Hackney South and Shoreditch

Hackney South and Shoreditch is an urban constituency located in the Borough of Hackney close to the centre of London. It contains the neighbourhoods of Hackney, Shoreditch, Hoxton and Dalston. In the 1980s, Hackney was described as "Britain's Poorest Borough", including by the council itself in official materials.^[2][3] Since then, the area has experienced gentrification with many new housing developments.^[4] The constituency continues to have high levels of deprivation, particularly in its east, whilst Dalston and Shoreditch are comparatively wealthier.^[5] Shoreditch is known for being a fashionable part of the city associated with the creative industries.^[6] The average house price across the constituency is higher than the rest of London and more than double the national average.^[7]

In general, residents of the constituency are young, well-educated and have very low rates of homeownership. They have average levels of professional employment and household income is lower than the rest of London but higher than the national average.^[7] Half of residents were White at the 2021 census, around two-fifths of whom were of non-British origin. Black people were the largest ethnic minority group at 24% and Asians were 11%.^[8] There are also large Turkish and Kurdish communities in the area.^[9][10] The vast majority of seats in the constituency at the local borough council are represented by the Labour Party, with some Green Party representation in Dalston. Voters in the constituency overwhelmingly supported remaining in the European Union in the 2016 referendum; an estimated 79% voted to remain, the sixth-highest rate out of 650 constituencies nationwide.^[7]

The seat was created in February 1974 from the former seat of Shoreditch and Finsbury.

Ronald Brown was elected in 1974 as a representative of the Labour Party but defected from the Opposition to join the fledgling Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981, at a time when Labour wished for Common Market withdrawal and the removal of keeping a nuclear deterrent during the Cold War. Brown held the seat as an SDP member until 1983, when he was defeated by Labour Party candidate Brian Sedgemore. Sedgemore announced his retirement from parliament at the 2005 election; but on 26 April 2005, after Parliament had been dissolved and he was no longer the sitting MP, defected to the Liberal Democrats, the successors to the SDP, shortly before the week of the election.^[11] The Liberal Democrats were unable to capitalise on the defection, their candidate only gaining the second largest gain in votes of the candidates competing.

In the 2016 referendum to leave the European Union, the constituency voted remain by 77.9%. This was the ninth highest support for remain for a constituency.^[12]

Election Record

All elections since the seat's creation have been won by the Labour candidate, including the incumbent, Meg Hillier, with substantial majorities, making it a Labour stronghold. The 2015 result ranked the seat the 16th safest of the party's 232 seats (by majority percentage) and fifth safest in the capital.^[13]

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Hackney
• Parliamentary constituencies in London