General Election 2024: How things look across Somerset

Pollsters have been predicting that many seats in Somerset could change hands. Whatever happens at the ballot box, seats are definitely going to change.

A major redrawing of election boundaries affects every seat in Somerset, with constituencies being abolished, created, changing names or changing shape. 

Here’s what’s happening in your seat and who is standing.

Not every party has announced their candidate for every seat yet. Incumbent MPs are assumed to be standing for re-election unless they have announced their intention to stand down.

Bridgwater

The new constituency’s boundary essentially follows the western boundaries of the former Sedgemoor district – with eastern settlements like Axbridge and Cheddar moving into the neighbouring Wells and Mendip Hills seat.

The new boundaries also mean Bridgwater’s MP will no longer have the Hinkley Point C power station in their constituency, since that will become part of Tiverton and Minehead.

This new seat is more likely to be a three-way marginal constituency, with Labour traditionally polling well in Bridgwater, the Liberal Democrats recently making gains in North Petherton and Burnham-on-Sea and the Conservatives expecting to do well in the more rural areas.

Both Labour and the Lib Dems have selected existing councillors at their candidates, with Bridgwater’s Leigh Redman fighting for a Labour victory and Claire Sully (Mendip South) standing for the Lib Dems.

The Conservatives, for their part, will be hoping former MEP Sir Ashley Fox can appeal to the more rural parts of the constituency in what may be a close race.

Candidates currently expected to stand for the seat are:

Independent: Pele Barnes

Conservative: Sir Ashley Fox

Green Party: Charlie Graham

Labour: Leigh Redman

Liberal Democrat: Claire Sully

Frome and East Somerset

The existing Somerton and Frome seat is one of the largest seats in Somerset, covering around 900 square miles.

The new seat takes the eastern elements of the former Mendip district, keeping Frome and the villages east of Shepton Mallet.

It also includes Midsomer Norton and Radstock, which currently form part of the North East Somerset seat held by Jacob Rees-Mogg since 2010.

The Lib Dems will be confident of doing well here following the Somerset Council elections in May 2022 and Sarah Dyke’s victory in the by-election held in July 2023.

But their candidate Anna Sabine faces a tough fight from Conservative candidate Lucy Trimnell (who represents Wincanton and Bruton on the council).

Frome also has a strong Green following, with local councillor Martin Dimery – who also stood in the by-election – expected to take a large number of local votes.

Candidates currently expected to stand for the seat are:

Green Party: Martin Dimery

Independent: Gavin Heathcote

Labour: Robin Moss

Liberal Democrat: Anna Sabine

Reform UK: David Swain

Conservative: Lucy Trimnell 

Glastonbury and Somerton

The new Glastonbury and Somerton seat is being created out of the majority of the existing Somerton and Frome seat, including the towns of Bruton, Castle Cary, Langport, Somerton and Wincanton.

It will also include the town of Glastonbury, the neighbouring village of Street, and the Ham Hill tourist attraction.

Sarah Dyke, the Lib Dems’ current MP for Somerton and Frome, has already announced that she will be running in this new seat, which includes the villages in the Blackmore Vale which she also represents on Somerset Council.

To win this new seat, she faces a rematch against Conservative councillor Faye Purbrick, who finished second in the Somerton and Frome by-election in July 2023.

With the Green party still retaining strong pockets of support – especially in Glastonbury – this may end up being a constituency where many of the more left-leaning parties end up competing for the same votes.

Candidates currently expected to stand for the seat are:

Reform UK: Tom Carter

Green Party: Jon Cousins

Liberal Democrat: Sarah Dyke

Workers Party of Britain: Angela Henderson

Labour: Hal Hooberman

Conservative: Faye Purbrick

North East Somerset and Hanham

This seat is set to be a keenly watched battleground as two big names aim to settle an old score.

Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, one of the Conservatives' best-known MPs, was re-elected as North East Somerset MP with over 50% of the vote in 2019. But now Labour’s Dan Norris — who Mr Rees-Mogg unseated in 2010 — wants to win it back.

In recent years, Mr Norris has been a key player in regional politics as the Metro Mayor of the West of England Combined Authority. He says he could do both jobs at the same time until the next Metro Mayor election in 2025 if elected.

The seat is substantially different from the current North East Somerset constituency, as most of the eastern half is joining either Bath or Frome and North East Somerset. Controversially, the new seat will include some of South Gloucestershire and the Bristol suburb of Hanham is set to join the seat to form North East Somerset and Hanham.

Candidates currently expected to stand for the seat are:

Green: Edmund Cannon

Reform UK: Paul MacDonnell

Labour: Dan Norris

Conservative: Jacob Rees-Mogg

Liberal Democrat: Dine Romero

North Somerset

Liam Fox is the longest serving MP in Somerset, having been the Conservative MP for North Somerset for over 30 years, first elected in 1992 when it was still called Woodspring.

Dr Fox has always held the seat relatively comfortably. His majority dipped to just over 6,000 in 2005 — when now-leader of North Somerset Council Mike Bell was standing against him as the Liberal Democrat candidate — but has remained over 17,000 in recent elections. In last year’s local elections, North Somerset Council was notable for avoiding the Tory losses that plagued the party nationally.

But polls have now put the seat on a knife-edge between Conservatives and Labour. Sadik Al-Hassan — who was selected only last weekend — will be hoping to he can get over the line to become the area’s first Labour MP.

The constituency includes Clevedon, Nailsea, and Portishead.  Under the boundary changes, the area around Yatton and Claverham will be joining the new Wells and Mendip Hills constituency.

