[2] It was previously held by Anna Firth who won the 2022 by-election,[3] following the murder of the incumbent MP, David Amess.

[5] The constituency was created for the 1950 general election under the Representation of the People Act 1948, when the Parliamentary Borough of Southend-on-Sea was split in two.

Because four members of the Guinness family have held the seat (or its predecessor, Southend) it has been dubbed in political analyses in the media as "Guinness-on-Sea".

In a similar vein to the subsequent by-election following the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox in 2016, all major contender parties stated they would not field candidates in opposition to the successful Conservative candidate, Anna Firth.

[14] The constituency comprises a small part of the west of Southend-on-Sea, and includes Leigh-on-Sea and Westcliff-on-Sea.