List of parliamentary constituencies in Bedfordshire explained

The ceremonial county of Bedfordshire (which comprises Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Luton unitary authorities) is split into 7 seats – 2 borough and 5 county constituencies.^[1]

Constituencies

See also: 2019 United Kingdom general election.

Name^[2]	Electorate^[3]	Majority^[4] ^[5]	Member of Parliament	Nearest opposition	Electoral wards^[6] ^[7]	Map
Bedford BC	70,068	9,430		Mohammad Yasin ‡		Pinder Chauhan †	Bedford Borough Council Brickhill, Castle, Cauldwell, De Parys, Goldington, Harpur, Kempston Central and East, Kempston North, Kempston South, Kempston West, Kingsbrook, Newnham, Putnoe, Queen's Park.
Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard CC	74,069	667		Alex Mayer ‡		Andrew Selous †	Central Bedfordshire Council Dunstable Central, Dunstable-Icknield, Dunstable-Manshead, Dunstable-Northfields, Dunstable-Watling, Heath and Reach, Houghton Hall, Leighton Buzzard North, Leighton Buzzard South, Linslade, Parkside, Tithe Farm.
Hitchin CC^[8]	72,112	7,109		Alistair Strathern ‡		Bim Afolami †	Central Bedfordshire Council Arlesey, Shefford, Stotfold and Langford. North Hertfordshire District Council: Cadwell, Chesfield, Hitchin Bearton, Hitchin Highbury, Hitchin Oughton, Hitchin Priory, Hitchin Walsworth, Hitchwood, Offa and Hoo, Kimpton.
Luton North BC	73,266	7,510		Sarah Owen ‡		Jilleane Brown †	Luton Borough Council Barnfield, Bramingham, Challney, Ickfield, Leagrave, Lewsey, Limbury, Northwell, Saints, Stopsley, Sundon Park.
Luton South and South Bedfordshire CC	70,197	6,858		Rachel Hopkins ‡		Mark Versallion †	Central Bedfordshire Council Caddington, Eaton Bay. Luton Borough Council: Biscot, Crawley, Dallow, Farley, High Town, Round Green, South, Wigmore.
Mid Bedfordshire CC	71,748	1,321		Blake Stephenson †		Maahwish Mirza ‡	Bedford Borough Council Elstow and Stewartby, Wilshamstead, Wootton. Central Bedfordshire Council: Ampthill, Aspley and Woburn, Barton-le-Clay, Cranfield and Marston Moretaine, Flitwick, Houghton Conquest and Haynes, Silsoe and Shillington, Toddington, Westoning, Flitton and Greenfield.
North Bedfordshire CC	76,319	5,414		Richard Fuller †		Uday Nagaraju ‡	Bedford Borough Council Bromham and Biddenham, Clapham, Eastcotts, Great Barford, Harrold, Kempston Rural, Oakley, Riseley, Sharnbrook, Wyboston. Central Bedfordshire Council: Biggleswade North, Biggleswade South, Northill, Potton, Sandy.

Boundary changes

2024

For the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which redrew the constituency map ahead of the 2024 United Kingdom general election, the Boundary Commission for England opted to combine Bedfordshire with Hertfordshire as a sub-region of the East of England region, with the creation of the cross-county boundary constituency of Hitchin. As a result of the changes, Luton South was renamed Luton South and South Bedfordshire, North East Bedfordshire renamed North Bedfordshire, and South West Bedfordshire renamed Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard.^[9]

2010

Under the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the Boundary Commission for England decided to retain Bedfordshire's constituencies for the 2010 election, making minor changes to realign constituency boundaries with the boundaries of current local government wards, and to reduce the electoral disparity between constituencies.

