Basildon David Amess (Contesting different seat) 16,366 29,646 4,608 0 0 Basildon 27,291 24,645 8,599 0 0 Conservative The Essex marginal seat of Basildon achieved national recognition at the 1992 general election. It was the first marginal seat to declare, and when the Conservative MP David Amess held on, with a huge grin, many people declared that this was the point at which the pre-election polls and predictions had been confounded. In fact this perception is inaccurate. The swing to Labour is Basildon proved to be under half the average in all Conservative marginals, and Basildon had been difficult ground for Labour for some time. Like the other southern New Town marginals, there has been a long-term shift to the right in this product of the late 1940s planned community project, as New Town houses have been sold to their occupiers and 'Essex Girl' and 'Essex Man' responded to Mrs Thatcher's economic and social ideas. The boundary changes have actually helped the Conservatives slightly in Basildon, but the decision of David Amess to abandon the seat for a safer one at Southend West indicates that he has a much less sunny view of the Tories' chances in Basildon next time - one with which most observers agree.

	1,944	4.75	9.03	53
	1,151	2.81	11.17	25
	6,408	15.66	11.25	139
	12,779	31.24	14.70	212
	426	1.04	10.45	10
	935	2.29	2.81	81
	1,496	3.66	8.01	46
	10,566	25.83	15.25	169
	2,038	4.98	7.13	70
	3,053	7.46	10.17	73