Chelsea and Fulham (UK Parliament constituency)

Chelsea and Fulham is a constituency in Greater London represented since 2024 in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Ben Coleman of the Labour Party.

Chelsea and Fulham
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Location within Greater London
County	Greater London
Population	121,100 (2022)[1]
Electorate	76,481 (March 2020)[2]
Current constituency
Created	2010
Member of Parliament	Ben Coleman (Labour)
Seats	One
Created from	Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham

Boundaries

2010–2024

Following the review of parliamentary representation in London, the boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham were paired for constituency allocation purposes and allocated three seats between them.

This broke the previous pairings of Kensington and Chelsea with the City of Westminster, and of Hammersmith and Fulham with the London Borough of Ealing, and therefore abolished the seats Hammersmith and Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea with their "spillover" cross-boundary seats of Regents Park and Kensington North and Ealing Acton and Shepherds Bush.

The historical constituency of Kensington was recreated, and the Hammersmith seat was also revived.

The new constituency of Chelsea and Fulham was made up of the following electoral wards:^[3]

• From the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham: Fulham Broadway, Munster, Palace Riverside, Parsons Green and Walham, Sands End, Town.
• From the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea: Brompton and Hans Town, Chelsea Riverside, Redcliffe, Royal Hospital, Stanley.

2024–present

Map of boundaries from 2024

Following the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency is composed of:

• The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham wards of Fulham Reach, Fulham Town, Lillie, Munster, Palace & Hurlingham, Parsons Green & Sandford, Sands End, Walham Green, and West Kensington.

• The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea wards of Chelsea Riverside, Redcliffe, Royal Hospital, and Stanley.^[4]

The new boundaries reflect revised local authority ward structures. To bring the electorate within the permitted range, the Hammersmith and Fulham wards of Fulham Reach and West Kensington were transferred in from the abolished constituency of Hammersmith. The whole of the Kensington and Chelsea ward of Brompton and Hans Town is now included in the new constituency of Kensington and Bayswater.

Political history

The constituency includes affluent areas and opulent private housing. The small amount of social housing in the constituency is concentrated in the smaller than ward-size Worlds End Estate. An alternative in-depth analysis, of local elections, confirms one ward has seen opposition members in elections since the 1980s, of 11 wards forming the seat. At the 2010 election, only five other constituencies voted more strongly for the Conservative Party: Richmond (Yorkshire), Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, Windsor (Berkshire), Hampshire North East and Chesham and Amersham also in Buckinghamshire.^[5]

Somewhat surprisingly, however, in the 2017 United Kingdom general election the Conservative majority in Chelsea and Fulham was almost halved from 16,022 to 8,188, making it only the eighth-safest Conservative seat in Greater London (with several other seats such as Romford and Bexleyheath and Crayford proving safer for the Tories despite previously electing Labour MPs in the Blair era, whilst Chelsea never did).

The 2019 election saw a resurgence in the Liberal Democrat vote, which saw them take second place, but this was reversed in the 2024 election when Labour came through from third place in 2019 to win the seat by 152 votes over the Conservatives.

In the early 1960s the Chelsea Labour Party (old boundaries) created the National Campaign for the Young Chronic Sick, led by constituency member (Mr) Marsh Dickson, which generated national TV and newspaper coverage leading to the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 promoted as a Private Members Bill by Alf Morris MP.

Constituency profile

The football grounds at Stamford Bridge and Craven Cottage are in the seat, which is the chosen home of many of London's elite footballers, as well as other wealthy celebrities. The constituency includes the fashionable King's Road thoroughfare, a key destination for shopping and culture.

Members of Parliament

Election	Member[6]	Party
2010	Greg Hands		Conservative
2024	Ben Coleman		Labour

Elections

Election results 2010-2024

For results of predecessor seats, see Kensington and Chelsea, and Hammersmith and Fulham.

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Chelsea and Fulham^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ben Coleman	18,556	39.4	+10.3
	Conservative	Greg Hands	18,404	39.1	−6.4
	Liberal Democrats	Blaise Baquiche	3,611	7.7	−16.1
	Reform UK	Anthony Goodwin	3,144	6.7	+6.4
	Green	Mona Crocker	2,798	5.9	+5.5
	Workers Party	Sabi Patwary	538	1.1	N/A
	Heritage	David Poulden	65	0.1	N/A
Majority			152	0.3
Turnout			47,116	60.1	−11.6
Registered electors			78,468
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+8.4

Elections in the 2010s

2019 notional result [n 1] [8]
Party		Vote	%
	Conservative	24,909	45.5
	Labour	15,916	29.1
	Liberal Democrats	13,053	23.8
	Others	500	0.9
	Green	228	0.4
	Brexit Party	175	0.3
Majority		8,993	16.4
Turnout		54,781	71.6
Electorate		76,481

General election 2019: Chelsea and Fulham^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Greg Hands	23,345	49.9	−2.7
	Liberal Democrats	Nicola Horlick	12,104	25.9	+14.9
	Labour	Matt Uberoi	10,872	23.2	−10.0
	Animal Welfare	Sam Morland	500	1.0	N/A
Majority			11,241	24.0	+4.6
Turnout			46,821	69.8	+3.7
Registered electors			67,110
	Conservative hold		Swing	−8.8

General election 2017: Chelsea and Fulham^[10][11][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Greg Hands	22,179	52.6	−10.3
	Labour	Alan De'Ath	13,991	33.2	+10.1
	Liberal Democrats	Louise Rowntree	4,627	11.0	+5.8
	Green	Bill Cashmore	807	1.9	−1.8
	UKIP	Alasdair Seton-Marsden	524	1.2	−3.9
Majority			8,188	19.4	−20.4
Turnout			42,128	66.1	+2.7
Registered electors			63,728
	Conservative hold		Swing	−10.3

General election 2015: Chelsea and Fulham^[13][14][15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Greg Hands	25,322	62.9	+2.4
	Labour	Alexandra Sanderson	9,300	23.1	+4.6
	Liberal Democrats	Simon Bailey	2,091	5.2	−11.0
	UKIP	Adrian Noble	2,039	5.1	+3.9
	Green	Guy Rubin	1,474	3.7	+2.0
Majority			16,022	39.8	−2.2
Turnout			40,226	63.4	+3.3
Registered electors			63,478
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.1

General election 2010: Chelsea and Fulham^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Greg Hands	24,093	60.5
	Labour	Alex Hilton	7,371	18.5
	Liberal Democrats	Dirk Hazell	6,473	16.2
	Green	Julia Stephenson	671	1.7
	UKIP	Tim Gittos	478	1.2
	BNP	Brian McDonald	388	1.0
	New Independent Conservative	Roland Courtenay	196	0.5
	English Democrat	George Roseman	169	0.4
	Blue Environment	Godfrey Spickernell	17	0.0
Majority			16,722	42.0
Turnout			39,856	60.1
Registered electors			66,257
	Conservative win (new seat)

* Served as an MP in the 2005–2010 Parliament

The new seat of Chelsea and Fulham was fought for the first time at the 2010 general election, when it had a notional Conservative majority of over 10,000 based on 2005 election results.^[17]

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in London