Grantham & Bourne.
Conservative and Unionist Party MP Gareth Davies holds the seat on 36.4% of the vote — a split-council geography across 2 councils.
9 Jun 2026
Lincolnshire market towns, Conservative-held, Independent-contested
Grantham and Bourne is a market-town and rural seat in the south of Lincolnshire, in the East Midlands, with a population near 100,000 and a median age of 46 -- older than the national figure and overwhelmingly White at the last census. Grantham anchors the constituency, holding some 45 per cent of residents, with Bourne a clear second at around a fifth; beyond the two towns the seat thins quickly into dispersed countryside and a long tail of villages such as Heckington, Morton and Billingborough. Local services are split between two district councils: South Kesteven, which covers the large majority of the seat's wards, and North Kesteven, which accounts for a handful in the north. A seat straddling two authorities rarely speaks with one administrative voice.
That division is visible in the ward map. Across the most recent contests the Conservatives remain the largest single force, taking roughly sixteen wards, but Independents run them close on thirteen, concentrated around Bourne, with the Greens, Labour and others holding the remainder. Ward control here appears markedly more fragmented than the parliamentary result alone would suggest. At the 2024 general election -- the first fought on these 2023 boundaries -- the Conservatives held the seat on 36.4 per cent, with Labour second on 26.6, a margin of roughly ten points. Gareth Davies, the sitting Conservative member since 2019, has registered no whipped dissent of late.
On the figures available the seat reads as Conservative-held but locally contested, with Independents the chief disruptors at district level rather than any national challenger. Recent local coverage has had a flat, administrative character, dominated by routine council business -- budgets, waste collection, the shape of any Greater Lincolnshire reorganisation -- rather than by controversy. The standing position is settled at Westminster and unsettled in the wards.
Ward-level direction-of-travel: who controls what, who flipped recently, who holds the line. Each ward links to the council that runs it.
| Ward | Latest winner | Votes | Council | Last cycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aveland | Richard Dixon-Warren | 457 | South Kesteven Con | May 2023 |
| Belmont(2 seats) | Stooke · Gadd | 960 | South Kesteven Con | May 2023 |
| Belvoir(2 seats) | Bosworth · Leadenham | 1,692 | South Kesteven Con | May 2023 |
| Bourne Austerby(3 seats) | Baker · Fellows · Baker | 1,781 | South Kesteven Con | May 2023 |
| Bourne East(2 seats) | Knowles · Lane | 772 | South Kesteven Con | May 2023 |
| Bourne West(2 seats) | Kelly · Crawford | 1,229 | South Kesteven Con | May 2023 |
| Grantham Arnoldfield(2 seats) | Stokes · Martin | 978 | South Kesteven Con | May 2023 |
| Grantham Barrowby Gate(2 seats) | Knight · Whittington | 912 | South Kesteven Con | May 2023 |
| Grantham Earlesfield(2 seats) | Steptoe · Cunnington | 606 | South Kesteven Con | May 2023 |
| Grantham Harrowby(2 seats) | Noon · Selby | 994 | South Kesteven Con | May 2023 |
| Grantham Springfield(2 seats) | Manterfield · Shorrock | 665 | South Kesteven Con | May 2023 |
| Grantham St Vincent's(3 seats) | Morgan · Jeal · Ellis | 1,437 | South Kesteven Con | May 2023 |
| Grantham St Wulfram's | Matt Bailey | 361 | South Kesteven Con | Nov 2023 |
| Heckington Rural | Christine Collard | 425 | North Kesteven Con | Mar 2024 |
| Helpringham & Osbournby | Russell Michael Jackson | 616 | North Kesteven Con | May 2023 |
| Lincrest | Sarah Joan Trotter | 564 | South Kesteven Con | May 2019 |
| Loveden Heath | Penny Milnes | 539 | South Kesteven Con | May 2023 |
| Morton | Sue Woolley | 416 | South Kesteven Con | May 2019 |
| Peascliffe & Ridgeway(2 seats) | Stokes · Stephens | 1,058 | South Kesteven Con | May 2023 |
| Toller | Murray Frank Turner | 256 | South Kesteven Con | May 2023 |
| Viking(2 seats) | Wood · Wood | 1,992 | South Kesteven Con | May 2023 |
Source · Democracy Club · DCLEAPIL v1.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The seat’s population is concentrated in Grantham (44,617), with Bourne (17,989) as the second pole. Total population across named built-up areas: 99,274.
Source · ONS Built-Up Areas · Census 2021
| Settlement | Pop. | Class |
|---|---|---|
| Grantham | 44,617 | large town |
| Bourne | 17,989 | town |
| Rural & dispersed | 9,348 | town |
| Heckington | 3,634 | village |
| Morton (South Kesteven) | 2,999 | village |
| Billingborough | 2,643 | village |
Headline indicators.
| Indicator | Local | National | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employment rate | 57.2% | 57.1% | 0% |
| Owner-occupied | 69.0% | 63.1% | +9% |
| Private rented | 18.3% | 20.0% | -8% |
| Social rented | 12.6% | 16.8% | -25% |
Ethnicity.
Source · Census 2021
Population by age & sexCensus 2021 · 18 bands · click to expand
Source · Census 2021 (ONS) · % of usual residents; tick marks the median seat per band
Income tax contribution.
| Total income tax | £300m |
| Taxpayers | 55,000 |
| Median per taxpayer | £2,520 |
| Mean per taxpayer | £5,460 |
Source · HMRC SPI · ±8% confidence
Where the money flows back in.
This constituency is served by South Kesteven and North Kesteven. 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.
Move the income slider on My place to see income tax, NI, VAT and council tax against your earnings — the household lens.
Headline rate.
By category.
Source · data.police.uk · 3-month rate per 1,000 pop
2024 — full result.
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gareth DaviesWON | Con | 16,770 | 36.4 |
| Vipul Bechar | Lab | 12,274 | 26.6 |
| Mike Rudkin | Ref | 9,393 | 20.4 |
| Anne Gayfer | Grn | 2,570 | 5.6 |
| John Vincent | LD | 2,027 | 4.4 |
| Ian Selby | Ind | 1,642 | 3.6 |
| Charmaine Morgan | Ind | 1,245 | 2.7 |
| Alexander Mitchell | Ind | 204 | 0.4 |
Turnout 46,125
Prior contests.
Created on the 2023 boundary review. 2024 General Election was the first contest on these boundaries.
Sources, methods & last update
2023 boundary review
DCLEAPIL v1.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Census 2021
National avg over 575 seats
±8% confidence
LSOA-aggregated · rolling 12mo