GE2024: Labour holds Warwick and Leamington

The Labour Party has won the seat of Warwick and Leamington, with incumbent MP Matt Western holding the constituency that he first won in 2017.

Western won the seat with 23,975 votes, representing 48.7% of the vote share. This marked a 5.4% increase in vote share compared to his 2019 result when adjusted for constituency boundary changes, when he won the seat with 43.8% of the vote.

The Conservative Party, who last held the seat between 2010 and 2017, finished second in this year’s election. James Uffindell, the Tory candidate for the constituency, polled 11,563 votes, 12,412 behind Western’s winning total. 

The Reform UK candidate Nigel Clarke finished in third place, with 5,154 votes (10.5%), while the Greens, Liberal Democrats, and UKIP finished in fourth, fifth, and sixth place respectively. 

Western was first elected to the Warwick and Leamington seat in 2017, narrowly beating the former Conservative MP Chris White. Western was re-elected to the seat in 2019 on a reduced majority, largely due to increased vote shares for the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party. 

I know just how important it is that we have a Government that will engage with students rather than pick political fights with them

Matt Western MP, speaking in May

Prior to his election as an MP, Western worked for Peugeot in senior various management roles before entering politics and becoming a Warwickshire County Councillor in 2013. 

Since 2021, Western has served as Shadow Minister for Higher Education in Sir Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet. Speaking to The Boar after the announcement of the General Election, Western stressed his commitment to the education sector, both in Warwick and across the country: “From engaging with students around the country and particularly students at the University of Warwick, I know just how important it is that we have a Government that will engage with students rather than pick political fights with them.”

In December, Western also spoke to The Boar about his humanitarian efforts, after travelling to Ukraine in September 2023 to deliver vehicles and medical supplies to the country. 

During the launch of his campaign last month, Western stressed that he would be committed to delivering “the change our country so desperately needs” for the residents of Warwick and Leamington, claiming that the Conservative government had left his constituents “worse off”.

As well as being made up of the main districts of the towns of Warwick and Leamington Spa, the Warwick and Leamington constituency is also the term-time home to a large number of Warwick students, often leading to a large student vote in the seat. 

Whilst the Conservatives dominated the seat between 1910 and 1997, the constituency has largely been a two-horse race between Labour and the Conservatives since. Sir Anthony Eden, Prime Minister between 1955 and 1957, was also the MP for the seat from 1923 until his resignation as Prime Minister in 1957.

Turnout in Warwick and Leamington in 2024 was 64.3%, down from 71% in 2019.