Constituency profile

Witham

East of England · County constituency

Priti Patel MP
Sitting MP

Priti Patel

Conservative

First elected May 2010Shadow: Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs

Current PollCheck projection

Region & type
East of England
County constituency
Last 5 GE winners
CCCCC
Conservative 5/5
EU referendum 2016
60.5% Leave
UK average 51.9%; +8.6pp above mean
Current outlook
Reform UK +8.0pp
Vulnerability score 9/10 (Conservative projected to lose)
SouthernStrong Leave areaWorking-class profile

About the Witham constituency

Witham is a county constituency in the East of England. The sitting MP is Priti Patel (Conservative), first elected in May 2010. At the 2024 general election, the Conservatives won with 37.2% to 27.0% for Labour, a majority of 5,145 votes on a 64.1% turnout. PollCheck's current projection, at the seven-poll average, has Reform UK on 35.1% and the Conservatives on 27.1%, a margin of 8.0 points - a projected change of hands from the Conservatives.

Who lives in Witham? Constituency demographics

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

Leave vote 2016
60.5%
UK average ~52%
Degree or above
27.6%
UK average ~34%
No qualifications
17.8%
UK average ~18%
Owner-occupied
72.1%
UK average ~63%
Renting (social + private)
27.2%
UK average ~36%
Median age
44.2
UK median ~40
Age 65+
26.5%
UK average ~19%
Age 18-34
26.3%
UK average ~28%

How did Witham 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 5,145 votes (10.2pp) · turnout 64.1%

Current projection

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

Map of Witham

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)

Witham within Braintree and Colchester and 1 other council

Witham crosses council boundaries: Braintree (58%), Colchester (29%), Maldon (14%). 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
Braintree
34 LSOAs
58%
Colchester
17 LSOAs
29%View projection ›
Maldon
8 LSOAs
14%

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
Braintree EasternGrnGrn 46% Ref 32% Con 15%49.0%
Maldon Rural NorthRefRef 42% Con 30% Grn 13%47.3%
Mersea & TiptreeRefRef 38% Con 36% Grn 13%48.3%
Stanway & Marks TeyRefRef 33% Con 24% Independent 19%43.0%
Witham TownConCon 40% Ref 30% Grn 19%38.3%
Witham West & RuralRefRef 43% Con 26% Grn 16%42.2%

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
6 Mar 2026Coggeshall
Braintree
Ref GAIN from IndRef 31% Other 29% Lab 20%

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
CoggeshallConservative 34.9%vs Labour 24.2%2023 Independent 55.0%vs Conservative 29.3%-39.3%
Great TothamConservative 39.5%vs Labour 26.3%2023 Others 53.6%vs Conservative 32.8%-47.3%
Hatfield Peverel & TerlingConservative 41.8%vs Labour 23.5%2023 Conservative 62.9%vs Labour 22.2%-33.5%
Kelvedon & FeeringConservative 35.1%vs Labour 26.1%2023 Green 53.3%vs Conservative 34.4%-41.7%
Marks Tey and LayerConservative 43.3%vs Labour 24.7%May 2026 Reform 38.1%vs Conservative 33.0%
Conservative→Reform
+14.1pp
-
Silver End & CressingConservative 31.7%vs Labour 23.2%2023 Green 69.5%vs Conservative 18.7%-34.0%
StanwayConservative 35.3%vs Labour 23.5%May 2026 Reform 32.8%vs Lib Dem 22.1%
Conservative→Reform
+15.5pp
-
The ColnesConservative 36.7%vs Labour 26.5%2023 Conservative 55.6%vs Labour 23.1%-34.8%
TiptreeConservative 44.9%vs Labour 25.4%May 2026 Conservative 38.7%vs Reform 38.7%
Conservative share
-6.2pp
-
TollesburyConservative 37.5%vs Labour 25.6%2023 Others 75.1%vs Conservative 18.6%-38.4%
Tolleshunt D'ArcyConservative 37.7%vs Labour 26.4%2023 Conservative 74.4%vs Lib Dem 25.6%-29.8%
Wickham Bishops and WoodhamConservative 42.4%vs Labour 23.2%2023 Conservative 63.6%vs Labour 24.2%-39.2%
Witham CentralConservative 34.4%vs Labour 30.7%2023 Conservative 38.8%vs Labour 25.3%-32.9%
Witham NorthLabour 35.9%vs Conservative 30.4%2023 Conservative 38.7%vs Labour 31.2%-27.6%
Witham SouthLabour 33.7%vs Conservative 30.9%2023 Labour 43.2%vs Conservative 38.7%-27.0%
Witham WestLabour 34.4%vs Conservative 31.2%2023 Conservative 39.6%vs Labour 33.6%-30.0%

Projection trajectory

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

Who has won Witham 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 holdPriti Patel18.5%52.2%19.8%6.5% UKIP3.0%-15,19669.9%
2015Con holdPriti Patel15.8%57.5%6.1%16.0% UKIP4.3%0.2%19,55470.3%+0.4
2017Con holdPriti Patel26.4%64.3%5.5%-3.7%-18,64671.2%+0.9
2019notionalConservative winnerPriti Patel 2019 MP, pre-review boundary17.5%66.7%10.0%-5.8%-25,66969.4%-1.8
2024Con holdPriti Patel27.0%37.2%6.8%19.5% Ref7.0%2.5%5,14564.1%-5.3

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

Constituencies most like Witham

Five seats with similar demographic profiles to Witham. 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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