Herne Bay and Sandwich
South East · County constituency
About the Herne Bay and Sandwich constituency
Herne Bay and Sandwich is a county constituency in the South East, spanning parts of Canterbury, Thanet and neighbouring councils. The sitting MP is Sir Roger Gale (Conservative), first elected in June 1983.
At the 2024 general election, the Conservatives won Herne Bay and Sandwich with 35.3% of the vote, ahead of Labour on 30.2%, a majority of 2,499 votes. Turnout was 62.7%.
If a general election were held today, PollCheck's projection at the current seven-poll average has Reform UK on 34.3% and the Conservatives on 28.5% in Herne Bay and Sandwich, a margin of 5.8 points, a projected change from the Conservatives since 2024. The projection updates automatically as new polls are added.
Demographically, Herne Bay and Sandwich is a Leave-leaning area (an estimated 57.4% voted Leave in 2016). About 26.9% of residents hold a degree, 72.0% of homes are owner-occupied, and the seat has a median age of about 49 (2021 Census).
Across the most recent general elections on record here, the seat has been won by the Conservatives each time.
Who lives in Herne Bay and Sandwich? Constituency demographics
From the 2021 Census and 2016 EU referendum estimates. Constituency-level data on 2024 boundaries.
How did Herne Bay and Sandwich 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
Current projection
Map of Herne Bay and Sandwich
Switch between ward-level 2024 election winners and a demographic view. Ward winners are Britain Elects' / New Statesman modelled estimates with an average ~4pp margin of error per ward. The demographic view splits the seat into small neighbourhoods (around 1,500 residents each, from the 2021 Census). Hover any area for detail.
Herne Bay and Sandwich within Canterbury and Thanet and 1 other council
Herne Bay and Sandwich crosses multiple council boundaries: Canterbury (51%), Thanet (37%), Dover (12%). English councils rotate their election cycles and none of the constituent councils were due to vote in 2026, so the figures below show the most recent ward result available for each ward.
Council overlap
| Council | Share of seat |
|---|---|
| Canterbury | 51% |
| Thanet | 37% |
| Dover | 12% |
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.
| Date | Ward | Result | Top 3 vote shares |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 Oct 2025 | Garlinge | Ref GAIN from Local | Ref 45% Con 32% Lab 8% |
| 1 May 2025 | Thanet Villages | Ref GAIN from Con | Ref 38% Con 21% Other 20% |
| 7 Mar 2025 | Herne & Broomfield | Con HOLD | — |
Most recent council ward results
Latest council winner per ward. Where the council held a May 2026 election, those results are shown; otherwise we show the most recent available ward result (via DCLEAPIL, 2014-2024), or, where the seat was uncontested at the last election, the current sitting councillor from OpenCouncilData. The "Shift since GE2024" column is only computed for May 2026 results - earlier council votes pre-date the GE, so no directional shift is shown.
| Ward | GE2024 winner | Latest council winner | Shift since GE2024 | Turnout |
|---|
Projection trajectory
PollCheck's projection for Herne Bay and Sandwich at each of the last 60 GB polls. Hover the chart for the underlying poll details.
Who has won Herne Bay and Sandwich at past general elections?
2024 result is on current boundaries. The 2019 row is the UK Parliament's notional recalculation onto the 2024 boundaries (directly comparable to 2024). The 2010, 2015 and 2017 rows are on the boundaries in force at the time and aren't directly comparable.
| Year | Result | MP | Lab | Con | LD | Majority | Turnout |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010predecessor | Con hold | Roger Gale North Thanet MP | 21.5% | 52.7% | 19.4% | 13,528 | 63.2% |
| 2015predecessor | Con hold | Roger Gale North Thanet MP | 17.9% | 49.0% | 3.5% | 10,948 | 65.8%+2.6 |
| 2017predecessor | Con hold | Roger Gale North Thanet MP | 34.0% | 56.2% | 3.3% | 10,738 | 66.5%+0.7 |
| 2019notional | Conservative winner | Roger Gale North Thanet MP, pre-review boundary | 24.4% | 64.4% | 7.5% | 20,372 | 67.0% |
| 2024 | Con hold | Roger Gale | 30.2% | 35.3% | 5.5% | 2,499 | 62.7%-4.3 |
Herne Bay and Sandwich was created or substantially redrawn by the 2023 boundary review. Pre-2024 rows below are for the predecessor seat North Thanet (the seat that covered most of this area), so vote shares and majorities aren’t directly comparable to the post-2024 figures.
Constituencies most like Herne Bay and Sandwich
Five seats with similar demographic profiles to Herne Bay and Sandwich. Politics shown for context.
- ↑Age 65+32.0 / 31.1vs 22.7
- ↓Social rent8.8 / 9.2vs 16.8
- ↑Owner-occupied72.0 / 69.2vs 61.9
- ↑Owner-occupied72.0 / 72.8vs 61.9
- ↑Age 65+32.0 / 31.6vs 22.7
- ↓Social rent8.8 / 7.2vs 16.8
- ↑Owner-occupied72.0 / 70.8vs 61.9
- ↑Age 65+32.0 / 30.6vs 22.7
- ↓Graduate26.9 / 24.6vs 33.7
- ↑Owner-occupied72.0 / 72.5vs 61.9
- ↓Social rent8.8 / 9.9vs 16.8
- ↓Graduate26.9 / 27.8vs 33.7
- ↑Owner-occupied72.0 / 73.9vs 61.9
- ↑Age 65+32.0 / 31.6vs 22.7
- ↓Social rent8.8 / 9.7vs 16.8
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
- 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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