Richmond Park (constituency)

Richmond Park is a constituency in Greater London in England, mostly within the Borough of Richmond upon Thames and partly within the Borough of Kingston upon Thames. The constituency is centred on the town of Richmond and also includes the neighbourhoods of Kew, Sheen (North and East), Mortlake, Barnes, Ham, Coombe and Kingston Vale.

This is an affluent, suburban constituency located around 8 miles (13 km) south-west of the centre of London. Richmond was founded in the early 16th century when King Henry VII built the now-demolished Richmond Palace.^[2] The town is known for its well-preserved Georgian architecture and its status as one of London's wealthiest and most upmarket areas.^[3][4][5] The constituency is named after Richmond Park, the largest of London's Royal Parks. Most residents live in expensive flats and terraces;^[6] the average house price across the constituency is over £1 million, more than triple the UK average.^[7]

Richmond Park has a high population of middle-aged adults with families and a low proportion of young adults and retirees.^[8] Residents have very high levels of income and average rates of homeownership.^[7] The child poverty rate is extremely low at less than one-quarter the UK-wide rate.^[9] Residents are very well-educated and a high proportion work in the health, technology and arts sectors.^[7][10] The percentage claiming unemployment benefits is low.^[9] White people made up 76% of the population at the 2021 census. Around a quarter of the White population are of non-British origin, including significant Irish, German and American communities. Asians were the largest ethnic minority group at 11%.^[11]

At the local borough council level, almost all seats in the constituency are represented by Liberal Democrats, except Kingston Vale, which elected Conservatives. Voters in Richmond Park overwhelmingly supported remaining in the European Union in the 2016 referendum; an estimated 71% voted to remain compared to the UK-wide figure of 48%, making Richmond Park one of the top 40 most remain-voting constituencies out of 650 across the UK according to Electoral Calculus.^[7]

The seat was created in 1997 from Richmond and Barnes, held by Jeremy Hanley of the Conservative Party; and a northern section of Kingston upon Thames, held by his party colleague, former Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont. Hanley was selected as the Conservative candidate at the first election for the seat, but lost to Jenny Tonge of the Liberal Democrats. The Liberal Democrats retained the seat until 2010, when it was won by the Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith by over 4,000 votes. Goldsmith, who blended fiscal conservatism with environmental activism, easily secured re-election in 2015, with a majority of over 23,000. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats haemorrhaged support and fell to their lowest level since 1970 (when the Richmond, Surrey constituency was fought, albeit on different boundaries to Richmond Park).

In October 2016, Goldsmith announced his resignation as an MP^[12] in protest against the Conservative government's decision to allow a third runway to be built at Heathrow Airport. Goldsmith stood as an independent in the by-election held on 1 December; he was defeated by Sarah Olney, a Liberal Democrat, despite the Conservatives fielding no candidate.^[13] It was the first by-election in the constituency since its creation in 1997.

In April 2017, Goldsmith won the Conservative nomination for the seat and stood in the general election on 8 June, at which Olney sought re-election.^[14] Despite Olney gaining the largest increase in vote share between general elections in the country, and Goldsmith one of the largest falls, he regained the seat for the Conservatives with a majority of just 45 votes.^[15] Goldsmith's six months out was the shortest time a defeated MP had remained so before regaining the same seat.^{[citation needed]} Olney retook the seat in the 2019 general election, with a majority of nearly 8,000.

In December 2023, the Labour Party included the seat in its published list of 211 non-battleground seats, suggesting they did not see it as winnable.^[16] In the 2024 general election, Sarah Olney was re-elected on an increased majority, although her total number of votes was down from 2019 due to decreased turnout.^[17]

• parliamentary constituencies in London