Constituency profile

Bolton West

North West · County constituency · Bolton borough

Phil Brickell MP
Sitting MP

Phil Brickell

Labour

First elected July 2024

Current PollCheck projection

Region & type
North West
County constituency, Bolton council
Last 5 GE winners
LCCCL
Conservative 3/5, Labour 2/5
EU referendum 2016
55.5% Leave
UK average 51.9%; +3.6pp above mean
Current outlook
Labour +2.7pp
vs Reform UK 28.8%
NorthernLeave-leaning

About the Bolton West constituency

Bolton West is a county constituency in the North West. The sitting MP is Phil Brickell (Labour), first elected in July 2024. At the 2024 general election, Labour won with 38.9% to 27.8% for the Conservatives, a majority of 4,945 votes on a 59.5% turnout. PollCheck's current projection, at the seven-poll average, has Labour on 31.5% and Reform UK on 28.8%, a margin of 2.7 points.

Who lives in Bolton West? Constituency demographics

From the 2021 Census and 2016 EU referendum estimates. Constituency-level data on 2024 boundaries.

Leave vote 2016
55.5%
UK average ~52%
Degree or above
32.9%
UK average ~34%
No qualifications
17.9%
UK average ~18%
Owner-occupied
71.4%
UK average ~63%
Renting (social + private)
28.1%
UK average ~36%
Median age
42.5
UK median ~40
Age 65+
24.1%
UK average ~19%
Age 18-34
27.1%
UK average ~28%

How did Bolton West vote in 2024 and how would it vote now?

2024 vote shares from the HoC Library. Current projection is at the 7-poll average.

2024 general election

Lab gain from Con · majority 4,945 votes (11.1pp) · turnout 59.5%

Current projection

If a general election were held today, at current poll average

Map of Bolton West

Switch between GE2024 ward winners (modelled estimates, ~4pp average error) and a demographic view from the 2021 Census. Hover any area for detail. How the map is built ›

Council layer (not Westminster)

Bolton West within Bolton

Bolton West sits entirely within Bolton Council. The figures below are from the council elections held on 7 May 2026. About this layer ›

Council overlap

CouncilShare of seatProjection
Bolton
61 LSOAs
100%View projection ›

Recent council by-elections

Council ward by-elections held inside this seat, most recent first. The result column shows which party won; the share column shows the top three parties’ vote shares on the day.

DateWardResultTop 3 vote shares
30 Jul 2026Rumworth
Bolton
Ind GAIN from LabOther 44% Lab 31% Grn 15%
2 Jul 2026Horwich North
Bolton
Local HOLDOther 50% Ref 23% Lab 14%

Most recent council ward results

Latest council winner per ward - May 2026 results where the council voted, otherwise the most recent available result. How this table is sourced ›

Ward GE2024 winner Latest council winner Shift since GE2024 Turnout
Heaton, Lostock & Chew MoorConservative 37.8%vs Labour 33.1%May 2026 Conservative 37.6%vs Reform 24.5%
Conservative share
-0.1pp
-
Horwich NorthLabour 48.2%vs Conservative 23.9%May 2026 Others 44.5%vs Reform 25.6%
Labour→Others
+40.8pp
-
Horwich South & BlackrodLabour 44.2%vs Conservative 27.8%May 2026 Others 45.5%vs Reform 26.4%
Labour→Others
+40.1pp
-
HultonLabour 37.8%vs Conservative 27.9%May 2026 Reform 43.1%vs Labour 21.8%
Labour→Reform
+17.9pp
-
RumworthLabour 48.1%vs Reform 18.3%May 2026 Green 49.7%vs Labour 35.1%
Labour→Green
+27.9pp
-
SmithillsLabour 38.2%vs Reform 24.0%May 2026 Lib Dem 37.6%vs Reform 34.3%
Labour→Lib Dem
+28.2pp
-
Westhoughton North & Hunger HillLabour 36.8%vs Conservative 31.9%May 2026 Reform 38.2%vs Lib Dem 23.0%
Labour→Reform
+24.6pp
-
Westhoughton SouthLabour 35.9%vs Reform 23.8%May 2026 Reform 37.5%vs Lib Dem 35.3%
Labour→Reform
+19.6pp
-

Projection trajectory

PollCheck's projection for Bolton West at each of the last 60 GB polls. Hover the chart for the underlying poll details.

Who has won Bolton West at past general elections?

2024 and notional 2019 rows are on current boundaries; 2010-2017 rows are on the boundaries in force at the time. More on boundaries ›

Year Result MP Lab Con LD Right (Ref/UKIP) Green Other Majority Turnout
2010Lab holdJulie Hilling38.5%38.3%17.2%4.0% UKIP1.1%0.8%9266.7%
2015Con gain from LabChris Green39.0%40.6%4.0%15.3% UKIP-1.1%80166.8%+0.1
2017Con holdChris Green46.1%47.9%2.9%3.1% UKIP--93670.1%+3.3
2019notionalConservative winnerChris Green 2019 MP, pre-review boundary35.2%56.5%5.6%-1.8%0.9%10,61969.1%-1.0
2024Lab gain from ConPhil Brickell38.9%27.8%4.4%19.1% Ref9.3%0.5%4,94559.5%-9.6

Earlier years are on pre-2024 boundaries; comparable results on the new boundary will be added when sourced.

Constituencies most like Bolton West

Five seats with similar demographic profiles to Bolton West. Politics shown for context.

What would change this seat?

Move the sliders to set national vote shares. The per-seat projection updates live. Reset returns to the current 7-poll average.

Related

Sources

Every figure on this page is computed from the sources below. Read the full methodology ›

Show full source list
  • 2024 general election results · UK Parliament Election Results portal and House of Commons Library briefing CBP-10009.
  • Notional 2019 results on 2024 boundaries · UK Parliament Election Results portal. Recalculated by Parliament; carries assumptions about how 2019 voters would have distributed across the redrawn boundaries.
  • Historic general election results (2010-2017) · House of Commons Library historic results files (on the boundaries in force at the time).
  • Ward-level GE2024 estimates · Britain Elects / New Statesman - article by Ben Walker, underlying spreadsheet. Modelled from constituency totals; average ~4pp per-ward MoE.
  • May 2026 council ward results · Democracy Club via PollCheck's locals 2026 dataset.
  • Earlier council ward results (2014-2024) · DCLEAPIL v1.0 (Jason Leman, drawing on Andrew Teale's LEAP dataset and Democracy Club).
  • Demographics · ONS Census 2021 (England and Wales), aggregated to constituency level using the ONS LSOA21 -> PCON24 best-fit lookup.
  • EU referendum 2016 estimates · Constituency-level Leave vote estimates (Hanretty 2017 method).
  • MP details and Cabinet roles · UK Parliament Members API. MP photos are fetched live from the same source.
  • Boundary geometry and lookups · ONS Open Geography Portal (PCON24 boundaries, LSOA21 boundaries, LSOA21-WD24-LAD24 best-fit lookup).
  • Current projection and trajectory · PollCheck's demographic swingometer applied to the rolling 7-poll average from aggregated GB polls. Not a true MRP - vote-share movements are applied through per-constituency sensitivity multipliers derived from demographic regressions.

If you spot a data issue, please let us know.