Ealing Central and Acton

Ealing Central and Acton is a suburban constituency located in the Borough of Ealing in London. It covers the central and eastern parts of Ealing and the town of Acton. Like much of suburban London, the area was rural until the arrival of rail transport in the 19th century. The constituency has average levels of deprivation^[4] and is highly ethnically diverse. At the 2021 census, 32% of the population were White British with 56% in total identifying as White; the constituency has significant Irish and Polish communities. Asians were 16%, Black people were 11% and other ethnic groups were 11%.^[5] House prices are above the London average and more than double the national average.^[6]

In general, residents of the constituency are young, well-educated and have high incomes. They are less likely to be homeowners and more likely to work in professional occupations compared to the rest of the country.^[6] At the local council level, Acton and the east of the constituency are mostly represented by Labour councillors, whilst Ealing and the west elected Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. Voters in the constituency overwhelmingly supported remaining in the European Union in the 2016 referendum; an estimated 69% voted in favour of remaining, one of the top 50 highest rates out of 650 constituencies nationwide.^[6]

The Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies created the seat by selecting wards for the year 2010 to equalise electorates. Here, if votes were cast as in 2005, this seat would have produced a three-way marginal between the Conservative (32.8%), Labour (32.6%), and Liberal Democrats (29.7%) parties.^[7] An analysis of intervening local results indicated that the seat would, if no voters were swung nor new voters introduced, present a tiny Labour majority.

2010 campaign

In the 2010 general election, Angie Bray, a Conservative, won the seat with a majority of 3,716, representing a swing from Labour to the Conservatives of 5%.^{[n 3]}

2015

According to the BBC, heavy campaigning in the 2015 general election was expected by leading figures and regional activists of the two largest political parties;^[8] at the time it was 56th on the list of Labour target seats.^[9] In a mixed election for two-way targets of the two largest parties, Labour's Rupa Huq won the constituency. The 2015 result gave the seat the 2nd most marginal majority of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority.^[10]

2017

In April 2017, the Green Party announced that it would not stand a candidate in this constituency for the 2017 general election and instead lend its support to the sitting MP, Rupa Huq.^[11][12]

• List of parliamentary constituencies in London