This seat sounds like a very suburban district, and so it is for the most part. Kingston is one of the largest shopping centres in southern England and has a flourishing university, but outside the central area it gets suburban pretty quickly. Surbiton sprang up as a result of the main line railway (Victorian Kingston refused to have the main line put through their town), and other settlements like Tolworth hug the A3 Kingston Bypass, a 1930s arterial road. There are pockets of Labour support in Tolworth in particular but for the most part the battle is between Lib Dems and Tories.

The Liberal Democrats won the seat from the Conservatives by a margin of only 56 votes in 1997. Their MP Edward Davey would seem to be one of the most obvious single-term members of the 1997 parliament, particularly as the Lib Dems went on to lose control of Kingston council in 1998 and came third in Euro 99. It would, however, be premature to mark this down as a certain Conservative gain. Adding up the votes in the component wards in 1998 actually stretches the Lib Dem lead to 1.2%. Davey is also an assiduous constituency MP. In the May 2000 GLA elections the South West district turned in a very strong Lib Dem performance and the minuscule swing to the Tories would have made this seat no more than 'too close to call'. The Conservatives have selected the former MP for Dover, the abrasive David Shaw, as their candidate. Shaw was a rancorous presence in previous parliaments, and most Labour MPs would feel great satisfaction if he did not return. Much depends on whether the sizeable 23% of Labour voters here in 1997 share this dislike.

Parliamentary Statistics pre-Election 2001

Liberal Democrat majority 56 (0.1%)  Conservative target 3
MP Edward Davey
1997 (Turnout 75.3%)
Liberal Democrat	20,411	36.7%
Conservative	20,355	36.6%
Labour	12,811	23.0%
Referendum	1,470	2.6%
UK Independence	418	0.8%
Others	200	0.4%

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For Kingston & Surbiton 2001 Election result - click here.