Constituency profile

Colchester

East of England · Borough constituency · Colchester borough

Pam Cox MP
Sitting MP

Pam Cox

Labour

First elected July 2024

Current PollCheck projection

Region & type
East of England
Borough constituency, Colchester council
Last 5 GE winners
LDCCCL
Conservative 3/5, Liberal Democrats 1/5, Labour 1/5
EU referendum 2016
51.5% Leave
UK average 51.9%; -0.4pp below mean
Current outlook
Reform UK +0.6pp
Vulnerability score 8/10 (Labour projected to lose)
SouthernBrexit-marginal

About the Colchester constituency

Colchester is a borough constituency in the East of England. The sitting MP is Pam Cox (Labour), first elected in July 2024. At the 2024 general election, Labour won with 41.9% to 23.5% for the Conservatives, a majority of 8,250 votes on a 57.1% turnout. PollCheck's current projection, at the seven-poll average, has Reform UK on 27.7% and Labour on 27.0%, a margin of 0.6 points - a projected change of hands from Labour.

Who lives in Colchester? Constituency demographics

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

Leave vote 2016
51.5%
UK average ~52%
Degree or above
33.2%
UK average ~34%
No qualifications
15.1%
UK average ~18%
Owner-occupied
57.3%
UK average ~63%
Renting (social + private)
42.0%
UK average ~36%
Median age
36.3
UK median ~40
Age 65+
17.8%
UK average ~19%
Age 18-34
35.9%
UK average ~28%

How did Colchester 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 8,250 votes (18.4pp) · turnout 57.1%

Current projection

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

Map of Colchester

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)

Colchester within Colchester

Colchester sits entirely within Colchester Council. The figures below are from the council elections held on 7 May 2026. In addition, the Essex County Council election was held on Thursday 7 May 2026; the county-division results covering this seat are shown below. About this layer ›

Council overlap

CouncilShare of seatProjection
Colchester
71 LSOAs
100%View projection ›

Essex County Council election, Thursday 7 May 2026

The county council is a separate tier of local government from the district council and from Westminster. These are the results for the county divisions covering this seat; vote shares are computed from the declared per-candidate ballots.

DivisionWinnerTop 3 vote sharesTurnout
Colchester AbbeyLabLab 36% Ref 27% Grn 22%36.7%
Colchester LexdenConCon 38% Ref 22% Lab 15%48.2%
Colchester MaypoleRefRef 34% Lab 31% LD 15%32.8%
Colchester NorthLDLD 35% Ref 22% Grn 22%38.4%
Colchester St JohnsRefRef 34% LD 30% Con 13%40.5%

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
BerechurchLabour 58.0%vs Conservative 16.9%May 2026 Labour 37.7%vs Reform 37.5%
Labour share
-20.3pp
-
CastleLabour 38.1%vs Conservative 23.0%May 2026 Green 43.9%vs Reform 20.2%
Labour→Green
+28.5pp
-
GreensteadLabour 52.6%vs Conservative 18.4%May 2026 Reform 35.0%vs Labour 30.4%
Labour→Reform
+21.2pp
-
HighwoodsLabour 41.4%vs Conservative 22.8%May 2026 Reform 28.2%vs Lib Dem 24.4%
Labour→Reform
+15.2pp
-
Lexden and BraiswickConservative 43.0%vs Labour 25.4%May 2026 Conservative 45.0%vs Reform 25.2%
Conservative share
+2.0pp
-
Mile EndLabour 36.0%vs Lib Dem 22.5%May 2026 Lib Dem 50.4%vs Reform 21.1%
Labour→Lib Dem
+28.5pp
-
New Town and Christ ChurchLabour 49.1%vs Conservative 18.6%May 2026 Labour 32.4%vs Green 23.3%
Labour share
-16.7pp
-
PrettygateConservative 35.2%vs Labour 31.0%May 2026 Conservative 36.5%vs Reform 24.8%
Conservative share
+1.3pp
-
Shrub EndLabour 40.9%vs Conservative 22.7%May 2026 Reform 34.0%vs Lib Dem 30.8%
Labour→Reform
+23.5pp
-
St Anne's and St John'sLabour 31.5%vs Conservative 28.5%May 2026 Lib Dem 46.8%vs Reform 35.9%
Labour→Lib Dem
+25.6pp
-

Projection trajectory

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

Who has won Colchester 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
2010LD holdBob Russell12.3%32.9%48.0%2.9% UKIP1.5%2.4%6,98262.3%
2015Con gain from LDWill Quince16.2%38.9%27.5%12.1% UKIP5.1%0.2%5,57565.5%+3.2
2017Con holdWill Quince35.3%45.9%17.0%-1.5%0.3%5,67766.9%+1.4
2019notionalConservative winnerWill Quince 2019 MP, pre-review boundary30.1%52.3%14.7%-2.9%-10,94063.9%-3.0
2024Lab gain from ConPam Cox41.9%23.5%14.2%14.8% Ref5.4%0.2%8,25057.1%-6.8

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

Constituencies most like Colchester

Five seats with similar demographic profiles to Colchester. 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.