Croydon West
Croydon West is a borough constituency which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 to 1955 by the first past the post system of election.
Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was re-established for the 2024 general election. It primarily comprises the majority of the abolished constituency of Croydon North, with the addition of Croydon town centre and the community of Waddon.
Constituency profile
Croydon West is an entirely urban and suburban constituency located in the Borough of Croydon on the outskirts of Greater London. It covers the centre of the large town of Croydon and the neighbourhoods to its north and west, including Waddon, Selhurst and South Norwood. Like much of suburban London, Croydon grew rapidly during the 19th century with the arrival of rail transport and now serves as a commuter town. The constituency has high levels of deprivation, with much of it falling within the 20% most-deprived areas in England.Residents of Croydon West are generally young and have low levels of income and professional employment compared with the rest of London. House prices are similar to the national average but much lower than the London average. The constituency has a high level of ethnic diversity; at the 2021 census, White people made up 33% of the population, one-third of whom were not of British origin. Black people were 31% and Asians were 23%. At the local borough council, most of the constituency is represented by Labour Party councillors, with a small number of Conservative and Green Party representatives in the south of the constituency. Voters in Croydon West were mostly supportive of remaining in the European Union in the 2016 referendum; an estimated 56% voted to remain compared to 48% nationwide.
Politics and history
Croydon West was a short-lived seat for the 1950 general election, creating three seats in the County Borough of Croydon from the previous two, also taking in areas from the East Surrey constituency to the south.Croydon West took in areas of the former Croydon North and Croydon South constituencies, and East Surrey. It bordered Croydon East, Croydon North, East Surrey and Mitcham.
All three Croydon constituencies were abolished five years later at the 1955 general election, re-creating Croydon South and creating Croydon North East and Croydon North West seats.
For the entirety of its first iteration in the 1950s, Croydon West's Member of Parliament was Conservative Richard Thompson. It was contested in two elections: the 1950 general election and the 1951 general election. Prior to 1950, Croydon South had been held by Labour and most of the Labour voters were re-drawn into Croydon West, making it a marginal seat.