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  7. 1 2 "Constituency dashboard". House of Commons Library. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  8. ↑ "Constituency data: businesses and industries". commonslibrary.parliament.uk. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  9. ↑ "2021 census results: Ethnic groups in your constituency". commonslibrary.parliament.uk. 4 July 2024. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  10. ↑ 2010 post-revision map non-metropolitan areas and unitary authorities of England
  11. ↑ "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 1 Part 6 South East region.
  12. ↑ LGBCE. "Medway | LGBCE". www.lgbce.org.uk. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  13. ↑ "The Medway (Electoral Changes) Order 2021".
  14. ↑ "New Seat Details – Rochester and Strood". www.electoralcalculus.co.uk. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  15. ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "R" (part 2)
  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. ↑ "Rochester & Strood Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  18. ↑ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  19. ↑ "By-election date set after MP Mark Reckless defects to Ukip". Telegraph.co.uk. 14 October 2014. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
  20. ↑ "UKIP's Reckless wins Rochester seat". BBC News. 21 November 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  21. ↑ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  22. ↑ "Rochester & Strood". BBC News. 7 May 2010.

51°24′N 0°30′E / 51.400°N 0.500°E / 51.400; 0.500

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