List of Parliamentary constituencies in Kent

The ceremonial county of Kent, (which includes the unitary authority of Medway), is divided into 17 Parliamentary constituencies - one borough constituency and 16 county constituencies.

Constituencies

  Conservative †   Labour ‡   Liberal Democrats ¤

Constituency[nb 1]	Electorate[1]	Majority[2][nb 2]	Member of Parliament[2]		Nearest opposition[2]		Map
Ashford CC	89,553	24,029		Damian Green †		Dara Farrell ‡
Canterbury CC	80,203	1,836		Rosie Duffield ‡		Anna Firth †
Chatham and Aylesford CC	71,642	18,540		Tracey Crouch †		Vince Maple ‡
Dartford CC	82,209	19,160		Gareth Johnson †		Sacha Gosine ‡
Dover CC	76,355	12,278		Natalie Elphicke †		Charlotte Cornell ‡
Faversham and Mid Kent CC	73,403	21,976		Helen Whately †		Jenny Reeves ‡
Folkestone and Hythe CC	88,272	21,337		Damian Collins †		Laura Davison ‡
Gillingham and Rainham BC	73,549	15,119		Rehman Chishti †		Andy Stamp ‡
Gravesham CC	73,242	15,581		Adam Holloway †		Lauren Sullivan ‡
Maidstone and The Weald CC	76,109	21,772		Helen Grant †		Dan Wilkinson ‡
North Thanet CC	72,756	17,189		Roger Gale †		Coral Jones ‡
Rochester and Strood CC	82,056	17,072		Kelly Tolhurst †		Teresa Murray ‡
Sevenoaks CC	71,757	20,818		Laura Trott †		Gareth Willis ¤
Sittingbourne and Sheppey CC	83,917	24,479		Gordon Henderson †		Clive Johnson ‡
South Thanet CC	73,223	10,587		Craig Mackinlay †		Rebecca Gordon-Nesbitt ‡
Tonbridge and Malling CC	79,278	26,941		Tom Tugendhat †		Richard Morris ¤
Tunbridge Wells CC	74,823	14,645		Greg Clark †		Ben Chapelard ¤

Boundary changes

Name	Boundaries prior to 2010
Ashford CC Canterbury CC Chatham and Aylesford CC Dartford CC Dover CC Faversham and Mid Kent CC Folkestone and Hythe CC Gillingham BC Gravesham CC Maidstone and The Weald CC Medway CC North Thanet CC Sevenoaks CC Sittingbourne and Sheppey CC South Thanet CC Tonbridge and Malling CC Tunbridge Wells CC	Parliamentary constituencies in Kent

The Boundary Commission for England retained these 17 constituencies, with changes to realign constituency boundaries with the boundaries of current local government wards, and to reduce the electoral disparity between constituencies.

They recommended two name changes: Gillingham to Gillingham and Rainham to reflect the similar stature of the two towns, and Medway to Rochester and Strood to avoid confusion with the larger Medway unitary authority. These changes were implemented at the 2010 United Kingdom general election.

Proposed name	Current boundaries
Ashford CC Canterbury CC Chatham and Aylesford CC Dartford CC Dover CC Faversham and Mid Kent CC Folkestone and Hythe CC Gillingham and Rainham BC Gravesham CC Maidstone and The Weald CC North Thanet CC Rochester and Strood CC Sevenoaks CC Sittingbourne and Sheppey CC South Thanet CC Tonbridge and Malling CC Tunbridge Wells CC	Proposed Revised constituencies in Kent

Proposed boundary changes

The Boundary Commission for England submitted their final proposals in respect of the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster Constituencies (the 2018 review) in September 2018. Although the proposals were immediately laid before Parliament they were not brought forward by the Government for approval. Accordingly, they did not come into effect for the 2019 election which took place on 12 December 2019, and which was contested using the constituency boundaries in place since 2010.

Under the terms of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011, the Sixth Review was based on reducing the total number of MPs from 650 to 600 and a strict electoral parity requirement that the electorate of all constituencies should be within a range of 5% either side of the electoral quota.

On 24 March 2020, the Minister of State for the Cabinet Office, Chloe Smith, issued a written statement to Parliament setting out the Government's thinking with regard to parliamentary boundaries.[3] Subsequently, the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020[4] was passed into law on 14 December 2020. This formally removed the duty to implement the 2018 review and set out the framework for future boundary reviews. The Act provided that the number of constituencies should remain at the current level of 650, rather than being reduced to 600, while retaining the requirement that the electorate should be no more than +/- 5% from the electoral quota.

