Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket
| Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket | |
|---|---|
| County constituency for the House of Commons | |
Interactive map of boundaries from 2024 | |
Boundary of Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket in the East of England | |
| County | Suffolk |
| Electorate | 75,655 (2023)[1] |
| Major settlements | Bury St Edmunds, Stowmarket, Thurston, Elmswell |
| Current constituency | |
| Created | 2024 |
| Member of Parliament | Peter Prinsley (Labour) |
| Seats | One |
| Created from | Bury St Edmunds & West Suffolk (part) |
Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament represented since its creation for the 2024 general election by Peter Prinsley of the Labour Party.[2] The constituency is named for the Suffolk towns of Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket.[3]
Constituency profile
The Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket constituency is located in Suffolk. Its largest settlement is the town of Bury St Edmunds, with a population of around 41,000.[4] Other settlements include the smaller town of Stowmarket and the villages of Elmswell and Stanton. The constituency is predominantly rural and agricultural. Bury St Edmunds is a historic market town. It has a long religious history as the site of an abbey and a cathedral, and a tradition of brewing as the base of pub and brewing company Greene King.
The constituency is generally affluent.[5] Residents are older and have higher incomes compared to national averages, and White people make up 95% of the population.[6] At the district council level, most of Bury St Edmunds is represented by Labour Party councillors, whilst the rural areas elected mostly Conservatives in the west and Greens in the south east. Voters in the constituency marginally supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum; an estimated 53% voted in favour of Brexit, similar to the nationwide figure.[6]
Boundaries
The constituency is composed of the following:
- The District of Mid Suffolk wards of: Chilton; Combs Ford; Elmswell & Woolpit; Onehouse; Rattlesden; St. Peter’s; Stow Thorney; Thurston.
- The District of West Suffolk wards of: Abbeygate; Bardwell; Barningham; Eastgate; Ixworth; Minden; Moreton Hall; Pakenham & Troston; Rougham; St. Olaves; Southgate; Stanton; The Fornhams & Great Barton; Tollgate; Westgate.[7]
Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket contains the majority of the abolished Bury St Edmunds constituency and a small area to the north transferred from the West Suffolk constituency.[8]
The constituency covers Bury St Edmunds, Stowmarket and smaller settlements on the A14 corridor.
History
The newly created constituency was notionally a safe Conservative seat, with an estimated majority of 22,085 votes (41.7%) based on the results of the 2019 election. The predecessor seat of Bury St Edmunds had not elected a non-Conservative MP since it elected one Liberal at the 1880 election, and none at all since becoming a single-member constituency in 1885.
However, at the 2024 election the Tories suffered an above-average swing against them of 21.6% and won less than half their vote share from 2019, turning their notional majority of over 22,000 into a Labour majority of 1,452. Along with the party gaining Suffolk Coastal, this was the first time since it won Sudbury in 1945 that Labour had won any Suffolk constituencies not centred on Ipswich or Lowestoft.
Members of Parliament
Bury St Edmunds and West Suffolk prior to 2024
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Peter Prinsley | Labour | |
Election results
Elections in the 2020s
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Peter Prinsley | 16,745 | 32.9 | +12.1 | |
| Conservative | Will Tanner | 15,293 | 30.1 | −32.9 | |
| Reform | Scott Hussey | 8,595 | 16.9 | N/A | |
| Green | Emma Buckmaster | 5,761 | 11.3 | −1.1 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Peter McDonald | 3,154 | 6.2 | +5.1 | |
| Independent | Jeremy Lee | 819 | 1.6 | N/A | |
| Rejoin EU | Richard Baker-Howard | 350 | 0.7 | N/A | |
| Communist | Darren Turner | 176 | 0.4 | N/A | |
| Majority | 1,452 | 2.85 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 50,893 | 65.6 | −3.8 | ||
| Registered electors | 77,599 | ||||
| Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | +22.5 | |||
Elections in the 2010s
| 2019 notional result[10] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Vote | % | |
| Conservative | 33,023 | 62.9 | |
| Labour | 10,938 | 20.8 | |
| Green | 6,520 | 12.4 | |
| Others | 1,435 | 2.7 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 565 | 1.1 | |
| Turnout | 52,481 | 69.4 | |
| Electorate | 75,655 | ||
See also
References
- ^ "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition – Eastern". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
- ^ "Eastern | Boundary Commission for England". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
- ^ "Revealed: Proposed boundaries for Norfolk and Suffolk election shake-up". Eastern Daily Press. 2023-07-01. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
- ^ "Towns and cities, characteristics of built-up areas, England and Wales: Census 2021". Census 2021. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
- ^ "Constituency data: Deprivation in England". commonslibrary.parliament.uk. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
- ^ a b "Seat Details - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket". electoralcalculus.co.uk. Retrieved 20 December 2025.
- ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule I Part 2 Eastern region.
- ^ "New Seat Details - Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket". www.electoralcalculus.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
- ^ "Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket - General Election Results 2024". BBC News. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
- ^ "Notional results for a UK general election on 12 December 2019". Rallings & Thrasher, Professor David Denver (Scotland), Nicholas Whyte (NI) for Sky News, PA, BBC News and ITV News. UK Parliament. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
External links
- Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK