Parliamentary constituencies in Suffolk

The county of Suffolk in relation to England

The county of Suffolk, England is divided into 8 parliamentary constituencies (1 borough constituency and 7 county constituencies). Seven constituencies lie wholly within Suffolk while Waveney Valley straddles the county border between Suffolk and Norfolk.[nb 1]

Constituencies

Further information: 2024 United Kingdom general election

  † Conservative   ‡ Labour   ¥ Green

Constituency[nb 2]	Electorate[1]	Majority[2][nb 3]	Member of Parliament[2]		Nearest opposition[2]		Map
Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket CC	76,655	1,452		Peter Prinsley ‡		Will Tanner †
Central Suffolk and North Ipswich CC	71,020	4,290		Patrick Spencer †		Kevin Craig ‡
Ipswich BC	75,117	7,403		Jack Abbott ‡		Tom Hunt †
Lowestoft CC	73,967	2,016		Jessica Asato ‡		Peter Aldous †
South Suffolk CC	71,170	3,047		James Cartlidge †		Emma Bishton ‡
Suffolk Coastal CC	72,663	1,070		Jenny Riddell-Carpenter ‡		Thérèse Coffey †
Waveney Valley CC	70,540	5,593		Adrian Ramsay ¥		Richard Rout †
West Suffolk CC	76,243	3,247		Nick Timothy †		Rebecca Denness ‡

Boundary changes

2024

For the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which redrew the constituency map ahead of the 2024 United Kingdom general election, the Boundary Commission for England opted to combine Suffolk with Norfolk as a sub-region of the East of England region, with the creation of the cross-county boundary constituency of Waveney Valley. The seat of Waveney reverted to its former name of Lowestoft, and Bury St Edmunds was renamed Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket.[3][4][5]

Former name	Boundaries 2010–2024	Current name	Boundaries 2024–present
Bury St Edmunds CC Central Suffolk and North Ipswich CC Ipswich BC South Suffolk CC Suffolk Coastal CC Waveney CC West Suffolk CC		Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket CC Central Suffolk and North Ipswich CC Ipswich BC Lowestoft CC South Suffolk CC Suffolk Coastal CC Waveney Valley CC West Suffolk CC

2010

In the Fifth Review the Boundary Commission for England recommended that Suffolk retained its current constituencies, with changes only to reflect revisions to local authority ward boundaries and to reduce the electoral disparity between constituencies. The largest of these changes resulted in the effective transfer of one Borough of Ipswich ward from Central Suffolk and North Ipswich to the constituency of Ipswich.

Name	Boundaries 1997–2010	Boundaries 2010–2024
Bury St Edmunds CC Central Suffolk and North Ipswich CC Ipswich BC South Suffolk CC Suffolk Coastal CC Waveney CC West Suffolk CC

Results history

Primary data source: House of Commons research briefing - General election results from 1918 to 2019[6]

2024

The number of votes cast for each political party who fielded candidates in constituencies comprising Suffolk in the 2024 general election were as follows:[2]

Party	Votes	%	Change from 2019	Seats	Change from 2019
Conservative	115,953	30.8%	29.3%	3	4
Labour	107,057	28.4%	4.5%	4	4
Reform	69,230	18.4%	18.0%	0	0
Greens	49,925	13.3%	6.9%	1	1
Liberal Democrats	31,160	8.3%	-	0	0
Others	3,342	0.9%	-	0	0
Total	376,667	100.0		8

2019

The number of votes cast for each political party who fielded candidates in constituencies comprising Suffolk in the 2019 general election were as follows:

Party	Votes	%	Change from 2017	Seats	Change from 2017
Conservative	229,823	60.1%	2.9%	7	1
Labour	91,339	23.9%	8.7%	0	1
Liberal Democrats	31,633	8.3%	3.8%	0	0
Greens	24,490	6.4%	3.6%	0	0
Brexit	1,432	0.4%	new	0	0
Others	3,432	0.9%	2.0%	0	0
Total	382,149	100.0		7