The Act specified that the next review should be completed no later than 1 July 2023 and the Boundary Commission formally launched the 2023 Review on 5 January 2021.[5] See 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies for further details.

Results history

Primary data source: House of Commons research briefing - General election results from 1918 to 2019[6]

2019

The number of votes cast for each political party who fielded candidates in constituencies comprising Kent in the 2019 general election were as follows:

Party	Votes	%	Change from 2017	Seats	Change from 2017
Conservative	532,342	60.1%	3.7%	16	0
Labour	221,554	25.0%	6.7%	1	0
Liberal Democrats	91,973	10.4%	4.9%	0	0
Greens	28,264	3.2%	1.0%	0	0
Others	11,063	1.3%	2.9%	0	0
Total	885,196	100.0		17

Percentage votes

Election year	1974 (Feb)	1974 (Oct)	1979	1983	1987	1992	1997	2001	2005	2010	2015	2017	2019
Conservative	44.2	44.0	53.9	53.9	54.0	53.1	40.5	43.4	45.8	50.5	49.2	56.4	60.1
Labour	29.5	33.3	29.9	18.6	19.3	24.3	37.1	37.7	32.4	21.1	20.0	31.7	25.0
Liberal Democrat^1	25.7	21.8	15.1	26.9	26.1	21.3	17.0	15.5	17.3	20.9	6.3	5.5	10.4
Green Party	-	-	-	-	*	*	*	*	*	1.0	3.6	2.2	3.2
UKIP	-	-	-	-	-	-	*	*	*	3.9	20.3	3.6	*
Other	0.6	0.9	1.1	0.7	0.6	1.3	5.4	3.4	4.4	2.6	0.5	0.6	1.3

¹1974 & 1979 - Liberal Party; 1983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance

* Included in Other

Seats

Election year	1974 (Feb)	1974 (Oct)	1979	1983	1987	1992	1997	2001	2005	2010	2015	2017	2019
Conservative	13	12	15	16	16	16	9	9	10	17	17	16	16
Labour	2	3	0	0	0	0	8	8	7	0	0	1	1
Total	15	15	15	16	16	16	17	17	17	17	17	17	17

Maps

• 
  Feb 1974
• 
  Oct 1974
• 
  1979
• 
  1983
• 
  1987
• 
  1992
• 
  1997
• 
  2001
• 
  2005
• 
  2010
• 
  2015
• 
  2017
• 
  2019

Historic representation by party

A cell marked → (with a different colour background to the preceding cell) indicates that the previous MP continued to sit under a new party name.

1885 to 1918

  Conservative   Independent Conservative   Independent Liberal   Labour   Liberal   Liberal Unionist   National Party

Constituency	1885	1886	88	89	1892	93	1895	98	99	1900	01	03	04	1906	Jan 1910	Dec 1910	11	12	13	15	17	18
Ashford	Pomfret				Hardy
Canterbury	Heaton															Bennett-Goldney						Anderson
Chatham	Gorst				Loyd		Davies							Jenkins	Hohler
Dartford	Dyke													Rowlands	Mitchell	Rowlands
Dover	Dickson			Wyndham															Ponsonby		→
Faversham	Knatchbull-Hugessen						Barnes			Howard				Napier	Wheler
Gravesend	White				Palmer			Ryder		Parker												Richardson
Hythe	Watkin	→					Edwards		E. Sassoon									P. Sassoon
Isle of Thanet	King-Harman		Lowther										Marks		Craig
Maidstone	Ross		Cornwallis				Hunt	Cornwallis		Barker	Evans			Vane-Tempest-Stewart						Bellairs
Medway	Gathorne-Hardy				Warde
Rochester	Hughes-Hallett			Knatchbull-Hugessen	Davies	Gascoyne-Cecil						Tuff		Lamb	Ridley	Lamb
St Augustine's	Akers-Douglas																McNeill
Sevenoaks	Mills				Forster
Tunbridge	Norton				Griffith-Boscawen									Hedges	Spender-Clay

1918 to 1950

  Coalition Liberal (1918-22) / National Liberal (1922-23)   Conservative   Constitutionalist   Independent   Labour   Liberal   National Labour

