Chichester (UK Parliament constituency)

Chichester centres on the small medieval cathedral city by the South Downs National Park. It is one of the oldest constituencies in the UK, having been created when commoners were first called to the Model Parliament in 1295 as one of the original Parliamentary boroughs returning two members. The seat has sent one member since 1868, after the Reform Act 1867.

In its various forms, Chichester has been a Conservative stronghold since 1868, and has been held by them continuously since 1924 up until 2024 with the election of Liberal Democrat MP Jess Brown-Fuller.

Map of boundaries 2010–2024

The seat forms a far western strip of West Sussex and covers most of the Chichester district.

Before the 1974 redistribution Chichester was a more compact seat, taking in the eastern towns of Arundel and Bognor Regis in latter years. Emergence of newer urban centres and modern cities meant that the area was expanded to the north to avoid malapportionment.

1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Chichester, the Sessional Divisions of Arundel and Chichester, and part of the Sessional Division of Steyning.

1918–1950: The Municipal Boroughs of Arundel and Chichester, the Urban Districts of Bognor and Littlehampton, and the Rural Districts of East Preston, Midhurst, Petworth, Westbourne, and Westhampnett.

1950–1974: The Municipal Borough of Chichester, the Urban District of Bognor Regis, and the Rural District of Chichester.

1974–1983: The Municipal Borough of Chichester, the Rural Districts of Midhurst and Petworth, and part of the Rural District of Chichester.

1983–1997: The District of Chichester. The constituency boundaries remained unchanged.

1997–2010: All the wards of the District of Chichester except the Bury, Plaistow and Wisborough Green wards.

2010–2024: The District of Chichester wards of Bosham, Boxgrove, Chichester East, Chichester North, Chichester South, Chichester West, Donnington, Easebourne, East Wittering, Fernhurst, Fishbourne, Funtington, Harting, Lavant, Midhurst, North Mundham, Plaistow, Rogate, Selsey North, Selsey South, Sidlesham, Southbourne, Stedham, Tangmere, West Wittering, and Westbourne.

2024–present: The District of Arun wards of Bersted and Pagham, and District of Chichester wards of Chichester Central, Chichester East, Chichester North, Chichester South, Chichester West, Goodwood (part), Harbour Villages, Lavant, North Mundham & Tangmere, Selsey South, Sidlesham with Selsey North, Southbourne, The Witterings, and Westbourne.^[4]

Electorate reduced to bring it within the permitted range by transferring northern, largely rural areas, including the town of Midhurst, to Arundel and South Downs. To partly compensate, Bersted and Pagham were transferred in from Bognor Regis and Littlehampton.

The constituency runs from the county's border with Surrey, through a partly wooded broad swathe of the South Downs, to the town of Selsey and paired villages The Witterings on the English Channel. The small cathedral city Chichester and Selsey account for 6 of 24 wards but comprise a higher proportion of councillors as these are larger three-member wards. Another larger Ward comprises the Georgian market town of Midhurst towards the north. The highest density of villages is near the Hampshire border, in the west.

The city has relatively little social housing and few homes which are cheap to buy or rent, as epitomised in the National Park status of much of the land north of Chichester. In Chichester itself the percentage of social housing in 2011 was 20.5%, including 3% directly in local authority homes.^[5] The area is linked to London by train and the A3. Modestly deprived areas of Chichester, Selsey and the rural South Downs are dominated by the working poor and poorer pensioners with little generational unemployment. The local economy has many entry-level or intensive manual jobs in food production, retail, driving, warehousing as well as intermittent or traditionally low paid labour such as road repair and the care sector. Some of these workers commute from the outskirts of nearest major cities Brighton and Portsmouth.^[6] The contributory districts occupy the top two rankings out of all seven in terms of fuel poverty in West Sussex.^[7]

The seat has been Conservative since 1924; in 2017 incumbent Keegan saw her vote share exceed that of 1992. The closest election since then was the 1997 general election, where a Liberal Democrat took 29% of the vote. The best performances by Labour candidates were in 2001 and 2017, with 21.4% and 22.4% of the vote, respectively. In terms of the fourth party since 2001, the three general elections to 2010 saw an increase in support for the UK Independence Party to their highest level to date, 6.8%.

