Similar to other coastal seats, such as Christchurch in Dorset, Clacton's electorate comprises among the oldest 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]
On 28 August 2014, Carswell announced his defection to UKIP.[12] 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 stood as the UKIP candidate[13] and was elected as the party's first MP.[14] The then UKIP leader Nigel Farage declared that the result in Clacton had "shaken up British politics".[15] 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.[16]
On 25 March 2017, Carswell announced on his blog that he was quitting UKIP to sit as an independent MP,[17] 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".[18]
After Prime MinisterTheresa 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.[19] 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.
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.[20] A YouGov poll published on 19 June 2024 (using the MRP technique) predicted that Farage would defeat Watling.[21] Farage won the seat with 46.2% of the vote.[22] The swing from the Conservative Party to the Reform Party of 45.1% is the largest swing for any seat at a UK general election. For more detail see Clacton in the 2024 United Kingdom general election.
Boundaries
2010–2024
Map of boundaries 2010–2024
The District of Tendringwards 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.[23]
The District of Tendring wards of: Bluehouse; Burrsville; Cann Hall; Coppins; Eastcliff; Frinton; Homelands; Kirby Cross; Kirby-le-Soken & Hamford; Little Clacton; Pier; St. Bartholomew's; St. James; St. John's; St Osyth; St. Paul's; The Bentleys & Frating; The Oakleys & Wix; Thorpe, Beaumont & Great Holland; Walton; Weeley & Tendring; West Clacton & Jaywick Sands.[24]
The revised contents are expanded slightly by the addition of some inland rural areas and villages, transferred from Harwich and North Essex.