Constituency	1918	19	20	21	1922	23	1923	1924	27	28	1929	30	31	1931	33	35	1935	37	38	39	43	1945	45	46	47
Bexley																						Adamson		Bramall
Orpington																						Smithers
Ashford	Steel										Kedward			Knatchbull	Spens						Smith
Bromley	Forster	James										Campbell											Macmillan
Canterbury	McNeill								Wayland													White
Chatham	Moore-Brabazon										Markham		→	Goff			Plugge					Bottomley
Chislehurst	A. Smithers				Nesbitt			W. Smithers														Wallace
Dartford	Rowlands		Mills		Jarrett	→	Mills	McDonnell			Mills			Clarke					Adamson			Dodds
Dover	Ponsonby			Polson	Astor																	Thomas
Faversham	Wheler									Maitland												Wells
Gillingham	Hohler										Gower											Binns
Gravesend	Richardson						Isaacs	Albery														Allighan			Acland
Hythe	P. Sassoon																			Brabner		Mackeson
Isle of Thanet	Craig	Harmsworth									Balfour											Carson
Maidstone	Bellairs													Bossom
Sevenoaks	Bennett						Williams	Styles			Young					Ponsonby
Tonbridge	Spender-Clay																	Baillie				Williams

1950 to 1974

  Conservative   Labour   Liberal

Constituency	1950	1951	53	55	1955	56	57	1959	62	64	1964	1966	1970
Ashford	Deedes
Beckenham	Buchan-Hepburn						Goodhart							Transferred to Greater London
Bexley	Heath													Transferred to Greater London
Bromley	Macmillan										Hunt			Transferred to Greater London
Canterbury	White		Thomas									Crouch
Chislehurst	Hornsby-Smith											Macdonald	Hornsby-Smith	Transferred to Greater London
Dartford	Dodds				Irving								Trew
Dover	Arbuthnot										Ennals		Rees
Erith and Crayford					Dodds									Transferred to Greater London
Faversham	Wells									Boston			Moate
Folkestone and Hythe	Mackeson							Costain
Gillingham	Burden
Gravesend	Acland				Kirk						Murray		White
Isle of Thanet	Carson		Rees-Davies
Maidstone	Bossom							Wells
Orpington	Smithers			Sumner					Lubbock				Stanbrook	Transferred to Greater London
Rochester and Chatham	Bottomley							Critchley			Kerr		Fenner
Sevenoaks	Rodgers
Tonbridge	Williams					Hornby

1974 to present

  Conservative   Independent   Labour   UKIP

Constituency	Feb 1974	Oct 1974	1979	1983	1987	1992	1997	2001	2005	2010	14	2015	2017	17	18	19	2019
Ashford	Deedes	Speed					Green
Canterbury	D. Crouch				Brazier								Duffield
Dartford	Irving		Dunn				Stoate			Johnson
Dover & Deal / Dover (1983–)	Rees				Shaw		Prosser			C. Elphicke				→	→	→	N. Elphicke
Faversham / Sittingbourne and Sheppey (1997)	Moate						Wyatt			Henderson
Folkestone and Hythe	Costain			Howard						Collins
Gillingham / & Rainham (2010)	Burden			Couchman			Clark			Chishti
Gravesend / Gravesham (1983)	Ovenden		Brinton		Arnold		Pond		Holloway
Maidstone / & The Weald (1997)	Wells				Widdecombe					Grant
Rochester & Chatham / Medway (1983) / Rochester & Strood (2010)	Fenner	Bean	Fenner				Marshall-Andrews			Reckless	→	Tolhurst
Sevenoaks	Rodgers		Wolfson				Fallon										Trott
Thanet W / North Thanet (1983)	Rees-Davies			Gale
Tonbridge & Malling	Hornby	Stanley											Tugendhat
Thanet East / South Thanet (1983)	Aitken						Ladyman			Sandys		Mackinlay
Tunbridge Wells	Mayhew						Norman		Clark
Mid Kent / Faversham & Mid Kent (1997)				Rowe				Robertson				Whately
Chatham and Aylesford							Shaw			T. Crouch

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in the South East (region)

Notes

1. BC denotes borough constituency, CC denotes county constituency.
2. The majority is the number of votes the winning candidate receives more than their nearest rival.

References

1. Baker, Carl; Uberoi, Elise; Cracknell, Richard (28 January 2020). "General Election 2019: full results and analysis". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
2. "Constituencies A-Z - Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
3. "Update: Strengthening Democracy:Written statement - HCWS183". UK Parliament. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
4. "Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020".
5. "2023 Review launched | Boundary Commission for England". Retrieved 8 January 2021.
6. Watson, Christopher; Uberoi, Elise; Loft, Philip (17 April 2020). "General election results from 1918 to 2019". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)