Hertford and Stortford (UK Parliament constituency)

Hertford and Stortford is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Josh Dean of the Labour Party since 2024.^{[2][n 2]}

Hertford and Stortford
County constituency for the House of Commons
Interactive map of boundaries since 2024
Boundary of within the East of England
County	Hertfordshire
Electorate	75,396 (2023)[1]
Major settlements	Hertford, Bishop's Stortford, Ware
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of Parliament	Josh Dean[2] (Labour)
Created from	Hertfordshire East and Hertford and Stevenage[3]

Constituency profile

The constituency is semi-rural and includes picturesque villages and farmland. The rivers Rib, Beane, Mimram, and Lea all meet in the county town of Hertford (2011 population 25,000), which is protected from over-development by a Green Belt encircling the town and separating it from Ware (18,000) in the western part of the constituency. Farms continue between Ware and the market town of Bishop's Stortford (40,000), in the northeast corner of the seat.

Hertford and Stortford constituency is generally regarded as an affluent seat,^{[citation needed]} and includes a significant proportion of professional and managerial workers.^{[citation needed]} Central London is within commuting distance by train of all the towns in the constituency. The pharmaceutical industry is a major employer in the seat and surrounding areas: both Ware and Harlow are the sites of GlaxoSmithKline facilities (while Gilston hosted Merck & Co. between 1982 and 2006). Since the early 1990s, Stansted, just beyond the eastern perimeter of the constituency, has also been responsible for bringing jobs and an improved train service to it.

Many commuters live in Bishop's Stortford, which has rail links to London's Liverpool Street station and is also close to Stansted Airport. Since the 1980s, the population of Thorley—now a southern suburb of Stortford—has become increasingly composed of owner-occupied houses in dormitory estates.

The seat was previously held by the Conservative Party with comfortable majorities from its creation in 1983 until the 2024 general election, when the Labour Party won it on a very large swing of 20.4%.

Boundaries

The new constituency established in 1983 combined Hertford and Ware, from the abolished constituency of Hertford and Stevenage, with Bishop's Stortford, Sawbridgeworth and rural areas to the west, from the abolished constituency of East Hertfordshire.

1983–1997: The District of East Hertfordshire wards of Bishop's Stortford Central, Bishop's Stortford Chantry, Bishop's Stortford Parsonage, Bishop's Stortford Thorley, Braughing, Buntingford, Hertford Bengeo, Hertford Castle, Hertford Kingsmead, Hertford Sele, Hunsdon, Little Hadham, Much Hadham, Sawbridgeworth, Standon St Mary, Stapleford, Tewin, Thundridge, Ware Christchurch, Ware Priory, Ware St Mary's, and Ware Trinity.^[4]

1997–2010: The District of East Hertfordshire wards of Bishop's Stortford Central, Bishop's Stortford Chantry, Bishop's Stortford Parsonage, Bishop's Stortford Thorley, Great Amwell, Hertford Bengeo, Hertford Castle, Hertford Kingsmead, Hertford Sele, Hunsdon, Little Amwell, Much Hadham, Sawbridgeworth, Stanstead, Ware Christchurch, Ware Priory, Ware St Mary's, and Ware Trinity.^[5]

The villages of Stanstead Abbotts and Great Amwell transferred from Broxbourne. Northern, rural areas transferred to the new constituency of North East Hertfordshire.

Map of boundaries 2010–2024

2010–2024: The District of East Hertfordshire wards of Bishop's Stortford All Saints, Bishop's Stortford Central, Bishop's Stortford Meads, Bishop's Stortford Silverleys, Bishop's Stortford South, Great Amwell, Hertford Bengeo, Hertford Castle, Hertford Heath, Hertford Kingsmead, Hertford Sele, Hunsdon, Much Hadham, Sawbridgeworth, Stanstead Abbots, Ware Chadwell, Ware Christchurch, Ware St Mary's, and Ware Trinity.^[6]

Marginal changes due to revision of local authority wards.

2024–present: The District of East Hertfordshire wards of Bishop's Stortford All Saints, Bishop's Stortford Central, Bishop's Stortford North, Bishop's Stortford Parsonage, Bishop's Stortford South, Bishop's Stortford Thorley Manor, Hertford Bengeo, Hertford Castle, Hertford Kingsmead, Hertford Sele, Hunsdon, Much Hadham, Sawbridgeworth, Ware Priory, Ware Rural (part), Ware St Mary's, and Ware Trinity.

