Thurrock (UK Parliament constituency)

Thurrock
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Thurrock in Essex.
Location of Essex within England.
County	Essex
Electorate	77,667 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Grays, Tilbury, South Ockendon and Chafford
Current constituency
Created	1945
Member of parliament	Jackie Doyle-Price (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	East of England

Thurrock is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Jackie Doyle-Price, a Conservative.

1945-1983: The Urban District of Thurrock.

1983-2010: The Borough of Thurrock wards of Aveley, Belhus, Chadwell St Mary, East Tilbury, Grays Thurrock North, Grays Thurrock Town, Little Thurrock, Ockendon, Stifford, Tilbury, and West Thurrock.

2010-present: The Borough of Thurrock wards of Aveley and Uplands, Belhus, Chadwell St Mary, Chafford and North Stifford, Grays Riverside, Grays Thurrock, Little Thurrock Blackshots, Little Thurrock Rectory, Ockendon, South Chafford, Stifford Clays, Tilbury Riverside and Thurrock Park, Tilbury St Chads, West Thurrock, and South Stifford.

The loss of the area to the east was of a similar landscape and built environment, except for Canvey Island which demographically has a high retired proportion of its population. Its scant social housing contrasts with its modest incomes and fewer than average large gardens and large houses as is common in coastal communities.

Thurrock was for 38 years from and including 1945 a large-majority Labour seat in parliamentary elections. The post-Falklands War election in 1983 gave majority of less than 4% of the vote to a recently-split Labour Party — for which see SDP. A Conservative gained the Thurrock seat in 1987 with a small majority. In 1992 the division was regained by a Labour candidate, namely Andrew MacKinlay, who was during his tenure as MP criticised for his questioning technique used of weapons expert Dr. David Kelly.

In the 2010 general election, a Conservative gained the seat, with Jackie Doyle-Price being elected as the MP with a majority of 92 votes, the third most marginal in that election. The 2015 result gave the seat the 8^th most marginal majority of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority.