Battleground Anglia: Castle Point

Situated on the coastline of southeast Essex on the Thames estuary, this seat takes its name from two of the most prominent landmarks in the constituency, Hadleigh Castle and Canvey Point.

Outside the four main settlements - Benfleet, Canvey Island, Hadleigh and Thundersley - the metropolitan green belt covers around 85% of the seat.

Castle Point is a largely residential constituency from which many commute to work elsewhere. It has a high level of home ownership.

People in the constituency have the shortest working week of any seat in the region at 37.4 hours.

• Conservative majority in 2010: 7,632

• Castle Point had the first UKIP MP after a defection and is a target seat for the party

• On paper Labour would need a swing of 15% to win in 2015 and the Lib Dems would need a 17% swing

This was the constituency of the first UKIP MP Bob Spink who defected from the Conservatives in 2008 as a sitting MP. He was subsequently beaten in the 2010 General Election when he stood as Green Belt candidate.

Castle Point has had a Conservative MP for most of the time since 1955 apart from four years from 1997 when it went to Labour in their landslide election. Rebecca Harris has been the MP for Castle Point since 2010.

Castle Point is one of the few constituencies in the Anglia region which is exactly the same area as the local council. In the last council elections in May 2014, the Conservatives took 34% of the vote and UKIP were second with 27%. UKIP gained five councillors which was enough to rob the Tories of their overall majority on the council.

Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft has been conducting opinion polls in marginal seats across the UK.

In a snapshot poll in Castle Point in February 2015, the survey suggested it was neck and neck between the Conservatives and UKIP on 37% and 36% respectively. Labour were on 16%.

Candidates in 2015

• Joe Cooke - Labour

• Sereena Davey - Liberal Democrats

• Dom Ellis - Green

• Rebecca Harris - Conservative

• Jamie Huntman - UKIP