Bristol East

Bristol East is a constituency^{[n 1]} recreated in 1983 covering the eastern part of the city of Bristol, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Kerry McCarthy of the Labour Party.^{[n 2]}

Bristol East
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Interactive map of boundary from 2024
Boundary of Bristol East in South West England
County	City of Bristol
Population	95,368 (2011 census)[1]
Electorate	75,936 (2023)[2]
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of Parliament	Kerry McCarthy (Labour)
Seats	One
Created from	Bristol South East Bristol South Bristol North East[3]
1885–1950
Seats	One
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Created from	Bristol
Replaced by	Bristol South East, Bristol Central and Bristol South

Constituency profile

The Bristol East constituency is located within the city of Bristol in South West England. It is almost entirely urban or suburban and covers the neighbourhoods to the east and south-east of the city centre including Easton, St George, Brislington, Knowle and Stockwood. Bristol is a major port city and has a long history of trade, including the slave trade.

Compared to national averages, residents of Bristol East are younger and less religious and have average levels of income, education and professional employment.^[4] Parts of the constituency close to the city centre around Easton are amongst the top 10% most deprived areas in England, although the suburban areas around St George and Brislington are wealthier.^[5] The constituency is slightly more ethnically diverse than the rest of the country; 77% of the population are White, 10% are Black and 7% are Asian.^[6] Local politics at the city council are mixed; the parts of the constituency near the city centre are represented by Green Party councillors similar to neighbouring Bristol Central, whilst Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors were all elected in the suburban areas. Most voters in the constituency supported remaining in the European Union in the 2016 referendum; an estimated 56% opposed Brexit compared to 48% nationally.^[4]

History

First creation

The seat was first created in 1885^{[n 3]}. Boundaries were slightly altered in 1918 and Bristol East was abolished in a comprehensive review of the local seats for the 1950 general election.

Political history

In 1931 the seat was a Labour outpost

The most powerful representative of Bristol East in Parliament and H.M. Government was Sir Stafford Cripps, MP (Lab) 1931–1950, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1947 to 1950. The seat shifted from Liberal Party representation through to the Labour Party with the 1918-1923 period seeing a more centrist Liberal splinter group candidate elected. In the 1931 landslide result, the seat was one of 16 won by Labour outside of Glamorgan, the London Docklands, Manchester and the North Midlands coalfield (including some in Sheffield).

Second creation

The seat was recreated in 1983 on much larger boundaries than before 1950, reflecting the lower occupation levels of the city centre and allocation of new seats elsewhere to reflect population expansion mainly in former rural and lightly populated suburban areas.

Political history

The 1983 election, the first in the recreated East seat, was a landslide victory for Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives following retention of the Falkland Islands in the Falklands War. Bristol East returned a Conservative MP, as Jonathan Sayeed defeated Tony Benn, the outgoing MP for Bristol South East and the leader of a large faction on the left-wing of the Labour Party. In 1992 Labour's Jean Corston gained the seat from Sayeed, which has been retained by Labour candidates at each subsequent general election, the Conservatives coming second, except in 2005, when the Liberal Democrats did so.^{[n 4]} The 2015 result gave the seat the 42nd-smallest majority of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority;^[7] however, in 2017, incumbent MP Kerry McCarthy more than tripled her majority, winning the largest share of the vote in the seat's history and by the biggest margin since 1997.

Turnout

Turnout has ranged between 80.3% in 1992 to 57.4% in 2001.

Other parties

Five parties' candidates achieved more than the deposit-retaining threshold of 5% of the vote in 2015. Prior to the 2024 election the largest third-party share of the vote had been won by Liberal Democrat candidate Philip James in the 2005 election with 25.2% of the vote. This record was beaten by the Green Party candidate Ani Stafford-Townsend who won 30.7% of the vote, the Green Party’s first second place in the seat since its creation.

Boundaries

Map of boundaries 2010-2024

The constituency covers the eastern part of the city of Bristol, from neighbourhoods of the City Centre to outer neighbourhoods (excluding surrounding settlements in local government administratively).

1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Bristol ward of South, part of North ward, and the local government district of St George.

1918–1950: The County Borough of Bristol wards of St George East and St George West, and parts of Easton, and Somerset wards.

1983–1997: The City of Bristol wards of Brislington East, Brislington West, Easton, Eastville, Hengrove, Lawrence Hill, and Stockwood.

1997–2010: The City of Bristol wards of Brislington East, Brislington West, Easton, Eastville, Lawrence Hill, St George East, St George West, and Stockwood.

2010–2024: The City of Bristol wards of Brislington East, Brislington West, Eastville, Frome Vale, Hillfields, St George East, St George West, and Stockwood.

2024–present: The City of Bristol wards of: Brislington East; Brislington West; Easton; Knowle; Lawrence Hill; St. George Central; St. George Troopers Hill; St. George West; and Stockwood.^[8]

The seat was subject to major boundary changes in the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election. It gained the Easton and Lawrence Hill wards from Bristol West and Knowle from Bristol South.^[9] These gains were offset by the loss of Eastville, Frome Vale and Hillfields, which were included in the re-established Bristol North East constituency.^[10]

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885–1950

Election		Member[11]	Party
	1885	Handel Cossham	Liberal
	1890 by-election	Sir Joseph Dodge Weston	Liberal
	1895 by-election	Sir William Wills, Bt	Liberal
	1900	Charles Hobhouse	Liberal
	1918	George Britton	Coalition Liberal
	1922	Harold Morris	National Liberal
	1923	Walter Baker	Labour
	1931 by-election	Sir Stafford Cripps	Labour
	1939		Independent Labour
	1945		Labour
1950		constituency abolished – see Bristol South East

MPs 1983–present

Election		Member[12]	Party
	1983	Jonathan Sayeed	Conservative
	1992	Jean Corston	Labour
	2005	Kerry McCarthy	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Bristol East^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Kerry McCarthy	20,748	45.0	−13.4
	Green	Ani Stafford-Townsend	14,142	30.7	+22.3
	Conservative	Dan Conaghan	6,435	14.0	−9.3
	Liberal Democrats	Tony Sutcliffe	2,713	5.9	−1.0
	Independent	Farooq Siddique	1,259	2.7	N/A
	SDP	Clare Dunnage	555	1.2	N/A
	Independent	Wael Arafat	257	0.6	N/A
Majority			6,606	14.3	−20.8
Turnout			46,109	60.7	−12.1
Registered electors			75,917
	Labour hold		Swing	−17.8

Elections in the 2010s

2019 notional result[14]
Party		Vote	%
	Labour	32,280	58.4
	Conservative	12,887	23.3
	Green	4,664	8.4
	Liberal Democrats	3,840	6.9
	Brexit Party	1,615	2.9
Turnout		55,286	72.8
Electorate		75,936

General election 2019: Bristol East^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Kerry McCarthy	27,717	53.1	−7.6
	Conservative	Sarah Codling	16,923	32.4	−2.0
	Liberal Democrats	Nicholas Coombes	3,527	6.8	+4.1
	Green	Conan Connolly	2,106	4.0	+1.8
	Brexit Party	Tim Page	1,881	3.6	N/A
Majority			10,794	20.7	−5.6
Turnout			52,154	70.6	+0.4
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.9

General election 2017: Bristol East^[16][17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Kerry McCarthy	30,847	60.7	+21.4
	Conservative	Theo Clarke	17,453	34.4	+3.7
	Liberal Democrats	Chris Lucas	1,389	2.7	−3.1
	Green	Lorraine Francis	1,110	2.2	−6.1
Majority			13,394	26.3	+17.7
Turnout			50,799	70.2	+6.0
	Labour hold		Swing	+8.9

General election 2015: Bristol East^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Kerry McCarthy	18,148	39.3	+2.7
	Conservative	Theo Clarke	14,168	30.7	+2.4
	UKIP	James McMurray	7,152	15.5	+12.1
	Green	Lorraine Francis[19]	3,827	8.3	+6.5
	Liberal Democrats	Abdul Malik	2,689	5.8	−18.6
	TUSC	Matt Gordon[20]	229	0.5	+0.1
Majority			3,980	8.6	+0.3
Turnout			46,213	64.2	−0.6
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.2

General election 2010: Bristol East^[21][22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Kerry McCarthy	16,471	36.6	−8.9
	Conservative	Adeela Shafi	12,749	28.3	+0.2
	Liberal Democrats	Mike Popham	10,993	24.4	+4.7
	BNP	Brian Jenkins	1,960	4.4	N/A
	UKIP	Philip Collins	1,510	3.4	+0.7
	Green	Glenn Vowles	803	1.8	−0.9
	English Democrat	Stephen Wright	347	0.8	N/A
	TUSC	Rae Lynch	184	0.4	N/A
Majority			3,722	8.3
Turnout			45,017	64.8	+1.8
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.5

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Bristol East^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Kerry McCarthy	19,152	45.9	−9.1
	Liberal Democrats	Philip James	10,531	25.2	+8.1
	Conservative	Julia Manning	8,787	21.1	−0.7
	Green	Arjuna Krishna-Das	1,586	3.8	+1.0
	UKIP	Jean Smith	1,132	2.7	+1.3
	Respect	Paulette North	532	1.3	N/A
Majority			8,621	20.7	−12.5
Turnout			41,720	61.3	+3.9
	Labour hold		Swing	−8.6

General election 2001: Bristol East^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jean Corston	22,180	55.0	−1.9
	Conservative	Jack Lopresti	8,788	21.8	−1.6
	Liberal Democrats	Brian Niblett	6,915	17.1	+2.3
	Green	Geoff Collard	1,110	2.8	N/A
	UKIP	Roger Marsh	572	1.4	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Michael Langley	438	1.1	−0.5
	Socialist Alliance	Andrew Pryor	331	0.8	N/A
Majority			13,392	33.2	−0.3
Turnout			40,334	57.4	−12.3
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Bristol East^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jean Corston	27,418	56.9	+10.3
	Conservative	Ed Vaizey	11,259	23.4	−15.8
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Tyzack	7,121	14.8	−0.9
	Referendum	Gerry Philip	1,479	3.1	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Paul Williams	766	1.6	N/A
	Natural Law	John McLaggan	158	0.3	N/A
Majority			16,159	33.5	+28.1
Turnout			48,201	69.7	−11.6
	Labour hold		Swing	+13.0

General election 1992: Bristol East^[26][27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jean Corston	22,418	44.6	+9.2
	Conservative	Jonathan Sayeed	19,726	39.2	−4.4
	Liberal Democrats	John Francis Kiely	7,903	15.7	−4.7
	National Front	Ian Anderson	270	0.5	−0.1
Majority			2,692	5.4	N/A
Turnout			50,317	80.3	+1.6
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+6.8

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Bristol East^[28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jonathan Sayeed	21,906	43.6	+3.1
	Labour	Ronald Thomas	17,783	35.4	−1.5
	Liberal	Don Foster	10,247	20.4	−0.9
	National Front	Philip Kingston	286	0.6	−0.1
Majority			4,123	8.2	+4.6
Turnout			50,222	78.7	+4.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.3

General election 1983: Bristol East^[29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jonathan Sayeed	19,844	40.5
	Labour	Tony Benn	18,055	36.9
	Liberal	Peter Tryer	10,404	21.3
	National Front	Ernest Andrews	343	0.7
	Ecology	Gundula Dorey	311	0.6
Majority			1,789	3.6
Turnout			48,957	73.9
	Conservative win (new seat)

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Bristol East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stafford Cripps	27,975	73.5	+14.2
	Conservative	T.D. Corpe	10,073	26.5	New
Majority			17,902	47.0	+28.4
Turnout			37,768	76.3	+0.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1935: Bristol East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stafford Cripps	22,009	59.3	+8.7
	National Labour	Archibald Church	15,126	40.7	N/A
Majority			6,883	18.6	+17.4
Turnout			37,135	75.8	−4.4
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1931: Bristol East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stafford Cripps	19,435	50.6	−15.2
	Conservative	James Spreull	19,006	49.4	N/A
Majority			429	1.2	−30.4
Turnout			38,441	80.2	+2.0
	Labour hold		Swing

^[30]

1931 Bristol East by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stafford Cripps	19,261	61.7	−4.1
	Conservative	Peter Chapman-Walker	7,937	25.4	New
	Liberal	Edward Baker	4,010	12.8	−21.4
Majority			11,324	36.3	+4.7
Turnout			31,208
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1929: Bristol East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Walter Baker	24,197	65.8	+7.6
	Liberal	Charles Gordon-Spencer	12,576	34.2	−7.6
Majority			11,621	31.6	+15.2
Turnout			36,773	78.2	−1.6
Registered electors			47,039
	Labour hold		Swing	+7.6

W.J. Baker

General election 1924: Bristol East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Walter Baker	16,920	58.2	+4.5
	Liberal	Herbert John Maggs	12,143	41.8	−4.5
Majority			4,777	16.4	+9.0
Turnout			29,063	79.8	+3.3
Registered electors			36,441
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.5

General election 1923: Bristol East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Walter Baker	14,828	53.7	+4.0
	Liberal	Harold Morris	12,788	46.3	−4.0
Majority			2,040	7.4	N/A
Turnout			27,616	76.5	−1.0
Registered electors			36,105
	Labour gain from National Liberal		Swing	+4.0

