Clacton by-election

Clacton by-election, 2014

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Candidate Douglas Carswell Giles Watling Tim Young Party UKIP Conservative Labour Popular vote 21,113 8,709 3,957 Percentage 59.7 24.6 11.2
Map showing the Clacton Parliamentary constituency within the English county of Essex.
MP before election Douglas Carswell Conservative Subsequent MP Douglas Carswell UKIP

Douglas Carswell
Conservative

Douglas Carswell
UKIP

The Clacton by-election was held on 9 October 2014 for the United Kingdom House of Commons constituency of Clacton. The by-election was triggered by the Conservative MP for Clacton, Douglas Carswell, defecting to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and subsequently resigning his seat to seek re-election as its candidate.

Standing for UKIP, Carswell retained the seat with 59.7% of the vote, becoming UKIP's first elected MP. The Conservatives came second, and Labour third. According to John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, the result was the biggest increase in the share of a vote for any party in any by-election in history.

On 28 August 2014 Carswell, a Eurosceptic backbencher, announced his defection to UKIP and said that he was resigning his seat in order to fight a by-election. He said he did not think Prime Minister David Cameron was "serious about the change we need", adding that "many of those at the top of the Conservative Party are simply not on our side" and "Of course they talk the talk before elections. They say what they feel they must say to get our support when they want our support, but on so many issues – on modernising our politics, on the recall of MPs, on controlling our borders[,] on less government, on bank reform, on cutting public debt, on an EU referendum – they never actually make it happen". He also said: "...local issues regarding planning and overcrowding of GP surgeries were a factor in my decision to resign".