GE2024: Labour holds Coventry South

The Labour Party has won the seat of Coventry South, with incumbent MP Zarah Sultana holding the seat she first won in 2019.

Sultana extended her lead in this year’s election, winning the constituency with a majority of 10,201 votes. At the last election in 2019, Sultana was elected with a majority of just 401 votes over the Conservatives, representing 0.9% of the vote share. 

In this year’s election, Sultana polled 20,361 votes, retaining Labour’s control of the seat, which it has held consistently since its recreation under boundary changes in 1997. 

Mattie Heaven of the Conservative Party placed second with 10,160 votes, while Reform UK’s Chris Baddon finished in third place with 5,711 votes. Six other candidates also stood in the seat.

She has also been critical of her own party’s stance on the war in Gaza, breaking the party line in November 2023

Sultana, who was a Unite the Union workplace representative prior to being elected in 2019, has been an outspoken critic of the Conservative government in recent months. In June, she accused the government of ‘aiding war crimes’ in Gaza, calling for the suspension of arms sales to Israel. 

She has also been critical of her own party’s stance on the war, breaking the party line in November 2023 to vote in favour of a motion advocating for an “immediate” ceasefire in Gaza. 

Sultana’s political views, often characterised as lying on the left of her party, led to reports that she was at risk of being deselected as the Labour candidate for the seat. However, she was reselected with over 90% of the party vote. 

Speaking to The Boar following the announcement of the General Election in May, Sultana celebrated the opportunity to “boot the Conservatives out of Downing Street”, adding: “They’ve slashed funding for public services, run our schools and hospitals into the ground, and overseen an unprecedented fall in living standards.”

Coventry South is home to the majority of the University of Warwick as well as Coventry University, contributing to a high student vote in the area. The seat also encompasses the majority of the city.

Labour have typically performed very well in the seat, polling over 40% in every election since 1997. Labour’s largest majority in the seat came that year, when former MP Jim Cunningham won 21.9% more of the vote than the Conservatives. 

Turnout in Coventry South in 2024 was 56%, down from 63.5% in 2019.