Rochester and Strood is a constituency in Kent represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Lauren Edwards from the Labour Party. It was previously represented from 2015 by Kelly Tolhurst, a Conservative, who served as Government Deputy Chief Whip and Treasurer of the Household.

Constituency profile

Rochester and Strood is a constituency in Kent in South East England, within the Medway borough. It is named after its two main towns, Rochester and Strood, which are situated on opposite banks of the River Medway. The constituency also includes Chatham town centre, whilst the rest of Chatham lies outside this constituency. Other settlements in Rochester and Strood include the villages of Brompton, St Mary's Island, Cuxton, Halling, Chattenden, Hoo St Werburgh and Cliffe Woods.

The Medway towns have a maritime heritage. This constituency contains the former Chatham Dockyard, once the Royal Navy's foremost shipbuilding facility, which has now been redeveloped. Rochester is traditionally a cathedral city and Strood is a mostly suburban town largely built in the early 20th century. The constituency also covers the rural Hoo Peninsula which contains a large industrial area centred on the energy sector, including power stations and oil refineries. The constituency has overall average levels of wealth; there is some deprivation in Chatham where most residents live in dense flats or terraces whilst the suburban areas are more affluent. House prices are similar to the national average but lower than the rest of South East England.

Rochester and Strood has a low retired population and an above-average proportion of working-age adults with families. Residents have average levels of income and homeownership and the child poverty rate is below average. They generally have low levels of education and a high proportion work in the business administration and construction sectors. The percentage claiming unemployment benefits is in line with the overall UK rate. White people made up 86% of the population at the 2021 census.

At the local council, the Rochester, Strood and central Chatham are represented by Labour Party councillors. The villages on the outskirts of the towns and the newly-developed St Mary's Island elected Conservatives and the Hoo Peninsula is mostly represented by independents. Voters in Rochester and Strood strongly supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum; an estimated 65% voted in favour of Brexit compared to the UK-wide rate of 52%.

History The Rochester constituency has ancient origins dating to the 16th century, but it has seen many changes in the 20th century. From 1885 to 1918 the wider area was split between Chatham, Gillingham and the "old", rural, Medway constituency. The Chatham seat joined Rochester to form Rochester and Chatham in 1950, which formed the core of Medway in 1983.

When the boroughs of Rochester upon Medway and Gillingham merged in 1998 to form, then confusingly, a unitary authority named Medway, the parliamentary constituency of Medway only covered part of the new borough, so in the boundary changes before the 2010 election the seat was renamed to more accurately reflect the area of Rochester and Strood which it now covers.

The seat of Rochester and Chatham, followed by Medway and then Rochester and Strood, had elected members of the party which won the popular vote in the UK at every election since 1959. This had meant that from 1959 to 2014 the area had always been represented by a member of the governing party, apart from the brief period between the February and October elections in 1974 (since Labour formed a minority government in February despite the Conservatives winning the popular vote).

In 2014, the sitting Conservative MP Mark Reckless defected to the UK Independence Party (UKIP), becoming the second MP in a matter of weeks to do so. Reckless resigned his seat, triggering a by-election in which he stood as the UKIP candidate. He won the by-election by just under 3,000 votes and became UKIP's second MP after Douglas Carswell. At the 2015 general election, Reckless was defeated by Conservative candidate Kelly Tolhurst, who had also fought the by-election. Tolhurst secured a majority of over 7,000 votes, meaning the Rochester area once again had an MP on the government benches.

Tolhurst retained her seat at the 2017 and 2019 elections with comfortable majorities, but was defeated by Labour's Lauren Edwards in 2024, maintaining the trend for the area's MP to be a member of the governing party.

Boundaries

2010–2024 The Borough of Medway wards of Cuxton and Halling, Peninsula, River, Rochester East, Rochester South and Horsted, Rochester West, Strood North, Strood Rural and Strood South.2010 post-revision map non-metropolitan areas and unitary authorities of England

Current Further to the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the composition of the constituency was reduced to bring its electorate within the permitted range by transferring the Rochester South and Horsted ward (as it existed on 1 December 2020) to Chatham and Aylesford.

Following a local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2023, the constituency now comprises the following wards of the Borough of Medway from the 2024 general election:

All Saints; Chatham Central & Brompton (part); Cuxton, Halling & Riverside; Fort Pitt (small part); Hoo St Werburgh & High Halstow; Rochester East & Warren Wood (most); Rochester West & Borstal; St Mary's Island; Strood North & Frindsbury; Strood Rural; Strood West; and a very small part of Gillingham North.

Members of Parliament ElectionMemberParty 2010Mark Reckless Conservative 2014 by-election UKIP 2015 Kelly Tolhurst Conservative2024Lauren EdwardsLabour

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

Elections in the 2010s

2019 notional result Party Vote % Conservative 26,098 58.5 Labour 12,545 28.1 Liberal Democrats 3,170 7.1 Others 1,667 3.7 Green 1,155 2.6Turnout44,63561.9Electorate72,155

See also parliamentary constituencies in Kent

Notes

References

External links Rochester and Strood UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK Rochester and Strood UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK