Constituency profile

Forest of Dean

South West · County constituency

Matt Bishop MP
Sitting MP

Matt Bishop

Labour

First elected July 2024

Current PollCheck projection

Region & type
South West
County constituency
Last 5 GE winners
CCCCL
Conservative 4/5, Labour 1/5
EU referendum 2016
57.9% Leave
UK average 51.9%; +6.0pp above mean
Current outlook
Reform UK +3.3pp
Vulnerability score 8/10 (Labour projected to lose)
SouthernLeave-leaning

About the Forest of Dean constituency

Forest of Dean is a county constituency in the South West. The sitting MP is Matt Bishop (Labour), first elected in July 2024. At the 2024 general election, Labour won with 34.0% to 33.5% for the Conservatives, a majority of 278 votes on a 66.0% turnout. PollCheck's current projection, at the seven-poll average, has Reform UK on 30.1% and the Conservatives on 26.8%, a margin of 3.3 points - a projected change of hands from Labour.

Who lives in Forest of Dean? Constituency demographics

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

Leave vote 2016
57.9%
UK average ~52%
Degree or above
29.3%
UK average ~34%
No qualifications
18.1%
UK average ~18%
Owner-occupied
73.0%
UK average ~63%
Renting (social + private)
26.1%
UK average ~36%
Median age
48.3
UK median ~40
Age 65+
29.7%
UK average ~19%
Age 18-34
24.5%
UK average ~28%

How did Forest of Dean 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 278 votes (0.5pp) · turnout 66.0%

Current projection

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

Map of Forest of Dean

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)

Forest of Dean within Forest of Dean and Tewkesbury

Forest of Dean crosses council boundaries: Forest of Dean (94%), Tewkesbury (6%). None of the constituent councils were due to vote in 2026, so the figures below are the most recent ward results available. About this layer ›

Council overlap

CouncilShare of seat
Forest of Dean
50 LSOAs
94%
Tewkesbury
3 LSOAs
6%

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
1 May 2025Cinderford East
Forest of Dean
Ref GAIN from LabRef 44% Lab 32% Other 13%
1 May 2025Newent and Taynton
Forest of Dean
Con GAIN from LDCon 39% LD 31% Grn 24%

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
Berry HillLabour 37.8%vs Conservative 28.9%2023 Independent 57.9%vs Green 27.9%-17.5%
BreamLabour 33.9%vs Conservative 30.2%2023 Green 41.3%vs Independent 29.3%-30.2%
Cinderford EastLabour 37.8%vs Conservative 24.8%2023 Labour 65.8%vs Conservative 22.5%-22.9%
Cinderford WestLabour 37.5%vs Conservative 24.4%2023 Independent 52.2%vs Labour 29.1%-27.6%
ColefordLabour 33.7%vs Conservative 32.3%2023 Independent 32.3%vs Conservative 27.7%-44.9%
DymockConservative 41.1%vs Labour 29.0%2023 Lib Dem 62.5%vs Conservative 37.5%-41.5%
Hartpury & RedmarleyConservative 38.4%vs Labour 32.9%2023 Conservative 38.3%vs Green 30.9%-51.8%
Highnam with Haw BridgeConservative 43.9%vs Labour 28.8%2023 Conservative 63.6%vs Green 36.4%-39.8%
Longhope & HuntleyConservative 37.4%vs Labour 31.4%2023 Independent 53.8%vs Conservative 25.9%-38.0%
LydbrookLabour 43.5%vs Conservative 23.2%2023 Green 85.5%vs Conservative 14.5%-32.5%
Lydney EastConservative 34.7%vs Labour 31.2%2023 Conservative 39.3%vs Independent 31.2%-34.9%
Lydney NorthConservative 44.8%vs Labour 27.8%2023 Conservative 76.3%vs Green 23.7%-37.5%
Lydney West & AylburtonLabour 34.3%vs Conservative 32.7%2023 Green 77.6%vs Conservative 22.4%-34.0%
Mitcheldean, Ruardean & DrybrookLabour 36.5%vs Conservative 31.7%2023 Green 36.3%vs Independent 24.9%-52.3%
Newent & TayntonLabour 34.0%vs Conservative 32.9%2023 Lib Dem 54.2%vs Conservative 24.5%-42.7%
Newland & SlingConservative 33.9%vs Labour 31.6%2023 Green 69.4%vs Conservative 30.6%-29.7%
NewnhamLabour 34.9%vs Conservative 33.5%2023 Green 61.2%vs Conservative 28.8%-36.7%
PillowellLabour 33.8%vs Conservative 33.0%2023 Green 77.3%vs Conservative 22.7%-37.0%
RuspidgeLabour 35.8%vs Conservative 28.1%2023 Independent 50.9%vs Lib Dem 27.9%-24.6%
St. BriavelsLabour 39.7%vs Conservative 29.5%2023 Green 74.5%vs Conservative 21.6%-45.6%
TidenhamConservative 37.3%vs Labour 33.4%2023 Conservative 36.8%vs Green 35.2%-56.2%
Westbury-on-SevernConservative 33.4%vs Labour 31.2%2023 Independent 87.4%vs Conservative 12.6%-39.6%

Projection trajectory

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

Who has won Forest of Dean 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
2010Con holdMark Harper24.2%46.9%21.9%5.2% UKIP1.9%-11,06471.3%
2015Con holdMark Harper24.6%46.8%5.3%17.8% UKIP5.5%-10,98770.9%-0.4
2017Con holdMark Harper35.9%54.3%3.9%2.4% UKIP2.4%1.1%9,50273.0%+2.1
2019notionalConservative winnerMark Harper 2019 MP, pre-review boundary28.8%59.6%0.0%-9.1%2.5%15,86972.0%-1.0
2024Lab gain from ConMatt Bishop34.0%33.5%5.4%17.0% Ref9.8%0.2%27866.0%-6.0

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

Constituencies most like Forest of Dean

Five seats with similar demographic profiles to Forest of Dean. 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.

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