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- Community News
- 30 June, 2024
Millions of voters across London will go the polls on July 4 to elect the new Government. The Standard looks at key battleground and other seats in the capital, and has published an interactive map. Here we turn the spotlight on: BROMLEY AND BIGGIN HILL
Estimated declaration time 5 am
Candidates for main parties (in alphabetical order):
Alan Cook – Reform UK
Peter Fortune – Conservative
Julie Ireland – Liberal Democrats
Oana Olaru-Holmes – Labour Party
Caroline Sandes – Green Party
Summary: This new constituency carved out in South East London is a difficult one to call.
The affluent suburban seat of Bromley and Chislehurst was held by Conservative MP Sir Bob Neill but he has stood down.
Sir Bob was a centrist, Europhile MP, who stood up against the Right of the Tory Party, defeated UKIP’s Nigel Farage in 2006, and chaired the Commons Justice Committee.
His departure after 18 years in the Commons means that the Tories are likely to face a more difficult fight to hold onto this new seat which stretches from the borders of Lewisham in the north to Tandridge in the south.
It is also a wealthy constituency with the average house price just under £600,000 last year, according to the Centre for Cities.
Area: The constituency’s wards include Bickley, Biggin Hill, Bromley Common and Keston, Bromley Town, Darwin (part of), Hayes and Coney Hall, Plaistow, and Sundridge.
Boundary changes impact (Thrasher and Rallings analysis): Boundary changes make this new seat more of a Conservative one than the old Bromley and Chislehurst constituency. The Tories won the latter with 52.6 per cent of the vote in 2019, followed by Labour at 28.7 per cent, and the Lib Dems at 14.5 per cent. The new seat would have been 54.5 per cent Conservative, 25.1 per cent Labour and 16 per cent Lib Dem.
YouGov MRP poll prediction: Labour gain from Tories
Evening Standard view: The Bromley and Chislehurst constituency was held by the Tories, often with a hefty majority, since its creation in 1997. It’s hard to see this corner of south east London turning Red, but not impossible.
