Plymouth Sutton and Devonport

Plymouth Sutton and Devonport is a constituency in Devon in South West England. It covers the city centre of Plymouth and its surrounding neighbourhoods, including Devonport, Stonehouse, Lipson, Stoke, Keyham, Milehouse, Mannamead, Compton, Efford, Peverell and Hartley.

Plymouth is a port city with a maritime history. Its importance as a naval base and centre for shipbuilding made it a target for the Luftwaffe during World War II and much of the city was destroyed in the Plymouth Blitz. As a result, the city underwent significant redevelopment after the war. This constituency contains HMNB Devonport, the largest naval base in Western Europe. The University of Plymouth, located in the city centre, has around 18,000 students.^[2] Much of the constituency consists of dense terraced housing, largely built to accommodate civilian dockyard workers. Many areas are highly-deprived, particularly in the city centre, in Devonport and in Efford, a large, post-war council estate. The northern suburb of Hartley is mostly affluent.^[3] House prices across the constituency are considerably lower than the regional and UK averages.^[4]

Plymouth Sutton and Devonport has a large student population and a low proportion of retirees.^[5] Residents have low levels of income and homeownership and the child poverty rate is above-average.^[4][6] They are generally well-educated and a high proportion work in the manufacturing, tourism and defence sectors.^[4][7] The percentage of residents claiming unemployment benefits is above-average.^[6] White people made up 90% of the population at the 2021 census.^[8]

Most of this constituency is represented by the Labour Party at the local city council, although some Reform UK and Green Party representatives were elected at the most recent council election. An estimated 52% of voters in Plymouth Sutton and Devonport supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum, identical to the UK-wide figure.^[4]

History of boundaries

The 2007 review by the Boundary Commission for England recommended the creation of this seat and Plymouth Moor View, which was duly approved by Parliament.^[9] It is largely based on the former Plymouth Sutton. To this is added smaller parts of the former Plymouth Devonport seat.

History of results

This constituency was won on creation in 2010 by a Conservative, Oliver Colvile. In 2015, against opinion polls for losing, Colvile held it (but narrowly) over the Labour candidate Luke Pollard. The 2015 result gave the seat the 7th most marginal majority of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority.^[12]

In 2017, Pollard defeated Colvile to gain the seat with a majority of 6,807; originally, the majority was declared as 6,002, but a spreadsheet error meant the votes from the Efford and Lipson wards were not included in the declaration on the night of the count.^[13] Additionally about 35,000 postal voters received two polling cards, and some postal votes were not sent out.^[14]

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Devon