Constituency profile

Herne Bay and Sandwich

South East · County constituency

Sir Roger Gale MP
Sitting MP

Sir Roger Gale

Conservative

First elected June 1983

Current PollCheck projection

Region & type
South East
County constituency
Last 5 GE winners
CCCCC
Conservative 5/5
EU referendum 2016
57.4% Leave
UK average 51.9%; +5.5pp above mean
Current outlook
Reform UK +7.7pp
Vulnerability score 7/10 (Conservative projected to lose)
SouthernLeave-leaningWorking-class profile

About the Herne Bay and Sandwich constituency

Herne Bay and Sandwich is a county constituency in the South East. The sitting MP is Sir Roger Gale (Conservative), first elected in June 1983. At the 2024 general election, the Conservatives won with 35.3% to 30.2% for Labour, a majority of 2,499 votes on a 62.7% turnout. PollCheck's current projection, at the seven-poll average, has Reform UK on 34.7% and the Conservatives on 27.0%, a margin of 7.7 points - a projected change of hands from the Conservatives.

Who lives in Herne Bay and Sandwich? Constituency demographics

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

Leave vote 2016
57.4%
UK average ~52%
Degree or above
26.9%
UK average ~34%
No qualifications
20.6%
UK average ~18%
Owner-occupied
72.0%
UK average ~63%
Renting (social + private)
27.1%
UK average ~36%
Median age
48.9
UK median ~40
Age 65+
32.0%
UK average ~19%
Age 18-34
23.2%
UK average ~28%

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

Con hold · majority 2,499 votes (5.1pp) · turnout 62.7%

Current projection

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

Map of Herne Bay and Sandwich

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)

Herne Bay and Sandwich within Canterbury and Thanet and 1 other council

Herne Bay and Sandwich crosses council boundaries: Canterbury (51%), Thanet (37%), Dover (12%). 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
Canterbury
29 LSOAs
51%
Thanet
21 LSOAs
37%
Dover
7 LSOAs
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.

DateWardResultTop 3 vote shares
30 Oct 2025Garlinge
Thanet
Ref GAIN from LocalRef 45% Con 32% Lab 8%
1 May 2025Thanet Villages
Thanet
Ref GAIN from ConRef 38% Con 21% Other 20%
7 Mar 2025Herne & Broomfield
Canterbury
Con HOLD

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
BeltingeConservative 37.3%vs Labour 29.1%2023 Conservative 49.7%vs Labour 23.2%-34.1%
Birchington NorthConservative 38.6%vs Labour 28.0%2023 Conservative 50.6%vs Others 21.8%-61.9%
Birchington SouthConservative 35.9%vs Labour 27.3%2023 Conservative 56.3%vs Labour 23.7%-38.7%
GarlingeLabour 30.0%vs Conservative 29.1%2023 Others 57.7%vs Labour 23.2%-33.1%
GreenhillConservative 32.2%vs Labour 32.1%2023 Conservative 46.7%vs Labour 38.9%-27.3%
Herne & BroomfieldConservative 36.1%vs Labour 28.9%2023 Conservative 42.7%vs Labour 23.4%-30.4%
HeronLabour 34.4%vs Conservative 31.0%2023 Labour 39.1%vs Conservative 38.2%-34.5%
Little Stour & AshstoneConservative 41.6%vs Labour 26.1%2023 Conservative 51.8%vs Labour 20.8%-35.8%
ReculverConservative 39.4%vs Labour 30.2%2023 Conservative 49.1%vs Labour 29.5%-34.0%
SandwichConservative 39.1%vs Labour 26.7%2023 Conservative 42.6%vs Independent 26.4%-48.4%
SturryLabour 35.7%vs Conservative 32.6%2023 Labour 35.9%vs Conservative 31.8%-35.0%
Thanet VillagesConservative 38.4%vs Labour 25.0%2023 Conservative 41.9%vs Green 36.4%-33.9%
West BayConservative 33.5%vs Labour 28.8%2023 Green 56.0%vs Conservative 31.7%-33.7%
WestbrookLabour 36.0%vs Conservative 33.3%2023 Labour 43.6%vs Conservative 34.7%-40.3%
Westgate-on-SeaLabour 32.8%vs Conservative 30.8%2023 Conservative 30.9%vs Labour 28.6%-49.1%

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 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
2010predecessorCon holdRoger Gale North Thanet MP21.5%52.7%19.4%6.5% UKIP--13,52863.2%
2015predecessorCon holdRoger Gale North Thanet MP17.9%49.0%3.5%25.7% UKIP3.7%0.3%10,94865.8%+2.6
2017predecessorCon holdRoger Gale North Thanet MP34.0%56.2%3.3%4.5% UKIP1.7%0.3%10,73866.5%+0.7
2019notionalConservative winnerRoger Gale North Thanet MP, pre-review boundary24.4%64.4%7.5%-3.8%-20,37267.0%
2024Con holdRoger Gale30.2%35.3%5.5%21.7% Ref7.2%-2,49962.7%-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.

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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