Election 97

Southampton Itchen

Current MP John Denham
Conservative 97 15,289
Labour 97 29,498
LibDem 97 6,289
Nationalist 97 0
Other 97 1,122
Elected party
Southampton Itchen

Robert Waller wrote
Old constituency Southampton Itchen
Conservative 92 24,065
Labour 92 25,118
LibDem 92 7,924
Nationalist 92 0
Other 92 0
Elected party Labour

Both the constituencies - named after the two rivers that flow into Southampton Water - in Hampshire's biggest city are marginals. Itchen is slightly the more working-class of the two and had the highest proportion of non-white voters in 1992, although it is far from poor. In 1992, Labour gained Itchen but not Southampton Test, with a 6.6 per cent swing from the Tories. If this had been repeated across the South, Labour would have been the biggest single party in parliament. The slender Labour majority of 551 in 1992 has been bolstered up by boundary changes, but MP John Denham may still have to fight hard for this knife-edge marginal in a fascinating (electorally speaking) city.


Super Profiles

187 0.44 9.03 5
3,808 8.93 11.17 80
7,808 18.32 11.25 163
6,871 16.12 14.70 110
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0 0.00 2.81 0
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1,933 4.54 7.13 64
6,890 16.17 10.17 159