Esher and Walton (UK Parliament constituency)

Esher and Walton is a constituency in Surrey represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Since 2024, it has been represented by Monica Harding of the Liberal Democrats. Prior to this, Dominic Raab of the Conservative Party, who served as deputy prime minister before resigning from that role in April 2023 due to bullying allegations, had served as the MP since 2010.

Constituency profile
The constituency is in the north of Surrey, in the London commuter belt. The area includes heathland and reservoirs, and the built-up areas of Esher, Walton-on-Thames, Claygate, Molesey, Thames Ditton, and Hinchley Wood, all located within the Borough of Elmbridge. A majority of its housing is on private planned estates. The South West Main Line passes through the middle of the seat, with fast trains to central London. The constituency has low unemployment and has until recently been regarded as one of the Conservative Party's safest seats in the UK. The area of the seat includes the last non-tidal section of the River Thames, wooded Esher Commons, the River Mole and Sandown Park racecourse.

Boundaries
From the constituency's creation in 1997, until 2024, it consisted of the Borough of Elmbridge wards of Claygate, Cobham and Downside, Cobham Fairmile, Esher, Hersham North, Hersham South, Hinchley Wood, Long Ditton, Molesey East, Molesey North, Molesey South, Oxshott and Stoke D'Abernon, Thames Ditton, Walton Ambleside, Walton Central, Walton North, Walton South, Weston Green.

Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, from the 2024 general election, the constituency will be composed of the following (as they existed on 1 December 2020):


 * The Borough of Elmbridge wards of: Claygate; Esher; Hersham Village; Hinchley Wood & Weston Green; Long Ditton; Molesey East; Molesey West; Oatlands & Burwood Park; Thames Ditton; Walton Central; Walton North; Walton South.

The electorate duly fell bring it within the permitted range: by losing two southern wards, including Cobham, to Runnymede and Weybridge, and half offset by the addition of the village/small suburb (one ward) of Oatlands.

History
The last time a component of this area voted for an MP who was not Conservative was in 1906, when a Liberal MP served the four-year term to 1910 for Chertsey, representing the Walton-on-Thames part of the current seat.

In the 2019 general election, 60 seats, including this seat, were written into the Remain Alliance, an agreement between the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and Plaid Cymru not to vie against one another in those seats. These were parties opposed to Britain's departure from the European Union. In consequence, Laura Harmour, who had been lined up to fight the seat for the Green Party, did not stand. Axel Thill, the candidate selected for the Brexit Party, was one of those withdrawn by party leader Nigel Farage before nominations closed, when Farage decided not to field candidates in Conservative-held seats. This was done to avoid the potential for pro-Remain parties winning seats and holding a People's Vote on Brexit.

The seat, long considered safe for the Conservatives, was heavily targeted by the Liberal Democrats, particularly because the incumbent Conservative, Dominic Raab, had campaigned for a Leave vote in the EU referendum. The constituency itself voted in favour of remaining in the EU and is socially similar to the two Greater London seats it borders, namely Twickenham and Kingston & Surbiton, which are both strongholds for the Lib Dems. This resulted in a large swing to the Liberal Democrats of 18.5%, reducing the seat's majority to make it a marginal for the first time since its creation.

Members of Parliament
Ian Taylor held the seat from 1997 to 2010, having held the previous Esher seat from 1987. Taylor stood down at the 2010 election, and Dominic Raab was elected as the new Conservative MP for this seat. In 2024, the Liberal Democrat candidate Monica Harding won the seat, becoming the first MP from a party other than the Conservatives to represent any part of the modern constituency since 1906.

Elections in the 2010s
In 2019, Esher and Walton was one of five English seats (the others being Cheltenham, East Devon, Westmorland and Lonsdale, and Winchester) where the Labour candidate failed to get over 5% votes cast so lost the deposit.