Esher and Walton
Borough constituency for theHouse of Commons
Interactive map of boundaries from 2024
Boundary of Esher and Walton in South East England
County	Surrey
Electorate	73,280 (2023)[1]
Major settlements	Esher Walton-on-Thames Molesey Claygate
Current constituency
Created	1997
Member of Parliament	Monica Harding (Liberal Democrats)
Seats	One
Created from	Esher Chertsey & Walton

Esher and Walton (/ˌiːʃər ... ˈwɔːltənˌˈwɒltən/) is aconstituency inSurrey represented in theHouse of Commons of theUK Parliament.^{[n 1]} Since 2024, it has been represented byMonica Harding of theLiberal Democrats. Prior to this,Dominic Raab of theConservative Party, who served asdeputy prime minister before resigning from that role inApril 2023 due to bullying allegations, had served as the MP since2010.^[2]

The constituency is in the north ofSurrey, in the London commuter belt. The area includesheathland and reservoirs, and the built-up areas ofEsher,Walton-on-Thames,Claygate,Molesey,Thames Ditton, andHinchley Wood, all located within theBorough of Elmbridge. A majority of its housing is on private planned estates.^[3] TheSouth West Main Line passes through the middle of the seat, with fast trains to central London. The constituency has low unemployment^[4] 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 theRiver Thames, woodedEsher Commons, theRiver Mole andSandown Park racecourse.^[5]

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 the2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for the2024 general election, the constituency is now 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, and Walton South.^[6]

The electorate was reduced to bring it within the permitted range by transferring southern areas, includingCobham, toRunnymede and Weybridge, partly offset by moving the village ofOatlands in the opposite direction.

Map of 1997–2024 boundaries

The last time a component of this area voted for an MP who was not Conservative before the2024 general election was in1906, when aLiberal MP served the four-year term to 1910 forChertsey, representing the Walton-on-Thames part of the current seat.^[7][8]

Ian Taylor held the seat from 1997 to 2010, having held the previousEsher seat from1987. Taylor stood down at the2010 election, andDominic Raab was elected as the new Conservative MP for this seat.

In the 2019 general election, 60 seats, including this seat, were written into theRemain Alliance, an agreement between the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and Plaid Cymru not to vie against one another in those seats.^[9] These were parties opposed toBritain's departure from the European Union. In consequence, Laura Harmour,^[10] who had been lined up to fight the seat for the Green Party, did not stand. Axel Thill,^[11] the candidate selected for the Brexit Party, was one of those withdrawn by party leaderNigel Farage before nominations closed,^[12] 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 aPeople's Vote on Brexit.

The seat, long consideredsafe for the Conservatives, was heavily targeted by the Liberal Democrats, particularly because the incumbent Conservative, Dominic Raab, had campaigned for a Leave vote in theEU referendum. The constituency itself voted in favour of remaining in the EU and is socially similar to the twoGreater London seats it borders, namelyTwickenham andKingston & 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 amarginal for the first time since its creation.

Raab, who had served asdeputy prime minister before resigning from that role inApril 2023 due to bullying allegations,^[2] did not contest the 2024 election and a further swing of 13.8% resulted in the Liberal Democrat candidateMonica Harding winning the seat, becoming the first MP from a party other than the Conservatives to represent any part of the modern constituency since 1906.

In 2019, Esher and Walton was one^[16] of five English seats (the others beingCheltenham,East Devon,Westmorland and Lonsdale, andWinchester) where the Labour candidate failed to get over 5% votes cast so lost thedeposit.

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Surrey
• List of parliamentary constituencies in the South East England (region)

• Election result, 2015 (BBC)
• Election result, 2010 (BBC)
• Election result, 2005 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997–2001 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997–2001 (Election Demon)

• Esher and Walton UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) atMapIt UK
• Esher and Walton UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) atMapIt UK
• Esher and Walton UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) atMapIt UK

51°23′N0°23′W / 51.38°N 0.38°W /51.38; -0.38

• Parliamentary constituencies in Surrey
• Borough of Elmbridge
• Politics of Surrey
• Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1997
• Esher

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• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
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• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Pages using the Kartographer extension