• Constituency created 1295

General election 2024: Chichester^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Jess Brown-Fuller[23]	25,540	49.2	28.9
	Conservative	Gillian Keegan	13,368	25.7	33.1
	Reform UK	Teresa De Santis	7,859	15.1	15.1
	Labour	Tom Collinge	3,175	6.1	9.3
	Green	Tim Young[24]	1,815	3.5	1.4
	Independent	Andrew Emerson	190	0.4	0.4
Majority			12,178	23.5	11.6
Turnout			51,947	66.3	5.3
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing	31.0

General election 2019: Chichester^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gillian Keegan	35,402	57.8	2.3
	Liberal Democrats	Kate O'Kelly	13,912	22.7	11.4
	Labour	Jay Morton	9,069	14.8	7.6
	Green	Heather Barrie	2,527	4.1	0.8
	Libertarian	Adam Brown	224	0.4	New
	Patria	Andrew Emerson	109	0.2	0.1
Majority			21,490	35.1	2.6
Turnout			61,243	71.6	1.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	6.9

General election 2017: Chichester^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gillian Keegan	36,032	60.1	2.4
	Labour	Mark Farwell[27]	13,411	22.4	10.3
	Liberal Democrats	Jonathan Brown[28]	6,749	11.3	2.8
	Green	Heather Barrie	1,992	3.3	3.2
	UKIP	Andrew Moncreiff[29]	1,650	2.8	12.1
	Patria	Andrew Emerson	84	0.1	0.1
Majority			22,621	37.7	5.1
Turnout			59,918	70.6	2.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	3.8

General election 2015: Chichester^[30]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Andrew Tyrie	32,953	57.7	2.4
	UKIP	Andrew Moncreiff[29]	8,540	14.9	8.1
	Labour	Mark Farwell[31]	6,933	12.1	1.6
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Smith[32]	4,865	8.5	18.9
	Green	Jasper Richmond[33]	3,742	6.5	New
	Patria	Andrew Emerson	106	0.2	New
Majority			24,413	42.8	14.9
Turnout			57,139	68.4	1.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	2.9

General election 2010: Chichester

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Andrew Tyrie	31,427	55.3	7.4
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Lury	15,550	27.4	0.3
	Labour	Simon Holland	5,937	10.5	8.1
	UKIP	Andrew Moncreiff	3,873	6.8	1.0
Majority			15,877	27.9	7.7
Turnout			56,787	69.7	4.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	3.8

This constituency underwent boundary changes between the 1992 and 1997 general elections and thus change in share of vote is based on a notional calculation.

General Election 1939–40:

Another general election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: John Courtauld
• Labour: E A Weston
• Liberal: Gerald Kidd^[35]
• British Union: Charles Hudson

General Election 1914–15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Unionist: Edmund Talbot
• Liberal:

• Caused by Gordon-Lennox's resignation.

• Caused by Lennox's appointment as First Commissioner of Works and Public Buildings

Seat reduced to one member

• Caused by Freeland's resignation.

• Caused by Gordon-Lennox's appointment as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury.

• Caused by Gordon-Lennox's appointment as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury.

• Caused by Lennox's resignation by accepting the office of Steward of the Manor of Hempholme

• Caused by Lennox's appointment as Clerk of the Ordnance

• Caused by Lennox's appointment as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury

• List of parliamentary constituencies in West Sussex
• List of parliamentary constituencies in the South East England (region)

• Election result, 2010 (BBC)
• Election result, 2005 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997 – 2001 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997 – 2001 Archived 21 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine (Election Demon)
• Election results, 1983 – 1992 (Election Demon)
• Election results, 1992 – 2010 (Guardian) (UKIP result for 2001 is incorrect)
• Iain Dale, ed. (2003). The Times House of Commons 1929, 1931, 1935. Politico's (reprint). ISBN 1-84275-033-X.
• The Times House of Commons 1945. 1945. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
• The Times House of Commons 1950. 1950. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
• The Times House of Commons 1955. 1955. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)

• nomis Constituency Profile for Chichester — presenting data from the ONS annual population survey and other official statistics.
• Chichester UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
• Chichester UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK

50°50′11″N 0°46′45″W / 50.83652°N 0.77918°W / 50.83652; -0.77918