Bermondsey and Old Southwark is a constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Since 2015, it has been represented by Neil Coyle of the Labour Party. He was suspended from the party in February 2022 following an accusation of racism, but reinstated in May 2023.
Comprising the northern part of the London Borough of Southwark, the constituency lies immediately to the south of the City of London. It includes the areas of Bermondsey, Southwark, Rotherhithe and parts of Elephant and Castle.
The constituency contains a number of London landmarks including the southern ends of London Bridge and Tower Bridge, Borough Market, Shakespeare's Globe and The Shard, the tallest building in the country. The area was historically associated with manufacturing and trade, but has now been redeveloped with commercial properties and contemporary housing.
Residents of the constituency are generally young, unmarried and have high levels of education and professional employment compared to London averages. They have low levels of car and home ownership. The constituency is ethnically diverse; 34% are White British, 19% identify as Other White, 18% are Black and 13% are Asian. At 9.4% of the population, Bermondsey and Old Southwark has the fourth-highest proportion of LGB+ people in the country.
At the most recent borough council election in 2022, Southwark and Rotherhithe elected Liberal Democrat councillors, whilst the area between them, including Bermondsey, elected primarily Labour Party councillors. At the 2016 referendum on European Union membership, voters in the constituency overwhelmingly voted to remain in the EU. It is estimated that 73% opposed Brexit, making the constituency one of the top 25 most remain-supporting constituencies out of 650 nationwide.
The seat was created for the 2010 general election, almost identical to North Southwark and Bermondsey seat previously held by Simon Hughes from the 1997 general election, on a review of parliamentary representation in London by the Boundary Commission for England facing very minor boundary changes.
The constituency lies within the London Borough of Southwark. Prior to the 2023 boundary changes, it contained the Old Southwark area of the former Metropolitan Borough of Southwark and the neighbourhoods of Borough, London Bridge and Bankside. Within the constituency are Elephant and Castle, Walworth and Newington which were part of the old Metropolitan Borough. The eastern half of the seat includes Bermondsey and Rotherhithe which were part of the Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey, and which had been a separate constituency also.
This seat is based on the 1997âÂÂ2010 North Southwark and Bermondsey constituency. Following the 2002 redrawing of ward boundaries, parts of Faraday and Livesey wards that were part of North Southwark and Bermondsey transferred to Camberwell and Peckham.
2010âÂÂ2024: The new seat was created from the following electoral wards within the London Borough of Southwark: Cathedrals, Chaucer, East Walworth, Grange, Newington, Riverside, Rotherhithe, South Bermondsey, Surrey Docks.
2024âÂÂpresent: Following the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency is composed of the following wards of the London Borough of Southwark (as they existed on 1 December 2020):
The contents reflect the new ward structure which became effective in May 2018. To bring the electorate within the permitted range, Newington was transferred to Vauxhall and Camberwell Green, and North Walworth was transferred to Peckham.
Note: the first MP was elected for predecessor Bermondsey seats continuously from a by-election in 1983 until the seat was created in 2010: see the former constituency of North Southwark and Bermondsey.