Constituency profile

Rayleigh and Wickford

East of England · County constituency

Mr Mark Francois MP
Sitting MP

Mr Mark Francois

Conservative

First elected June 2001

Current PollCheck projection

Region & type
East of England
County constituency
Last 5 GE winners
CCCCC
Conservative 5/5
EU referendum 2016
67.7% Leave
UK average 51.9%; +15.8pp above mean
Current outlook
Reform UK +15.5pp
Vulnerability score 9/10 (Conservative projected to lose)
SouthernStrong Leave areaWorking-class profile

About the Rayleigh and Wickford constituency

Rayleigh and Wickford is a county constituency in the East of England. The sitting MP is Mr Mark Francois (Conservative), first elected in June 2001. At the 2024 general election, the Conservatives won with 37.0% to 25.3% for Reform UK, a majority of 5,621 votes on a 62.7% turnout. PollCheck's current projection, at the seven-poll average, has Reform UK on 40.9% and the Conservatives on 25.4%, a margin of 15.5 points - a projected change of hands from the Conservatives.

Who lives in Rayleigh and Wickford? Constituency demographics

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

Leave vote 2016
67.7%
UK average ~52%
Degree or above
22.9%
UK average ~34%
No qualifications
18.8%
UK average ~18%
Owner-occupied
81.7%
UK average ~63%
Renting (social + private)
17.7%
UK average ~36%
Median age
45.5
UK median ~40
Age 65+
27.3%
UK average ~19%
Age 18-34
25.2%
UK average ~28%

How did Rayleigh and Wickford 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 5,621 votes (11.7pp) · turnout 62.7%

Current projection

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

Map of Rayleigh and Wickford

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)

Rayleigh and Wickford within Rochford and Basildon

Rayleigh and Wickford crosses council boundaries: Rochford (69%), Basildon (31%). The figures below are from the 7 May 2026 council elections where held, otherwise the most recent available ward result. 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
Rochford
40 LSOAs
69%View projection ›
Basildon
18 LSOAs
31%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
Castledon & CrouchRefRef 49% Con 27% LD 12%46.2%
Rayleigh SouthRefRef 39% Con 27% LD 21%49.2%
Rayleigh WestRefRef 40% LD 27% Con 18%45.1%
Rochford NorthRefRef 40% LD 22% Con 17%49.2%

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
18 Jun 2026Sweyne Park & Grange
Rochford
Con GAIN from RefCon 56% Ref 25% LD 13%

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
Castledon & CrouchConservative 36.0%vs Reform 26.5%May 2026 Reform 50.5%vs Conservative 24.4%
Conservative→Reform
+17.8pp
49.8%
Downhall and RawrethConservative 32.8%vs Reform 23.4%May 2026 Reform 37.3%vs Lib Dem 29.7%
Conservative→Reform
+12.1pp
-
Hawkwell EastConservative 35.3%vs Reform 27.1%May 2026 Reform 43.5%vs Conservative 18.0%
Conservative→Reform
+16.8pp
-
Hawkwell WestConservative 38.0%vs Reform 27.1%May 2026 Reform 43.6%vs Conservative 25.4%
Conservative→Reform
+14.5pp
-
HockleyConservative 37.7%vs Reform 25.4%May 2026 Reform 37.5%vs Conservative 26.6%
Conservative→Reform
+11.6pp
-
Hockley and AshingdonConservative 39.2%vs Reform 25.8%May 2026 Reform 34.8%vs Conservative 33.9%
Conservative→Reform
+7.2pp
-
HullbridgeConservative 35.4%vs Reform 26.0%May 2026 Reform 54.2%vs Green 22.5%
Conservative→Reform
+22.6pp
-
LodgeConservative 36.5%vs Labour 26.3%May 2026 Reform 44.1%vs Conservative 28.2%
Conservative→Reform
+13.7pp
-
Sweyne Park and GrangeConservative 33.5%vs Reform 26.3%May 2026 Reform 39.7%vs Conservative 16.9%
Conservative→Reform
+15.0pp
-
TrinityConservative 40.3%vs Reform 22.9%May 2026 Reform 36.3%vs Conservative 31.1%
Conservative→Reform
+11.3pp
-
WheatleyConservative 37.9%vs Reform 24.1%May 2026 Reform 36.2%vs Lib Dem 28.7%
Conservative→Reform
+11.6pp
-
Wickford NorthConservative 39.0%vs Labour 27.2%May 2026 Reform 45.3%vs Conservative 25.3%
Conservative→Reform
+17.7pp
45.2%
Wickford ParkConservative 34.4%vs Reform 28.3%May 2026 Reform 44.5%vs Conservative 31.4%
Conservative→Reform
+9.6pp
41.2%

Projection trajectory

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

Who has won Rayleigh and Wickford 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 Francois14.5%57.8%15.1%4.2% UKIP-8.4%22,33869.2%
2015Con holdMark Francois12.6%54.7%3.0%22.3% UKIP2.9%4.5%17,23069.0%-0.2
2017Con holdMark Francois24.3%66.7%2.8%4.2% UKIP1.9%-23,45070.4%+1.4
2019notionalConservative winnerMark Francois 2019 MP, pre-review boundary15.7%72.9%7.7%-3.7%-30,34869.3%-1.1
2024Con holdMark Francois24.6%37.0%8.5%25.3% Ref4.6%-5,62162.7%-6.6

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

Constituencies most like Rayleigh and Wickford

Five seats with similar demographic profiles to Rayleigh and Wickford. 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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