Reduced to meet the electorate size requirements, with the transfer of the three small wards of Great Amwell, Hertford Heath and Stanstead Abbots (as they existed on 1 December 2020) to Broxbourne.^[7]

Members of Parliament

Hertfordshire East and Hertford and Stevenage prior to 1983

Election		Member[8]	Party
	1983	Bowen Wells	Conservative
	2001	Mark Prisk	Conservative
	2019	Julie Marson	Conservative
	2024	Josh Dean	Labour

Elections

Hertford & Stortford election results 1983-2024

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Hertford and Stortford^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Josh Dean	20,808	38.5	+14.8
	Conservative	Julie Marson	16,060	29.7	–26.0
	Reform UK	John Burmicz	8,325	15.4	N/A
	Green	Nick Cox	4,373	8.1	+3.5
	Liberal Democrats	Helen Campbell	4,167	7.7	–6.5
	Alliance for Democracy and Freedom	Jane Fowler	139	0.3	N/A
	Heritage	Barry Hensall	137	0.3	N/A
Majority			4,748	8.8	N/A
Turnout			54,009	68.0	–5.8
Registered electors			78,915
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+20.4

Elections in the 2010s

2019 notional result[10]
Party		Vote	%
	Conservative	30,979	55.7
	Labour	13,173	23.7
	Liberal Democrats	7,907	14.2
	Green	2,587	4.6
	Others	989	1.8
Turnout		55,635	73.8
Electorate		75,396

General election 2019: Hertford and Stortford^[11][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Julie Marson	33,712	56.1	–4.2
	Labour	Chris Vince	14,092	23.4	–5.2
	Liberal Democrats	Chris Lucas	8,596	14.3	+6.2
	Green	Lucy Downes	2,705	4.5	+1.5
	UKIP	Alistair Lindsay	681	1.1	N/A
	Independent	Brian Percival	308	0.5	N/A
Majority			19,620	32.7	+1.0
Turnout			60,094	72.9	+0.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.5

General election 2017: Hertford and Stortford^[13][14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Prisk	36,184	60.3	+4.2
	Labour	Katherine Chibah	17,149	28.6	+10.7
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Argent	4,845	8.1	+0.3
	Green	David Woollcombe	1,814	3.0	–1.8
Majority			19,035	31.7	–6.5
Turnout			59,992	72.8	+1.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	–3.25

General election 2015: Hertford and Stortford^{[15][16][17][18]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Prisk	31,593	56.1	+2.3
	Labour	Katherine Chibah	10,084	17.9	+4.1
	UKIP	Adrian Baker	7,534	13.4	+10.3
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Green	4,385	7.8	–18.2
	Green	Sophie Christophy	2,681	4.8	N/A
Majority			21,509	38.2	+10.4
Turnout			56,277	71.3	+0.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	–1.0

General election 2010: Hertford and Stortford^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Prisk	29,810	53.8	+3.6
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Lewin	14,373	26.0	+7.5
	Labour	Stephen Terry	7,620	13.8	–10.5
	UKIP	David Sodey	1,716	3.1	+1.0
	BNP	Roy Harris	1,297	2.3	N/A
	Independent	Loucas Xenophontos	325	0.6	N/A
	Independent	Martin Adams	236	0.4	N/A
Majority			15,437	27.8	1.4
Turnout			55,377	70.6	+4.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	–1.9

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Hertford and Stortford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Prisk	25,074	50.5	+5.8
	Labour	Richard Henry	11,977	24.1	−8.7
	Liberal Democrats	James Lucas	9,129	18.4	−1.5
	Green	Peter Hart	1,914	3.9	N/A
	UKIP	David Sodey	1,026	2.1	−0.5
	Veritas	Debbie Le May	572	1.2	N/A
Majority			13,097	26.4	+14.5
Turnout			49,692	67.7	+5.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.2

General election 2001: Hertford and Stortford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Prisk	21,074	44.7	+0.6
	Labour	Simon Spellar	15,471	32.8	+1.4
	Liberal Democrats	Mione Goldspink	9,388	19.9	+2.2
	UKIP	Stuart Rising	1,243	2.6	+0.4
Majority			5,603	11.9	−0.8
Turnout			47,176	62.2	−13.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Hertford and Stortford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bowen Wells	24,027	44.1
	Labour	Simon Spellar	17,142	31.4
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Wood	9,679	17.7
	Referendum	Hugo Page Croft	2,105	3.9
	UKIP	B G Smalley	1,233	2.2
	ProLife Alliance	Michael Franey	259	0.5
Majority			6,885	12.7
Turnout			54,445	75.35
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1992: Hertford and Stortford^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bowen Wells	35,716	57.5	0.0
	Liberal Democrats	CJ White	15,506	25.0	−3.3
	Labour	AJ Bovaird	10,125	16.3	+3.5
	Green	JA Goth	780	1.3	−0.1
Majority			20,210	32.5	+3.3
Turnout			62,127	81.0	+3.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.7

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Hertford and Stortford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bowen Wells	33,763	57.5	+1.5
	SDP	Ronald Wotherspoon	16,623	28.3	−2.8
	Labour Co-op	Patricia Sumner	7,494	12.8	+0.8
	Green	Graham Cole	814	1.4	N/A
Majority			17,140	29.2	+4.3
Turnout			58,694	77.7	+2.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.2

General election 1983: Hertford and Stortford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bowen Wells	29,039	56.0
	SDP	Ronald Wotherspoon	16,110	31.1
	Labour	John Carr	6,203	12.0
	BNP	G Wiles	304	0.6
	Prosperity For All	P Cullen	221	0.4
Majority			12,929	24.9
Turnout			51,877	75.6
	Conservative win (new seat)

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Hertfordshire
• List of parliamentary constituencies in the East of England (region)

Notes

1. A county 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.