Sutton and Cheam is a constituency in Greater London represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Luke Taylor, a Liberal Democrat.

Constituency profile

Sutton and Cheam is a constituency in Greater London in England, within the Borough of Sutton. It covers the areas of Sutton, Cheam, Belmont and part of Worcester Park.

This is a suburban constituency on the edge of Greater London, located around south of the centre of the capital. Sutton is a historic settlement that was traditionally a stopping point on the road between London and Brighton. It grew into a town during the 19th century upon the arrival of railways and was absorbed into London's suburban sprawl during the 20th century. Today, the area is a major retail and economic centre for Outer London. Sutton has average levels of wealth with most residents living in flats, whilst Cheam and Belmont are highly-affluent with many large detached and semi-detached properties. House prices across the constituency are generally higher than the UK average but lower than the rest of London.

Sutton and Cheam has a large population of middle-aged adults with families and low proportions of young adults and retirees. Residents have high levels of income and homeownership, and the child poverty rate is less than half the overall UK figure. They are generally well-educated and a high proportion work in the health, retail and construction sectors. The percentage of residents claiming unemployment benefits is low. White people made up 68% of the population at the 2021 census, around one-fifth of whom were of non-British origin. Asians were the largest ethnic minority group at 19%, including large communities of Indian, Chinese and Sri Lankan origin.

At the local borough council, all seats in this constituency are represented by Liberal Democrats. An estimated 51% of voters in Sutton and Cheam supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum, similar to the UK-wide figure of 52%.

Political history The area's voters produced a 32.6% swing to the Liberal Party in the 1972 by-election. In the nine prior elections it only returned Conservative MPs and the Liberal candidate polled third behind Labour six times and none stood three times.

The seat is a marginal seat which has since 1970 frequently flipped between electing Conservative and Liberal/Liberal Democrat candidates. During the Conservative Government 1979–1990, the seat was won by a sufficient majority to be branded a Conservative safe seat. It was regained by the Liberal Democrats in the 1997 general election and subsequently held in the 2001, 2005 and 2010 general elections. In the 2015 general election the seat was regained by the Conservatives. In June 2016, an estimated 51.28% of local adults voting in the EU membership referendum chose to leave the European Union instead of to remain. This was matched in two January 2018 votes in Parliament by its MP.

At the 2017 general election, the incumbent Conservative MP, Paul Scully, gained an 8.3% swing which moved the seat away from the typical "marginal" band of analysis: Scully won by a 24.4% majority. Due to the secret ballot only opinion polls can determine if this rise in popularity had more to do with the campaign of the Liberal Democrat candidate and/or the Conservatives picking up votes from the non-standing party UKIP, whose withdrawal was common in 2017 nationwide, following the vote to leave the EU. UKIP had 378 candidates across the UK, 346 fewer than in 2015. Also not standing, and having lost their deposits in 2015, were two left-wing minor candidates. An 11.6% extra vote share was on hand for four parties as the candidate list fell from seven to four.

The seat had ranked from 2015 to 2017 the 39th-slimmest margin of majority, specifically in share of the vote as opposed to number of votes, among the 331 Conservative seats. Labour achieved their highest in Sutton and Cheam since 1970 but still finished third; a swing of several percentage points would have been required to make Labour the closest challengers to the Conservatives. The Conservatives finished in fourth place in the European Election 2019, trailing significantly behind the Liberal Democrats, the Brexit Party, and the Labour Party.

Prominent members Richard Sharples, the constituency's Conservative MP from 1954, was a former major in the army, and served as a Home Office Minister, before resigning his seat in 1972 to become Governor of Bermuda.

Boundaries Historic 1945–1950: The Municipal Borough of Sutton and Cheam.

1950–1964: as above (from 1965 becoming wards of the London Borough of Sutton but not described as such in boundary legislation itself for a time).

1964–1978: The London Borough of Sutton wards of Belmont, Cheam North, Cheam South, Cheam West, Sutton Central, Sutton East, Sutton North, Sutton North East, Sutton South, Sutton South East, Worcester Park North, and Worcester Park South.

1978–2002: The London Borough of Sutton wards of Belmont, Cheam South, Cheam West, North Cheam, Rosehill, Sutton Central, Sutton Common, Sutton East, Sutton South, Sutton West, Worcester Park North, and Worcester Park South.

2002–2024: The London Borough of Sutton wards of Belmont, Cheam, Nonsuch, Stonecot, Sutton Central, Sutton North, Sutton South, Sutton West, and Worcester Park.

Current Further to the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the boundaries of the constituency are virtually unchanged. Taking into account the local authority boundary review which came into effect on 4 May 2022, the seat is now composed of the following London Borough of Sutton wards:

Belmont, Cheam, North Cheam, Stonecot, Sutton Central, Sutton North, Sutton South, Sutton West & East Cheam, Worcester Park North, and Worcester Park South.

Members of Parliament

ElectionMemberPartyNotes 1945 Sir Sidney Marshall Resigned 1954 1954 by-election Richard Sharples Resigned 1972 1972 by-election Graham Tope February 1974 Sir Neil Macfarlane 1992 Lady Olga Maitland 1997 Paul Burstow 2015 Paul Scully 2024 Luke Taylor

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1940s

See also List of parliamentary constituencies in London

Notes

References

External links Politics Resources (Election results from 1922 onwards) Electoral Calculus (Election results from 1955 onwards) Sutton and Cheam UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK Sutton and Cheam UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK Sutton and Cheam UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK