Suffolk Coastal (sometimes known as Coastal Suffolk) is a parliamentary constituency in the county of Suffolk, England[n 1] which has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Thérèse Coffey, a Conservative Member of Parliament. She served as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from October 2022 to November 2023
Suffolk Coastal | |
---|---|
County constituency for the House of Commons | |
County | Suffolk |
Electorate | 76,932 (December 2010)[1] |
Major settlements | Felixstowe |
Current constituency | |
Created | 1983 |
Member of Parliament | Thérèse Coffey (Conservative) |
Seats | One |
Created from | Sudbury & Woodbridge, and Eye[2] |
The constituency is in the far East of England, and borders the North Sea. The main town is Felixstowe, which is a commercial port for imports and exports. The ONS considers Woodbridge to form part of the extended Ipswich Built-up Area.[3] The seat includes the seaside destinations of Aldeburgh and Southwold.
Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.0% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.[4] Since its inception Suffolk Coastal has been a safe seat for the Conservative Party typical of more rural districts of East Anglia. In the 1997 Labour national landslide the Conservative candidate held on by a margin of a few thousand votes.
This East Anglian constituency was created for the 1983 general election from eastern parts of the abolished county constituencies of Eye, and Sudbury and Woodbridge, including the towns of Felixstowe and Woodbridge. Its initial boundaries were coterminous with the recently created District of Suffolk Coastal.
The current constituency area includes three former borough constituencies which sent their own MPs to Parliament until abolished as 'rotten boroughs' by the Great Reform Act, 1832 – Aldeburgh, Dunwich and Orford.
The seat was held from its creation until the 2010 election by the Conservative John Gummer who had previously represented the former seat of Eye from 1979. He was the Secretary of State for the Environment for four years during the Second Major ministry and before that was for four years the Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. He stood down in 2010 and was elevated to the House of Lords as Lord Deben.
The current MP is the Conservative Thérèse Coffey,[5] who served in the Sunak ministry as the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. She also previously served as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions between 2019 and 2022,[6][7] and as the Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care[8] during the short-lived Truss ministry from September to October 2022.[9]
Westernmost areas included in the new constituency of Central Suffolk and North Ipswich. Extended northwards to include three wards from the District of Waveney, transferred from the constituency of Waveney.
Marginal changes due to revision of local authority wards.
Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, from the next general election, due by January 2025, the constituency will be composed of the following wards of the District of East Suffolk (as they existed on 1st December 2020):
Aldeburgh & Leiston; Deben; Eastern Felixstowe; Kelsale & Yoxford; Martlesham & Purdis Farm; Melton; Orwell & Villages; Rendlesham & Orford; Saxmundham; Southwold; Western Felixstowe; Woodbridge; Wrentham, Wangford & Westleton.[13]
Largely unchanged, except the inclusion of Halesworth in the newly created constituency of Waveney Valley.
Election | Member[14] | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
1983 | John Gummer | Conservative | |
2010 | Thérèse Coffey | Conservative |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Jenny Riddell-Carpenter[15] | ||||
Conservative | Thérèse Coffey[16] | ||||
Green | Julian Cusack[17] | ||||
Liberal Democrats | Julia Ewart[18] | ||||
Majority | |||||
Turnout | |||||
Registered electors | |||||
Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Thérèse Coffey | 32,958 | 56.5 | -1.6 | |
Labour | Cameron Matthews | 12,425 | 21.3 | -9.2 | |
Liberal Democrats | Julia Ewart | 8,719 | 15.0 | +8.0 | |
Green | Rachel Smith-Lyte | 2,713 | 4.7 | +1.6 | |
Independent | Tony Love | 1,493 | 2.6 | New | |
Majority | 20,533 | 35.2 | +7.6 | ||
Turnout | 58,308 | 71.2 | -2.0 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +3.9 |
Tony Love was originally standing as the Brexit Party candidate for this constituency.[20]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Thérèse Coffey | 33,713 | 58.1 | +6.2 | |
Labour | Cameron Matthews | 17,701 | 30.5 | +12.5 | |
Liberal Democrats | James Sandbach | 4,048 | 7.0 | -1.6 | |
Green | Eamonn O'Nolan | 1,802 | 3.1 | -2.8 | |
Independent | Philip Young | 810 | 1.4 | New | |
Majority | 16,012 | 27.6 | -6.3 | ||
Turnout | 58,074 | 73.2 | +2.6 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | -3.2 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Thérèse Coffey | 28,855 | 51.9 | +5.5 | |
Labour | Russell Whiting | 10,013 | 18.0 | +1.9 | |
UKIP | Daryll Pitcher | 8,655 | 15.6 | +9.9 | |
Liberal Democrats | James Sandbach | 4,777 | 8.6 | −21.2 | |
Green | Rachel Smith-Lyte | 3,294 | 5.9 | +3.9 | |
Majority | 18,842 | 33.9 | +17.3 | ||
Turnout | 55,594 | 70.6 | −0.6 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +1.8 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Thérèse Coffey | 25,475 | 46.4 | +1.8 | |
Liberal Democrats | Daisy Cooper | 16,347 | 29.8 | +7.7 | |
Labour | Adam Leeder | 8,812 | 16.1 | −10.1 | |
UKIP | Stephen Bush | 3,156 | 5.7 | +1.9 | |
Green | Rachel Fulcher | 1,103 | 2.0 | −1.3 | |
Majority | 9,128 | 16.6 | −1.8 | ||
Turnout | 54,893 | 71.2 | +3.9 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | −2.9 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | John Gummer | 23,415 | 44.6 | +1.3 | |
Labour | David Rowe | 13,730 | 26.1 | −8.7 | |
Liberal Democrats | David Young | 11,637 | 22.1 | +3.9 | |
UKIP | Richard Curtis | 2,020 | 3.8 | +0.1 | |
Green | Paul Whitlow | 1,755 | 3.3 | New | |
Majority | 9,685 | 18.5 | +10.0 | ||
Turnout | 52,557 | 67.9 | +2.3 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +5.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | John Gummer | 21,847 | 43.3 | +4.7 | |
Labour | Nigel Gardner | 17,521 | 34.8 | +2.0 | |
Liberal Democrats | Tony Schur | 9,192 | 18.2 | −3.2 | |
UKIP | Michael Burn | 1,847 | 3.7 | New | |
Majority | 4,326 | 8.5 | +2.7 | ||
Turnout | 50,407 | 65.6 | −10.2 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +1.4 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | John Gummer | 21,696 | 38.6 | −15.0 | |
Labour | Mark Campbell | 18,442 | 32.8 | +9.0 | |
Liberal Democrats | Alexandra Jones | 12,036 | 21.4 | −2.4 | |
Referendum | Stephen Caulfield | 3,416 | 6.1 | New | |
Green | Anthony Slade | 514 | 0.9 | −0.6 | |
Natural Law | Felicity Kaplan | 152 | 0.3 | −0.1 | |
Majority | 3,254 | 5.8 | −24.0 | ||
Turnout | 56,256 | 75.8 | −5.8 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | −12.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | John Gummer | 34,680 | 53.6 | −2.1 | |
Liberal Democrats | Peter Monk | 15,395 | 23.8 | −6.0 | |
Labour | Terence Hodgson | 13,508 | 20.9 | +8.1 | |
Green | Anthony Slade | 943 | 1.5 | −0.3 | |
Natural Law | Felicity Kaplan | 232 | 0.4 | New | |
Majority | 19,285 | 29.8 | +3.9 | ||
Turnout | 64,758 | 81.6 | +3.7 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +1.9 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | John Gummer | 32,834 | 55.7 | −2.5 | |
SDP | Joan Miller | 17,554 | 29.8 | +0.7 | |
Labour | Susan Reeves | 7,534 | 12.8 | +0.2 | |
Green | James Holloway | 1,049 | 1.8 | New | |
Majority | 15,280 | 25.9 | -3.2 | ||
Turnout | 58,971 | 77.9 | +2.9 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | John Gummer | 31,240 | 58.2 | ||
SDP | David Houseley | 15,618 | 29.1 | ||
Labour | Denis Ballantyne | 6,780 | 12.6 | ||
Majority | 15,622 | 29.1 | |||
Turnout | 53,638 | 75.0 | |||
Conservative win (new seat) |
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52°09′N 1°30′E / 52.15°N 1.50°E