Results history

Primary data source: House of Commons research briefing – General election results from 1918 to 2019^[10]

2024

The number of votes cast for each political party who fielded candidates in constituencies comprising Bedfordshire in the 2024 general election were as follows:^[11]

Party	Votes	%	Change from 2019	Seats	Change from 2019
Labour	114,813	36.8%	2.6%	5	2
Conservative	88,794	28.0%	21.8%	2	1
Reform UK	45,831	14.4%	13.2%	0	0
Liberal Democrats	29,346	9.2%	0.2%	0	0
Greens	17,092	5.4%	2.5%	0	0
Others	13,447	4.2%	1.2%	0	0
Workers Party of Britain	8,020	2.5%	New	0	New
Total	317,343	100.0		7

2019

The number of votes cast for each political party who fielded candidates in constituencies comprising Bedfordshire in the 2019 general election were as follows:

Party	Votes	%	Change from 2017	Seats	Change from 2017
Conservative	156,973	49.8%	0.5%	3	0
Labour	107,591	34.2%	7.8%	3	0
Liberal Democrats	28,276	9.0%	4.4%	0	0
Greens	9,126	2.9%	1.0%	0	0
Brexit	3,712	1.2%	new	0	0
Others	9,318	3.0%	1.7%	0	0
Total	314,996	100.0		6

Percentage votes

Election year	1950	1951	1955	1959	1964	1966	1970	1974(Feb)	1974(Oct)	1979	1983	1987	1992	1997	2001	2005	2010	2015	2017	2019	2024
Labour	42.4	45.3	44.7	38.8	43.9	45.6	40.9	34.0	37.3	32.9	22.6	24.2	30.3	44.0	42.8	34.2	27.1	29.5	42.0	34.2	36.2
Conservative^1	44.5	49.7	53.5	49.9	47.8	43.8	50.5	39.7	40.4	51.3	51.0	54.2	53.2	38.6	39.4	40.6	44.7	47.2	50.3	49.8	28.0
Reform UK^2	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1.2	14.4
Liberal Democrat^3	13.0	4.9	1.8	11.2	8.0	10.3	8.4	26.2	22.2	14.8	26.3	21.1	14.8	12.8	14.8	20.3	20.3	5.6	4.6	9.0	9.2
Green Party	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–						0.7	3.6	1.9	2.9	5.4
UKIP	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–				3.8	13.5	0.8
Workers Party of Britain	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	-	2.5
Other	0.1	–	–	–	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.1	0.1	1.0	0.1	0.4	1.7	4.6	3.1	4.9	3.5	0.6	0.4	2.9	4.2

¹ Includes National Liberal Party up to 1966

² 2019: as the Brexit Party –

³ 1950-1979 - Liberal ; 1983 & 1987 – SDP-Liberal Alliance

* Included in Other

Seats

Election year	1950	1951	1955	1959	1964	1966	1970	1974(Feb)	1974(Oct)	1979	1983	1987	1992	1997	2001	2005	2010	2015	2017	2019	2024
Conservative^1	3	4	4	4	3	1	4	3	3	5	5	5	5	3	3	3	4	4	3	3	2
Labour	1	0	0	0	1	3	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	3	3	3	2	2	3	3	5
Total	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	7

¹Includes National Liberal Party up to 1966

Maps

1885-1910

1918-1945

1950-1979

1983-present

Timeline

Constituency	1295–1885	1885–1918	1918–1950	1950–1974	1974–1983	1983–1997	1997–2024	2024–present
Bedfordshire	1295–1885
Bedford	1295–1983						1997–present
North Bedfordshire						1983–1997		2024–present
North East Bedfordshire							1997–2024
Biggleswade		1885–1918
Mid Bedfordshire			1918–present
South Bedfordshire				1950–1983
South West Bedfordshire						1983–2024
Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard								2024-present
Luton		1885–1974
Luton East					1974–1983
Luton West					1974–1983
Luton North						1983–present
Luton South						1983–2024
Luton South and South Bedfordshire								2024–present

Historical representation by party

A cell marked → (with a different colour background to the preceding cell) indicates that the previous MP continued to sit under a new party name.

