# South Basildon and East Thurrock (UK Parliament constituency)

South Basildon and East Thurrock is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by James McMurdock of Reform UK.

## Constituency profile

The seat had a very similar proportion (4.0%) of jobseekers to the national average of 3.8%, based on The Guardian's November 2012 study. This is higher than the average for the Eastern counties of 3.1% but significantly lower than Bedford, Great Yarmouth, Peterborough, Luton South, Rochford and Southend East, and Thurrock seats.

## History

The seat was created for the 2010 general election following a review of the Parliamentary representation of Essex by the Boundary Commission for England. It was formed from the majority of the abolished constituency of Basildon, but excluding the centre of Basildon itself, together with the town of Pitsea from the abolished Billericay constituency.
Before 1974 the area came within the older version of the Billericay constituency and, for just five years before 1950, this area was the eastern part of the Thurrock seat – from 1885 to 1945 the area was within the South East Essex seat. From 1832 to 1885 the area was in the South Essex seat.
Its predecessor seat, Basildon, was a much-referenced bellwether seat, having consistently voted for the most successful party (in terms of number of seats) in each election since its 1974 creation. However, the boundaries of the new South Basildon and East Thurrock seat were considered much more favourable to the Conservatives than those of the old Basildon seat. Accordingly, the seat was held with comfortable majorities by Stephen Metcalfe of the Conservative Party from 2010 to 2024. However, at the 2024 general election, Metcalfe's vote fell by nearly 40% and he was relegated to third place, with James McMurdock of Reform UK (contesting the seat for the first time), capturing the seat with a 0.2% majority over Labour.

## Boundaries
### 2010–2024

* The Borough of Thurrock wards of Corringham and Fobbing, East Tilbury, Orsett, Stanford East and Corringham Town, Stanford-le-Hope West, and The Homesteads, and;
* The Borough of Basildon wards of Langdon Hills, Nethermayne, Pitsea North West, Pitsea South East and Vange.
Despite its long name, this new constituency is to the greatest extent the successor to the Basildon constituency.
The Basildon constituency that existed after 1997 was never wholly within the Basildon district, nor even contained the whole of the Basildon urban area, but it extended south into the Thurrock council area to take in towns such as Stanford-le-Hope and Corringham.
This new seat retained all of the Thurrock wards, lost some areas around central Basildon, and replaced them with Pitsea to the east of Basildon. Additionally, the ward of East Tilbury was added from the Thurrock constituency.

### 2024–present

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 Borough of Basildon wards of: Langdon Hills; Nethermayne; Pitsea North West; Pitsea South East (polling districts DO, DP, DQ and DR).
* The Borough of Thurrock wards of: Chadwell St. Mary; Corringham and Fobbing; East Tilbury; Orsett; Stanford East and Corringham Town; Stanford-le-Hope West; The Homesteads.
The Borough of Basildon ward of Vange was transferred to Basildon and Billericay, and polling district DN in the Pitsea South East ward (equivalent to the civil parish of Bowers Gifford and North Benfleet) was added to Castle Point. To compensate, the Borough of Thurrock ward of Chadwell St Mary was transferred from Thurrock.

## Members of Parliament

Basildon, Billericay and Thurrock prior to 2010
| Election | Election | Member | Party |
| | 2010 | Stephen Metcalfe | Conservative |
| | 2024 | James McMurdock | Reform UK |

## Elections
### Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: South Basildon and East Thurrock :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Reform UK | James McMurdock | 12,178 | 30.8 | N/A |
| | Labour | Jack Ferguson | 12,080 | 30.5 | +6.9 |
| | Conservative | Stephen Metcalfe | 10,159 | 25.7 | −39.7 |
| | Independent | Neil Speight | 1,928 | 4.9 | N/A |
| | Green | Elizabeth Grant | 1,718 | 4.3 | +4.1 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Dave Thomas | 1,071 | 2.7 | −1.4 |
| | Independent | Steven Burnett | 275 | 0.7 | N/A |
| | SDP | Simon Breedon | 140 | 0.4 | N/A |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 98 | 0.2 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 39,549 | 54.7 | |
| | Reform UK gain from Conservative | Reform UK gain from Conservative | Swing | | |

### Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: South Basildon and East Thurrock :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Stephen Metcalfe | 29,973 | 66.2 | +9.3 |
| | Labour | Jack Ferguson | 10,051 | 22.2 | −10.3 |
| | Independent | Kerry Smith | 3,316 | 7.3 | N/A |
| | Liberal Democrats | Michael Bukola | 1,957 | 4.3 | +2.7 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 19,922 | 44.0 | +19.6 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 45,297 | 60.8 | −3.2 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | +9.8 | |
General election 2017: South Basildon and East Thurrock :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Stephen Metcalfe | 26,811 | 56.9 | +13.5 |
| | Labour | Byron Taylor | 15,321 | 32.5 | +7.3 |
| | UKIP | Peter Whittle | 3,193 | 6.8 | −19.7 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Nath Banerji | 732 | 1.6 | −1.4 |
| | Green | Sim Harman | 680 | 1.4 | N/A |
| | BNP | Paul Borg | 383 | 0.8 | N/A |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 11,490 | 24.4 | +7.5 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 47,178 | 64.0 | −0.1 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | +3.1 | |
General election 2015: South Basildon and East Thurrock :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Stephen Metcalfe | 19,788 | 43.4 | −0.5 |
| | UKIP | Ian Luder | 12,097 | 26.5 | +20.6 |
| | Labour | Mike Le-Surf | 11,493 | 25.2 | −5.8 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Geoff Williams | 1,356 | 3.0 | −10.4 |
| | Independent | Kerry Smith | 401 | 0.9 | N/A |
| | Independent | None of the Above X (Terry Marsh) | 253 | 0.6 | +0.3 |
| | Independent | Stuart Hooper | 205 | 0.4 | N/A |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 7,692 | 16.9 | +4.0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 45,593 | 64.1 | +1.9 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | +2.6 | |
General election 2010: South Basildon and East Thurrock :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Stephen Metcalfe | 19,624 | 43.9 | |
| | Labour Co-op | Angela Smith* | 13,852 | 31.0 | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Geoff Williams | 5,977 | 13.4 | |
| | UKIP | Kerry Smith | 2,639 | 5.9 | |
| | BNP | Chris Roberts | 2,518 | 5.6 | |
| | Independent | None of the Above X (Terry Marsh) | 125 | 0.3 | |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 5,772 | 12.9 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 44,735 | 62.2 | |
| | Conservative win (new seat) | Conservative win (new seat) | Conservative win (new seat) | Conservative win (new seat) | Conservative win (new seat) |