Constituency profile

South Suffolk

East of England · County constituency · Babergh borough

James Cartlidge MP
Sitting MP

James Cartlidge

Conservative

First elected May 2015Shadow: Shadow Secretary of State for Defence

Current PollCheck projection

Region & type
East of England
County constituency, Babergh council
Last 5 GE winners
CCCCC
Conservative 5/5
EU referendum 2016
54.0% Leave
UK average 51.9%; +2.1pp above mean
Current outlook
Reform UK +15.0pp
Vulnerability score 9/10 (Conservative projected to lose)
SouthernBrexit-marginal

About the South Suffolk constituency

South Suffolk is a county constituency in the East of England. The sitting MP is James Cartlidge (Conservative), first elected in May 2015. At the 2024 general election, the Conservatives won with 33.0% to 26.7% for Labour, a majority of 3,047 votes on a 65.4% turnout. PollCheck's current projection, at the seven-poll average, has Reform UK on 38.1% and the Conservatives on 23.1%, a margin of 15.0 points - a projected change of hands from the Conservatives.

Who lives in South Suffolk? Constituency demographics

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

Leave vote 2016
54.0%
UK average ~52%
Degree or above
29.5%
UK average ~34%
No qualifications
17.4%
UK average ~18%
Owner-occupied
71.0%
UK average ~63%
Renting (social + private)
28.0%
UK average ~36%
Median age
49.0
UK median ~40
Age 65+
31.3%
UK average ~19%
Age 18-34
22.7%
UK average ~28%

How did South Suffolk 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 3,047 votes (6.3pp) · turnout 65.4%

Current projection

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

Map of South Suffolk

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)

South Suffolk within Babergh

South Suffolk sits entirely within Babergh Council. Babergh was not itself in the 2026 election cycle, but the Suffolk 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 seat
Babergh
55 LSOAs
100%

Suffolk 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
BrookRefRef 39% Con 19% Grn 19%
ConstableConCon 30% Ref 28% LD 22%
Cornard & Sudbury EastRefRef 39% Grn 28% Con 15%
CosfordGrnGrn 36% Ref 32% Con 25%
HadleighGrnGrn 35% Ref 34% Con 20%
MelfordIndependentIndependent 32% Ref 31% Grn 18%
PeninsulaRefRef 32% Grn 28% Con 23%
Stour ValleyRefRef 41% Con 24% Grn 15%
Sudbury WestGrnGrn 39% Ref 29% LD 14%

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
16 Oct 2025Copdock & Washbrook
Babergh
Ref GAIN from LDRef 32% LD 29% 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
AssingtonConservative 34.6%vs Labour 26.2%2023 Lib Dem 49.8%vs Conservative 37.6%-40.6%
Box ValeConservative 28.2%vs Lib Dem 27.2%2023 Lib Dem 64.0%vs Conservative 16.8%-46.2%
BranthamConservative 29.0%vs Labour 27.1%2023 Independent 77.7%vs Green 14.0%-33.9%
Brett ValeConservative 39.8%vs Labour 23.4%2023 Independent 39.7%vs Conservative 30.6%-43.6%
Bures St Mary & NaylandConservative 37.3%vs Labour 23.5%2023 Conservative 39.9%vs Green 34.5%-41.3%
Capel St MaryConservative 28.1%vs Labour 26.5%2023 Lib Dem 79.0%vs Green 21.0%-30.7%
ChadacreConservative 37.7%vs Labour 24.8%2023 Green 30.6%vs Conservative 26.8%-51.5%
Copdock & WashbrookConservative 32.2%vs Labour 25.0%2023 Lib Dem 56.5%vs Conservative 29.5%-39.3%
East BergholtConservative 32.9%vs Labour 25.4%2023 Green 52.7%vs Independent 24.4%-46.2%
GangesConservative 34.9%vs Labour 25.9%2023 Independent 45.9%vs Conservative 28.1%-34.1%
Great CornardConservative 32.4%vs Labour 28.6%2023 Conservative 36.0%vs Labour 28.5%-32.0%
Hadleigh NorthConservative 36.0%vs Labour 23.4%2023 Green 33.8%vs Conservative 29.3%-30.0%
Hadleigh SouthConservative 33.5%vs Labour 23.6%2023 Green 43.3%vs Independent 21.1%-42.3%
LavenhamConservative 42.8%vs Labour 23.2%2023 Conservative 53.2%vs Green 18.0%-51.2%
Long MelfordConservative 31.9%vs Labour 26.8%2023 Independent 57.1%vs Green 16.7%-32.1%
North West CosfordLabour 35.3%vs Conservative 28.0%2023 Green 83.1%vs Lib Dem 16.9%-35.2%
OrwellConservative 29.9%vs Labour 28.4%2023 Green 63.4%vs Lib Dem 23.8%-37.7%
South East CosfordLabour 34.2%vs Conservative 30.6%2023 Green 88.9%vs Lib Dem 11.1%-42.4%
Sproughton & PinewoodConservative 30.1%vs Labour 27.0%2023 Green 26.0%vs Lib Dem 25.7%-34.0%
StourConservative 33.0%vs Labour 26.2%2023 Independent 46.0%vs Green 22.2%-40.1%
Sudbury North EastLabour 33.1%vs Conservative 26.1%2023 Labour 37.7%vs Independent 27.6%-23.2%
Sudbury North WestConservative 29.3%vs Labour 27.9%2023 Green 52.8%vs Labour 21.2%-41.8%
Sudbury South EastLabour 31.5%vs Conservative 30.8%2023 Independent 28.3%vs Labour 26.0%-34.6%
Sudbury South WestConservative 31.9%vs Labour 28.2%2023 Green 50.1%vs Conservative 23.1%-37.3%

Projection trajectory

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

Who has won South Suffolk 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 holdTim Yeo14.3%47.7%30.8%7.1% UKIP--8,68970.9%
2015Con holdJames Cartlidge19.3%53.1%7.8%15.2% UKIP4.3%0.3%17,54570.3%-0.6
2017Con holdJames Cartlidge27.8%60.5%5.8%2.7% UKIP3.2%-17,74971.8%+1.5
2019notionalConservative winnerJames Cartlidge 2019 MP, pre-review boundary19.2%62.1%12.7%-6.0%-21,47370.5%-1.3
2024Con holdJames Cartlidge26.7%33.0%13.2%19.0% Ref8.2%-3,04765.4%-5.1

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

Constituencies most like South Suffolk

Five seats with similar demographic profiles to South Suffolk. 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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