Percentage votes

Election year	1918	1922	1923	1924	1929	1931	1935	1945	1950	1951	1955	1959	1964	1966	1970	1974 (Feb)	1974 (Oct)	1979	1983	1987	1992	1997	2001	2005	2010	2015	2017	2019	2024
Conservative^1	48.9	45.6	47.6	54.8	43.6	67.0	62.6	39.7	42.1	49.1	49.6	48.4	45.6	46.6	52.5	44.0	45.5	51.4	52.5	52.5	49.9	37.6	40.7	41.7	46.2	50.7	57.2	60.1	30.8
Labour	12.2	25.8	23.9	20.0	23.3	25.0	32.4	38.2	39.8	43.9	46.6	41.1	38.2	43.2	38.7	31.7	35.1	33.7	22.1	23.2	28.7	40.2	39.7	31.8	21.3	23.5	32.6	23.9	28.4
Reform^2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0.4	18.4
Green Party	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	*	*	*	*	*	1.9	4.9	2.8	6.4	13.3
Liberal Democrat^3#	24.5	11.9	28.5	25.2	33.1	8.0	4.9	22.1	18.0	7.0	3.8	10.5	16.0	9.9	8.0	23.7	19.4	14.4	25.3	23.6	20.4	17.6	16.0	20.6	24.1	5.6	4.5	8.3	8.3
Coalition Liberal	14.4	16.7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
UKIP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	*	*	*	5.3	15.3	2.3	*	*
Other	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0.1	-	-	-	0.1	0.3	0.8	0.5	-	0.5	0.1	0.6	1.1	4.6	3.6	6.0	1.2	0.1	0.5	0.9	0.9

^1Includes National Liberal Party from 1931 - 1966

^2As the Brexit Party in 2019

^31918-1979 - Liberal; 1983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance

* Included in Other

Seats

Election year	1950	1951	1955	1959	1964	1966	1970	1974 (Feb)	1974 (Oct)	1979	1983	1987	1992	1997	2001	2005	2010	2015	2017	2019	2024
Labour	2	2	2	1	1	1	0	0	1	1	1	0	1	2	2	2	0	0	1	0	4
Conservative^1	2	3	3	4	4	4	5	5	4	4	5	6	5	5	5	5	7	7	6	7	3
Greens	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1[a]
Liberal Democrat^2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	6	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	8[a]

^1Includes National Liberal Party up to 1966

^21950-1979 - Liberal; 1983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance

1. Includes the constituency of Waveney Valley, which also lies partly in Norfolk.

Maps

1885-1910

• 
  1885
• 
  1886
• 
  1892
• 
  1895
• 
  1900
• 
  1906
• 
  Jan 1910
• 
  Dec 1910

1918-1945

• 
  1918
• 
  1922
• 
  1923
• 
  1924
• 
  1929
• 
  1931
• 
  1935
• 
  1945

1950-1979

• 
  1950
• 
  1951
• 
  1955
• 
  1959
• 
  1964
• 
  1966
• 
  1970
• 
  1974 Feb
• 
  1974 Oct
• 
  1979

1983-present

• 
  1983
• 
  1987
• 
  1992
• 
  1997
• 
  2001
• 
  2005
• 
  2010
• 
  2015
• 
  2017
• 
  2019
• 
  2024

Timeline

Constituency	1295-1298	1298-1529	1529-1559	1559-1571	1571-1614	1614-1832	1832-1844	1844-1885	1885-1918	1918-1950	1950-1983	1983-1997	1997-
Aldeburgh					1571-1832
Bury St Edmunds						1614-
Central Suffolk												1983-1997
Central Suffolk and North Ipswich													1997-
Dunwich		1298-1832
East Suffolk							1832-1885
Eye					1571-1983
Ipswich	1295-
Lowestoft									1885-1983
Orford			1529-1832
South Suffolk												1983-
Stowmarket									1885-1918
Sudbury				1559-1844					1885-1950
Sudbury and Woodbridge											1950-1983
Suffolk	1295-1832
Suffolk Coastal												1983-
Waveney												1983-
West Suffolk							1832-1885						1997-
Woodbridge									1885-1950

Historical representation by party

A cell marked → (with a different colour background to the preceding cell) indicates that the previous MP continued to sit under a new party name.