1802 to 1837

Constituency	1802	1806	1807	1812	15	1818	1820	1826	1830	1831	1832	34	1835
Bedford	Antonie			G. Russell					Polhill		Crawley
	S. Whitbread				Waldegrave	W. Whitbread							Polhill
Bedfordshire	Osborn		FitzPatrick	F. Russell							C. Russell
	St John	Pym				Osborn	Pym	Macqueen	Stuart	Payne	Stuart	→	Egerton

1837 to 1885

Constituency	1837	38	1841	47	1847	51	1852	54	1857	1859	1865	1868	72	1874	75	1880
Bedford	Stuart	Crawley	H. Stuart					W. Stuart	Barnard	W. Stuart		Howard		Polhill-Turner		Magniac
	Polhill				Verney		Whitbread			→
Bedfordshire	C. Russell		Astell	C. Russell	F. Russell					→			Bassett		G. Russell
	Egerton					Gilpin										Howard

1885 to 1918

Constituency	1885	1886	1892	92	1895	1900	1906	Jan 1910	Dec 1910	11
Bedford	Whitbread				Pym		Barlow	Attenborough	Kellaway
	bgcolor=	Magniac	Baring	Russell		Compton		Black
Luton	Flower			Whitbread	Ashton					Harmsworth

1918 to 1974

Constituency	1918	1922	1923	1924	1929	31	1931	1935	1945	1950	1951	1955	1959	60	63	1964	1966	1970
Bedford	Kellaway	Wells							Skeffington-Lodge	Soames							Parkyn	Skeet
Bedfordshire Mid	Townley	Linfield		Warner	Gray		Lennox-Boyd							Hastings
Bedfordshire South										Moeran	Cole					→	Roberts	Madel
Luton	Harmsworth	Hewett	Howard	O'Connor	Burgin	→			Warbey	Hill					Howie			Simeons

1974 to 1997

Constituency	Feb 1974	Oct 1974	1979	1983	1987	1992
Bedford / North Bedfordshire (1983)	Skeet
Bedfordshire Mid	Hastings			Lyell
Bedfordshire South / South West Bedfordshire (1983)	Madel
Luton East / Luton South (1983)	Clemitson		Bright
Luton West / Luton North (1983)	Sedgemore		Carlisle

1997 to present

Constituency	1997	2001	2005	2010	2015	2017	17	19		2019	23	2024
Bedford	Hall			Fuller		Yasin
Bedfordshire Mid	Sayeed		Dorries								Strathern	Stephenson
North East Bedfordshire / N Bedfordshire (2024)	Lyell	Burt								Fuller
SW Bedfordshire / Dunstable & Leighton Buzzard ('24)	Madel	Selous										Mayer
Luton South / Luton S & S Bedfordshire (2024)	Moran			Shuker				→	→	R. Hopkins
Luton North	K. Hopkins						→			Owen

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in the East of England (region)
• History of parliamentary constituencies and boundaries in Bedfordshire

Notes and References

1. [Hitchin (UK Parliament constituency)|Hitchin]
2. BC denotes borough constituency, CC denotes county constituency.
3. Web site: The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England - Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition - Eastern . Boundary Commission for England.
4. Web site: Constituencies A-Z – Election 2024. BBC News. en-GB. 8 July 2024.
5. The majority is the number of votes the winning candidate receives more than their nearest rival.
6. Web site: The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 2007, page 4. Crown copyright. Office of Public Sector Information. 7 November 2009. 13 June 2007.
7. [Boundary Commissions (United Kingdom)|Boundary Commission for England]
8. [Hitchin (UK Parliament constituency)|Hitchin]
9. Web site: The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume one: Report Boundary Commission for England . 2023-07-09 . paras 193-206.
10. Watson. Christopher. Uberoi. Elise. Loft. Philip. 17 April 2020. General election results from 1918 to 2019. en-GB.
11. It should be acknowledged that as Hitchin is a cross-county constituency between Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, and the results of UK elections on sub-constituency levels are not disclosed, the following vote shares include parts of the Hitchin constituency located in Hertfordshire