General election 1922: Bristol East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Harold Morris	13,910	50.3	+0.7
	Labour	Luke Bateman	13,759	49.7	+6.9
Majority			151	0.6	N/A
Turnout			27,669	77.5	+21.0
Registered electors			35,704
	National Liberal gain from National Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

Hobhouse

General election 1918: Bristol East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	George Britton	9,434	49.6	−13.3
	Labour	Luke Bateman	8,135	42.8	New
	Liberal	Charles Hobhouse	1,447	7.6	−53.3
Majority			1,299	6.8	N/A
Turnout			19,016	56.5	−20.4
	National Liberal gain from Liberal		Swing

Election results 1885–1918

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1914–15: Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: Charles Hobhouse
• Unionist: Thomas Clarence Edward Goff^[31]
• Independent Labour Party: Walter Ayles

1911 Bristol East by-election^[32][33]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Hobhouse	4,913	62.8	−0.1
	Independent	Walter Moore	2,913	37.2	New
Majority			2,000	25.6	−0.2
Turnout			7,826	52.3	−24.6
Registered electors			14,951
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election December 1910: Bristol East^[32][33]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Hobhouse	7,229	62.9	+10.9
	Conservative	Patrick Hannon	4,263	37.1	+6.3
Majority			2,966	25.8	+4.6
Turnout			11,492	76.9	−10.0
Registered electors			15,060
	Liberal hold		Swing	−2.3

General election January 1910: Bristol East^[32][33]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Hobhouse	6,804	52.0	−19.7
	Conservative	Thomas Henry Batten	4,033	30.8	+2.5
	Labour	Frank Sheppard	2,255	17.2	New
Majority			2,771	21.2	−22.2
Turnout			13,092	86.9	+10.8
Registered electors			15,060
	Liberal hold		Swing	−11.1

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1906: Bristol East^[32][34]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Hobhouse	7,935	71.7	+15.3
	Liberal Unionist	Thomas Bertram Johnston	3,129	28.3	−15.3
Majority			4,806	43.4	+30.6
Turnout			11,064	76.1	+9.1
Registered electors			14,543
	Liberal hold		Swing	+15.3

Hobhouse

General election 1900: Bristol East^[32][34][35]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Hobhouse	4,979	56.4	−12.4
	Conservative	Robert Sanders	3,848	43.6	New
Majority			1,131	12.8	−24.8
Turnout			8,827	67.0	+13.7
Registered electors			13,181
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1890s

Wills

Hobson

General election 1895: Bristol East^[32][34][35]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Wills	4,129	68.8	+17.6
	Ind. Labour Party	Samuel George Hobson	1,874	31.2	New
Majority			2,255	37.6	+35.2
Turnout			6,003	53.3	−11.5
Registered electors			11,254
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

1895 Bristol East by-election^[32][34][35]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Wills	3,740	51.2	N/A
	Independent Labour	Hugh Holmes Gore[n 5]	3,558	48.8	New
Majority			182	2.4	N/A
Turnout			7,298	64.8	N/A
Registered electors			11,254
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1892: Bristol East^[32][34]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Dodge Weston	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

Wilson

1890 Bristol East by-election^[32][34]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Dodge Weston	4,775	65.6	+0.1
	Conservative	James Inskip	1,900	26.1	−8.4
	Independent Labour	Havelock Wilson	602	8.3	New
Majority			2,875	39.5	+8.5
Turnout			7,277	70.6	+11.6
Registered electors			10,310
	Liberal hold		Swing	+4.3

Elections in the 1880s

Cossham

General election 1886: Bristol East^[32][34]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Handel Cossham	3,672	65.5	−0.6
	Conservative	James Inskip	1,936	34.5	+0.6
Majority			1,736	31.0	−1.2
Turnout			5,608	59.0	−15.0
Registered electors			9,506
	Liberal hold		Swing	-0.6

General election 1885: Bristol East^[32][34][36]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Handel Cossham	4,647	66.1
	Conservative	James Broad Bissell	2,383	33.9
Majority			2,264	32.2
Turnout			7,030	74.0
Registered electors			9,506
	Liberal win (new seat)

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Avon

Notes

1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
2. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
3. See the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885
4. Including two re-elections of Corston, who was later elevated to the House of Lords as Baroness Corston
5. Supported by the Bristol Socialist Party and the Independent Labour Party