Eltham (UK Parliament constituency)

Eltham
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Eltham in Greater London.
County	Greater London
Electorate	63,059 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of parliament	Clive Efford (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Woolwich West
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	London

Eltham /ɛltəm/ is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

It is a marginal Labour-held seat covering roughly the southern half of the Royal Borough of Greenwich in London.

1983-1997: The London Borough of Greenwich wards of Avery Hill, Coldharbour, Deansfield, Eltham Park, Herbert, Middle Park, New Eltham, Nightingale, Palace, Sherard, Sutcliffe, Tarn, and Well Hall.

1997-2010: The London Borough of Greenwich wards of Avery Hill, Coldharbour, Deansfield, Eltham Park, Herbert, Middle Park, New Eltham, Palace, Plumstead Common, Sherard, Shrewsbury, Slade, Sutcliffe, Tarn, and Well Hall.

2010–present: The London Borough of Greenwich wards of Coldharbour and New Eltham, Eltham North, Eltham South, Eltham West, Kidbrooke with Hornfair, Middle Park and Sutcliffe, and Shooters Hill.

The constituency is in the Royal Borough of Greenwich in south-east London. Before 1983, a constituency with similar boundaries was called Woolwich West.

The seat is bordered by the constituencies of:

Eltham itself has a short, winding and typical high street, which is bypassed by a largely grade-segregated arterial road (the A2 (lined with narrow buffer areas).

The seat was held by high-profile Tory Peter Bottomley for over two decades (as Woolwich West and then Eltham) before Labour gained the seat in 1997. After fairly comfortable victories then and in 2001, the Labour majority decreased quite significantly in 2005, though Labour were able to resist some of the national swing against the party in 2010 to hold the seat.