Basildon
Labour hold

Basildon New Town has achieved a kind of fame as a vital guide to British general election results. This stems largely from the early announcement that David Amess had held it for the Tories in 1992, the first indication that Neil Kinnock's Labour party was not about to the defy opinion polls and oust John Major's government. In fact Basildon was untypical on that night, showing as it had for some time an unusual degree of favour to the Right. This was caused by a number of coinciding and reinforcing factors: its location in South East England and particularly Essex; its status as a New Town seat where a high proportion of local authority housing had been sold to the occupiers; its 98pc white voters at a time when Labour had been appealing specifically to the interests of minorities; its relative prosperity under Thatcherism. In the 1997 election all this changed as New Labour seemed to fit the bill in a seat where voters have come to choose carefully on the basis of their perceived economic interests; Angela Smith benefited from a swing of nearly 15pc and the memory of David Amess's grin faded like that of the Cheshire Cat (he himself had migrated to Southend West, seeing the warning signs). Basildon seems likely to remain Labour in the next General election, as even on an 18pc turnout in the 1999 Euro-elections, when they did spectacularly badly overall, they retained a small lead in votes. They have also retained almost all the local government wards within the seat, and the brand loyalty of the instrumental voters of Basildon seems likely to stay with New Labour for at least one more term.

Angela Smith, Paul Boateng's PPS, won Basildon in 1997. A personable, short-tongued, toothy, little-girl-voiced animal rights campaigner - who ran PR for the League Against Cruel Sports for 12 years, she represents in her commitment to fox hunting bans a leading obsession among contemporary Labour activists, and speaks regularly at vegetarian-catered animal welfare fringe meetings at Labour Party conferences. She was born in 1959 and educated locally at Chalvedon School, Pitsea and at Leicester Poly.

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   Thriving Wealthy Achievers, Suburban Areas 8.30% 14.99% 55.33 Affluent Greys, Rural Communities 0.00% 2.13% 0.00 Prosperous Pensioners, Retirement Areas 0.00% 2.49% 0.00 Expanding Affluent Executives, Family Areas 3.60% 4.43% 81.31 Well-Off Workers, Family Areas 13.60% 7.27% 186.99 Rising Affluent Urbanites, Town & City Areas 1.40% 2.56% 54.62 Prosperous Professionals, Metropolitan Areas 0.00% 2.04% 0.00 Better-Off Executives, Inner City Areas 0.20% 3.94% 5.08 Settling Comfortable Middle Agers, Mature Home Owning Areas 8.51% 13.04% 65.28 Skilled Workers, Home Owning Areas 27.30% 12.70% 214.90 Aspiring New Home Owners, Mature Communities 7.45% 8.14% 91.45 White Collar Workers, Better-Off Multi Ethnic Areas 0.00% 4.02% 0.00 Striving Older People, Less Prosperous Areas 8.56% 3.19% 268.75 Council Estate Residents, Better-Off Homes 18.71% 11.31% 165.44 Council Estate Residents, High Unemployment 0.95% 3.06% 30.98 Council Estate Residents, Greatest Hardship 1.25% 2.52% 49.47 People in Multi-Ethnic, Low-Income Areas 0.00% 2.10% 0.00 Unclassified Unclassified 0.18% 0.06% 287.13

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   £0-5K 8.75% 9.41% 92.94 £5-10K 15.91% 16.63% 95.65 £10-15K 16.45% 16.58% 99.20 £15-20K 13.87% 13.58% 102.13 £20-25K 10.83% 10.39% 104.16 £25-30K 8.19% 7.77% 105.33 £30-35K 6.13% 5.79% 105.79 £35-40K 4.58% 4.33% 105.68 £40-45K 3.43% 3.27% 105.12 £45-50K 2.59% 2.48% 104.22 £50-55K 1.96% 1.90% 103.06 £55-60K 1.50% 1.47% 101.72 £60-65K 1.15% 1.15% 100.25 £65-70K 0.89% 0.91% 98.69 £70-75K 0.70% 0.72% 97.07 £75-80K 0.55% 0.57% 95.42 £80-85K 0.43% 0.46% 93.76 £85-90K 0.34% 0.37% 92.10 £90-95K 0.28% 0.31% 90.45 £95-100K 0.22% 0.25% 88.83 £100K + 1.06% 1.34% 78.83