Bristol Central Labour Serving Bristol since 1924
The Constituency and Wards
Following the Boundary Commission for England 2023, Bristol West has become Bristol Central.
You can check your new constituency by typing your postcode in at this link on the electoral calculus UK website.
Thangam Debbonaire MP is Labour’s Candidate for Bristol Central
Bristol West will lose Bishopston & Ashley Down Ward, Easton Ward and Lawrence Hill Ward to become Bristol Central.
Bishopston & Ashley Down will move to Bristol North, where Darren Jones is MP.
Easton and Lawrence Hill Wards will move to Bristol East, where Kerry McCarthy is MP.
Bristol Central
Bristol Central’s Labour candidate is Thangam Debbonaire MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Thangam Debbonaire has represented Bristol West in Parliament since 2015.
In 2015 Bristol West was returned to Labour by Thangam Debbonaire after being held for ten years by the Liberal Democrats. In the 2017 election, Thangam Debbonaire won the biggest swing to Labour in the country. In the 2016 EU referendum, the constituency voted remain by 79.3%, the second biggest result in the country.
Thangam was elected for the third time in 2019 with a majority of over 28,000 and the biggest vote (47,028) of any MP of any party.
The constituency covers Bristol city centre, and comprises the following 7 wards:
The constituency currently has two Labour Councillors, elected in May 2021:
Bristol also has a Labour executive Mayor, Marvin Rees the first city Mayor of African Caribbean heritage in Europe. He was first elected in 2016 and won a second term in 2021.
Bristol Central is an incredibly diverse constituency. Despite Bristol having many large houses, gardens, and parks in the affluent suburbs of Bristol West, the seat also includes poorer areas with a higher population density and less green space. That said, an issue right across the constituency is that there are many privately rented houses in multiple occupation, often of a poor standard.
Bristol Central is relatively well-served by public transport because of its central position. It has Bristol’s only urban railway, the Severn Beach line, running through it with stops in Clifton Down, Redland and Montpelier. However, public transport is currently fragmented and privately run, which does not contribute to the green and clean city we want to see.