1885 to 1918

  Conservative   Liberal   Liberal Unionist

Constituency	1885	86	1886	91	1892	92	1895	1900	1906	06	07	Jan 1910	Dec 1910	14
Bury St Edmunds	F. Hervey					Cadogan		Greene	F. W. Hervey		Guinness
Eye	Stevenson									Pearson
Ipswich (Two members)	West	Charteris					Goddard
	Collings	Dalrymple							Cobbold			Horne		Ganzoni
Lowestoft	Crossley		→		Foster			Lucas	Beauchamp			Foster	Beauchamp
Stowmarket	Cobbold		Greene	Stern			Malcolm		Hardy			Goldsmith
Sudbury	W. Quilter		→						Heaton-Armstrong			C. Quilter
Woodbridge	Everett		Lloyd-Anstruther		Everett		Pretyman		Everett			Peel

1918 to 1950

  Coalition Liberal (1918-22)   Conservative   Independent   Independent Liberal   Labour   Liberal   National Liberal (1931-68)

Constituency	1918	20	1922	1923	1924	1929	31	1931	34	1935	38	42	44	1945
Bury St Edmunds	Guinness							Heilgers					Keatinge	Clifton-Brown
Eye	Lyle-Samuel		→	Vanneck		Granville	→					→		→
Ipswich	Ganzoni			Jackson	Ganzoni						Stokes
Lowestoft	Beauchamp		Rentoul						Loftus					Evans
Sudbury	Howard		Mercer	Loverseed	Burton									Hamilton
Woodbridge	Peel	Churchman				Fison		Ross-Taylor						Hare

1950 to 1983

  Conservative   Labour   Liberal

Constituency	1950	1951	1955	57	1959	63	64	1964	1966	1970	Feb 74	Oct 74	1979
Bury St Edmunds	Aitken						Griffiths
Eye	Granville	Harrison											Gummer
Ipswich	Stokes			Foot						Money		Weetch
Lowestoft	Evans				Prior
Sudbury & Woodbridge	Hare					Stainton

1983 to present

  Conservative   Green   Independent   Labour

Constituency	1983	1987	1992	1997	2001	01	2005	2010	2015	2017	2019	22	24	2024
Bury St Edmunds / & Stowmarket ('24)	Griffiths		Spring	Ruffley					Churchill					Prinsley
Suffolk Coastal	Gummer							Coffey						Riddell-Carpenter
Ipswich	Weetch	Irvine	Cann			Mole		Gummer		Martin	Hunt			Abbott
Waveney / Lowestoft (2024)	Prior	Porter		Blizzard				Aldous						Asato
South Suffolk	Yeo								Cartlidge
Central Suffolk / & N Ipswich ('97)	Lord							Poulter					→	Spencer
West Suffolk				Spring				Hancock				→	→	Timothy
Waveney Valley^1														Ramsay

^1parts also in Norfolk

See also

• Parliamentary constituencies in the East of England
• History of parliamentary constituencies and boundaries in Suffolk

Notes

1. Waveney Valley CC is a cross-county constituency between Suffolk and Norfolk, covering areas of East and Mid Suffolk, as well as electoral wards of South Norfolk.
2. BC denotes borough constituency, CC denotes county constituency.
3. The majority is the number of votes the winning candidate receives more than their nearest rival.

References

1. "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England - Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition - Eastern". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
2. "Constituencies A-Z - Election 2014". BBC News. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
3. "Parliamentary constituency changes affect Norfolk/Suffolk border". BBC News. 8 November 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
4. "Here's how political boundaries could change if new plans approved". Suffolk News. 9 November 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
5. "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume one: Report". Boundary Commission for England. paras 294-320. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
6. Watson, Christopher; Uberoi, Elise; Loft, Philip (17 April 2020). "General election results from 1918 to 2019".