The placeConstituency · Yorkshire and The Humber · Electorate 74,438 · 2023 boundaries

Bridlington & The Wolds.

Conservative and Unionist Party MP Charlie Dewhirst holds the seat on 34.6% of the vote.

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Member of ParliamentCharlie Dewhirst · Conservative and Unionist Party
CouncilEast Riding of Yorkshire
Boundary set2023
ONS codeE14001127
Electorate · 2024
74.4k
Registered to vote
2024 GE — winner
34.6%
Conservative and Unionist Party · +7.3pp over Lab
Settlements
12
Largest: Bridlington
Crime · per 1k pop · 3mo
18.2
data.police.uk · 12mo rolling
Dispatch
8 Jun 2026

Coastal Wolds market towns, fragmented and contested

Bridlington and The Wolds is an older, overwhelmingly rural seat on the East Yorkshire coast and the chalk uplands behind it, with a median age of 52 and a population that is 98.2% White and only a quarter degree-educated. The constituency is anchored by the seaside town of Bridlington, home to roughly 35,000 people and more than a third of the seat, but it is far from a one-town place: Driffield, Market Weighton and Hornsea each add several thousand residents, with the remainder scattered across villages and open countryside. It is best read as a coastal-and-market-town network stitched together by farmland. One authority runs local services across the whole seat -- East Riding of Yorkshire Council, a unitary, which holds all six of the constituency's wards.

Ward politics here are markedly fragmented. Across the most recent contests the seat divides almost evenly between Conservatives, Independents, Liberal Democrats and the Yorkshire Party, with no single force holding a clear local upper hand and several wards last fought back in 2023. At Westminster the picture is firmer but not commanding: the Conservatives took the seat in 2024 on 34.6%, with Labour the runner-up on 27.3%, a margin of roughly seven points on the first contest fought on these new boundaries. Charlie Dewhirst, the sitting Conservative MP since that election, sits within this mixed terrain rather than above it, speaking most often on the economy, local government and defence.

The standing position appears genuinely contested rather than settled, with a divided council chamber beneath a Conservative parliamentary win secured on barely a third of the vote. Recent local coverage has had a flat, administrative character, dominated by council-tax setting, funding pressure on the unitary, and routine community matters rather than by national controversy, and the seat has kept a low national profile in recent months. Taken together, the figures point to a seat that is neither safely held nor obviously turning, but one in which local allegiance is plural and the next contest looks open.

34.6%
Con vote · 2024 GE
1
Council overlapping the seat
6
Wards · 14 councillors
§ 01The local picture — wards.6 wards · 14 councillors

Ward-level direction-of-travel: who controls what, who flipped recently, who holds the line.

WardLatest winnerVotesCouncilLast cycle
Bridlington Central and Old Town(2 seats)Dealtry · Ibbotson1,452East Riding of Yorkshire ConMay 2023
Bridlington North(3 seats)Phoenix · Heslop-Mullens · Robson5,759East Riding of Yorkshire ConMay 2023
Bridlington South(3 seats)Walker · Arrand · Norman2,037East Riding of Yorkshire ConMay 2023
Driffield and Rural(3 seats)Blakeston · Rogers · Lee3,958East Riding of Yorkshire ConMay 2023
East Wolds and Coastal Jonathan Bibb3,105East Riding of Yorkshire ConJul 2024
North Holderness(2 seats)Jefferson · Whittle2,915East Riding of Yorkshire ConMay 2023

Source · Democracy Club · DCLEAPIL v1.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

§ 02Settlements.12 named places

The seat’s population is concentrated in Bridlington (35,265), with Rural & dispersed (14,558) as the second pole. Total population across named built-up areas: 93,130.

large-town 35,265town 45,554village 12,311

Source · ONS Built-Up Areas · Census 2021

SettlementPop.Class
Bridlington35,265large town
Rural & dispersed14,558town
Driffield14,218town
Market Weighton8,576town
Hornsea8,202town
Full Sutton2,391village
Showing 6 of 12·All 12 settlements
§ 03Demographics.Census 2021 · vs national avg

Headline indicators.

IndicatorLocalNationalΔ
Employment rate48.4%57.1%-15%
Owner-occupied68.7%63.1%+9%
Private rented20.8%20.0%+4%
Social rented10.3%16.8%-39%

Ethnicity.

White98.2%
Asian0.6%
Black0.1%
Mixed0.8%
Other0.3%

Source · Census 2021

Population by age & sexCensus 2021 · 18 bands · click to expand
Male 48.9% Female 51.1% Median seat
MaleAgeFemale
85+
80-84
75-79
70-74
65-69
60-64
55-59
50-54
45-49
40-44
35-39
30-34
25-29
20-24
16-19
10-15
5-9
0-4

Source · Census 2021 (ONS) · % of usual residents; tick marks the median seat per band

§ 04Local economy.Income · tax · businesses · schools
Median income
£24,600
HMRC SPI · 2024
Mean income
£31,200
HMRC SPI · 2024
Businesses
3,675
VAT/PAYE-registered
Schools
45
36 primary · 5 secondary
GCSE pass
56.8%
Attainment 8: 41.3

Income tax contribution.

Total income tax£177m
Taxpayers44,000
Median per taxpayer£2,190
Mean per taxpayer£4,000

Source · HMRC SPI · ±8% confidence

Where the money flows back in.

For council finance & suppliers

This constituency is served by East Riding of Yorkshire. Each council’s service spend, peer rank and supplier list lives on its own page — open from the meta block above or the compass strip below.

For household tax breakdown

Move the income slider on My place to see income tax, NI, VAT and council tax against your earnings — the household lens.

§ 05Recorded crime.data.police.uk · 12-month rolling

Headline rate.

Per 1k pop · 3mo
18.2
-12% vs national
Monthly avg / 1k
6.1
12-month rolling
Top category
Violence & sexual offences
48% of recorded crime

By category.

Violence & sexual offences8.7
Public order1.8
Criminal damage & arson1.6
Anti-social behaviour1.4
Shoplifting1.4
Other theft1.0
Other crime0.5

Source · data.police.uk · 3-month rate per 1,000 pop

Showing 7 of 15·All 15 categories — full monthly trend & settlement breakdown
§ 06Election history.1 contest · created on 2023 boundaries

2024 — full result.

CandidateVotes%
Charlie DewhirstWONCon14,84634.6
Sarah CarterLab11,72127.3
Maria BowtellRef10,35024.1
Jayne PhoenixLD3,0977.2
Gill LeekGrn1,5953.7
Tim NormanInd9152.1
Tom ConeInd3090.7
Carlo VerdaInd1040.2

Turnout 42,937

Prior contests.

Created on the 2023 boundary review. 2024 General Election was the first contest on these boundaries.

Sources, methods & last update
Method The dispatch paragraphs are AI-generated from the public sources listed below. Every figure links to its source. If we’re wrong, please tell us — corrections within 48 hours.
BoundariesONS Open Geography Portal
2023 boundary review
Wards & councilsLGBCE · Democracy Club
DCLEAPIL v1.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
SettlementsONS Built-Up Areas
Census 2021
DemographicsONS · Nomis · Census 2021
National avg over 575 seats
Income & taxHMRC SPI
±8% confidence
SchoolsDfE · attainment data
Crimedata.police.uk
LSOA-aggregated · rolling 12mo
ElectionsElectoral Commission