a small part of Rye. The Conservative MP for Hastings since 1970, Kenneth Warren, won the new seat.. Warren held Hastings and Rye until he chose to retire in 1992; during this period its large majorities suggested it was a Conservative safe seat, with the Liberal Party (now the Liberal Democrats) regularly coming second. Jacqui Lait won the seat on Warren's retirement, but in 1997 the Labour candidate Michael Foster narrowly defeated Lait, becoming the second-least expected (on swing) Labour MP in the landslide of that year and since 2001 setting a pattern that suggests the seat is a two-way Labour-Conservative marginal. Foster held the seat, again with slim majorities over Conservatives, in 2001 and 2005, but lost it to Conservative Amber Rudd in 2010. Rudd was re-elected with an increased majority in 2015. In the 2017 general election, the Green Party declined to contest the seat and instead called on its supporters to back the Labour candidate. Rudd held the seat with a slim majority of 346. Members of Parliament Elections Elections in the 2010s Elections in the 2000s Elections in the 1990s Elections in the 1980s See also List of parliamentary constituencies in East Sussex Notes References Sources Election 2005 Result: Hastings & Rye BBC News, 23 May 2005 Vote 2001 - Hastings & Rye BBC News, 8 June 2001 Election results, 1997 – 2001 Election Demon Election results, 1983 – 1992 Election Demon Parliamentary constituencies in South East England Politics of East Sussex Politics of Hastings Rother District Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1983