Carshalton and Wallington (UK Parliament constituency)

Carshalton and Wallington
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Carshalton and Wallington in Greater London.
County	Greater London
Population	95,322 (2011 census)
Electorate	69,916 (May 2015)
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of parliament	Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat)
Number of members	One
Created from	Carshalton
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	London

Carshalton and Wallington /kɑːˈʃɔːltən ənd wɒlɪŋɡtən/ is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom since 1997 by Tom Brake of the Liberal Democrats. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

The constituency was created at the 1983 general election, replacing the former seat of Carshalton.

Between the 2015 general election and the Richmond Park by-election in December 2016 the MP for this area was the sole Liberal Democrat MP in the south of England, if discounting North Norfolk.

Results since 1997 have been objectively interpreted more marginal majorities for the victor than emphatic (a majority of under 15% may in some circumstances be considered marginal). However a major national shift in a landslide victory, 1997, ended three parliaments of "strong" or "safe" Conservative Party victories (the lowest percentage majority seen by outgoing Nigel Forman was 18.9% of the vote, in 1992). The 1997 result disproves notions of safe or easy seats for any one party following an election of major political change - no other seat in the southern half of England aside from borderline north/south North Norfolk was retained by a Liberal Democrat in 2015, and transforming the seat into one the party's eight most secure seats by virtue of being won nationally. The result placed it ahead of seats the party lost that had returned a Liberal Democrat or Liberal for decades such as Truro and St Austell, its member (or that for its direct predecessor version, Truro) having the party's allegiance since 1974.