Candidates currently expected to stand for the seat are: 

Labour: Sadik Al-Hassan

Liberal Democrat: Ash Cartman

Conservative: Sir Liam Fox

Reform UK: Alexander Kokkinoftas

Green: Oscar Livesey-Lodstock

Taunton and Wellington

The existing Taunton Deane constituency has been held by Defra minister Rebecca Pow since 2015, though her majority did fall slightly at the last general election.

The new Taunton and Wellington seat will retain Somerset’s county town and the surrounding villages – including Norton Fitzwarren and Staplegrove, where significant new housing for Taunton is proposed.

However, it will lose Wiveliscombe and settlements like Bishops Lydeard at the southern end of the Quantock Hills to the neighbouring Tiverton and Minehead seat.

The Lib Dems have traditionally polled well in local elections in this area, winning most of the Taunton seats at the local elections in May 2022 and also doing well in the rural areas, including Somerset’s portion of the Blackdown Hills.

With these new boundaries depriving the Conservatives of several of the more rural parishes, the Lib Dems may see this as a viable target seat at the next election – and have re-selected Gideon Amos, who contested the seat in 2019, as their prospective parliamentary candidate.

Candidates currently expected to stand for the seat are:

Liberal Democrat: Gideon Amos

Reform UK: Charles Hansard

Conservative: Rebecca Pow

Green Party: Ryan Trower

Tiverton and Minehead

This new seat is the single biggest redrawing of the political map in the local area, with Somerset and Devon joining up together.

The constituency combines the western, more rural end of the current Bridgwater and West Somerset seat – including Minehead, Watchet and Williton – together with most of the Exmoor National Park and the entirety of the Quantock Hills.

On top of this, it includes Tiverton and the surrounding villages, which are currently part of the Tiverton and Honiton constituency – which the Lib Dems captured in a by-election in June 2022 following the resignation of Neil Parish.

Ian Liddell-Grainger has already been selected as the Conservatives’ candidate, having been an MP since 2001 – and given this is the most rural seat in Somerset, he should feel reasonably confident of remaining in parliament.

However, he still faces a stiff challenge from Lib Dem candidate Rachel Gilmour, who stood for the party in the Taunton Deane seat back in 2015.

Candidates currently expected to stand for the seat are:

Labour: Jonathan Barter

Green Party: Laura Buchanan

Liberal Democrat: Rachel Gilmour

Reform UK: Frederick Keen

Conservative: Ian Liddell-Grainger

Wells and Mendip Hills

James Heappey has held the old Wells seat since 2015, but the new Wells constituency will bear little resemblance to the current one.

While it still includes Axbridge, Cheddar, Shepton Mallet and Wells itself, the new constituency loses the coastal towns of Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge to the new Bridgwater seat.

Interestingly, the new constituency also includes Yatton and other settlements which currently form the eastern part of the Weston-super-Mare seat held by John Penrose since 2005.

Mr Heappey has already confirmed he will not be standing for re-election – and the local Conservative branch has yet to announce a new candidate.

The Lib Dems won heavily in this neck of the woods in the 2022 local elections, and former MP Tessa Munt will be relishing the chance to return to parliament.

However, the seat remains largely rural with an ageing population – characteristics which would traditionally point towards a Tory victory.

Candidates currently expected to stand for the seat are:

Reform UK: Helen Hims

Independent: Abi McGuire

Liberal Democrat: Tessa Munt

Green: Peter Welsh

Weston-super-Mare

Conservative John Penrose has represented Weston-super-Mare since 2005. The seat has only left Conservative hands twice: for a year in the 1920s when the Liberals held it, and under the previous MP, Liberal Democrat Brian Cotter who held the seat from 1997-2005.

Liberal Democrat Patrick Keating, who represents Blagdon and Churchill on North Somerset Council, is hoping to repeat the feat; while fellow North Somerset councillor Thomas Daw, who represents Wrington, is hoping to win it for the Greens and — at 20 — become the country’s youngest MP.

But polls have suggested the seat could instead go Labour for the first time in its history, as Labour candidate Daniel Aldridge hopes to overturn Mr Penrose’s more than 17,000-vote majority.

Boundary changes have substantially changed the seat, moving most of the villages to the east into the new Wells and Mendip Hills constituency, and leaving the constituency as just the town of Weston-super-Mare itself, Bleadon, Locking, and the island of Steep Holm.

Candidates currently expected to stand for the seat are:

Labour: Daniel Aldridge

Green: Thomas Daw

Liberal Democrat: Patrick Keating

Conservative: John Penrose

Yeovil

For the most part, the boundaries of the new Yeovil seat are the same as the current Yeovil constituency, which has been represented by Conservative MP Marcus Fysh since 2015.

However, the new Yeovil constituency will not include the villages between Podimore and the northern edge of Yeovil itself, which will become part of Glastonbury and Somerton.

The Yeovil seat includes the largest population areas within the former South Somerset district – including Yeovil, Chard, Crewkerne and Ilminster, though Castle Cary and Wincanton do not feature.

While Mr Fysh increased his majority in 2019, he faces a strong challenge from the Lib Dems, who won many of the council seats in this part of the county back in the local elections in May 2022.

The Lib Dems’ candidate Adam Dance is a councillor for South Petherton and Islemoor, and serves as the council’s executive member for public health – so expect the NHS to be at the forefront of the campaign.

Green campaigner Serena Wootton, who sits on Chard Town Council, will be hoping to take votes from residents unhappy with the Lib Dems’ local record.

Candidates currently expected to stand for the seat are:

Reform UK: Mark Burdge

Liberal Democrat: Adam Dance

Conservative: Marcus Fysh

Labour: Dr Rebecca Montacute

Workers’ Party of Britain: Nidah Shah

Green: Serena Wootton