The seat was created for theFebruary 1974 general election, primarily from part of the abolished constituency ofBillericay. It has always been a safe Conservative seat.
It was held byEric Pickles betweenthe General Election in 1992 and 2017 when he stood down.TheLiberal Democrats amassed their largest share of the vote in 1992 (including results for their two predecessor parties). At the 2010 election their candidate was second-placed with 13.6% of the vote, ahead of theLabour Party's candidate, but this proved the peak of their support, as they declined to fourth place in 2015 and then behind Labour in 2017 and 2019.
Inthe 2001 election, Pickles was opposed byMartin Bell, who had represented theTatton constituency in the last Parliament as anindependent and had pledged not to seek re-election there. Bell failed to gain Brentwood and Ongar from the Conservatives, but cut the Conservative majority to just 6.5%, the lowest in the seat's history.
The pattern of elections in the seat was disrupted by the emergence of UKIP who jumped to second place in 2015. Following the retirement of Eric Pickles, in the 2017 and 2019 elections it was the Labour Party candidate who emerged as the main challengers to the Conservatives in the seat.
The Rural District of Epping and Ongar parishes of Abbess Beauchamp and Berners Roding, Blackmore, Bobbingworth, Doddinghurst, Fyfield, High Laver, High Ongar, Kelvedon Hatch, Lambourne, Little Laver, Moreton, Navestock, Ongar, Stanford Rivers, Stapleford Abbotts, Stapleford Tawney, Stondon Massey, Theydon Mount, and Willingale.[3]
The Urban District ofBrentwood was previously part of the abolished constituency ofBillericay, and the parishes in the Rural District ofEpping and Ongar (which had previously constituted the Rural District of Ongar) had been part of the abolished constituency ofChigwell.
The District of Epping Forest wards of Chipping Ongar, Greensted and Marden Ash, High Ongar, Lambourne, Moreton and Matching, Passingford, Roothing Country, and Shelley.[4][5]
The District of Epping Forest wards of Chipping Ongar, Greensted and Marden Ash; High Ongar, Willingale and The Rodings; Lambourne; Moreton and Fyfield; North Weald Bassett; Passingford; and Shelley.[6]
The2023 periodic review of Westminster constituencies, which was based on the ward structure in place on 1 December 2020, left the boundaries virtually unchanged.[7] However, following a local government boundary review in Epping Forest which came into effect in May 2024,[8] the constituency now comprises the following from the2024 general election:
The Borough of Brentwood;
The District of Epping Forest wards or part wards of: Chigwell with Lambourne (Lambourne parish); North Weald Bassett (most); Ongar (all); Rural East (excluding parishes of Matching and Sheering); Theydon Bois with Passingford (excluding Theydon Bois parish).
