Stafford is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Leigh Ingham from the Labour Party.

Since its recreation in 1983, the seat has been a bellwether, always being held by the incumbent government.

Constituency profile

Stafford is a constituency in Staffordshire in the West Midlands region of England, covering parts of the Stafford and Newcastle-under-Lyme boroughs. Its main town is Stafford, which has a population of around 75,000. The constituency also covers a large rural area to the west of the town, including the small market town of Eccleshall and the villages of Gnosall and Loggerheads.

Stafford is a market town of Anglo-Saxon origins. It contains historic architectural sites such as the Ancient High House and Stafford Castle. Stafford was traditionally an important centre for shoemaking and is today a significant electrical engineering hub. There is some deprivation in Stafford town centre, whilst the eastern suburbs and rural villages are mostly affluent. House prices across the constituency are generally similar to the rest of the West Midlands but lower than the UK average.

Stafford has a low proportion of young adults and a large retired population. Residents have above-average levels of income and homeownership and the child poverty rate is low. They have average levels of education and a high proportion work in the health, transport and public sectors. The percentage claiming unemployment benefits is low. White people made up 92% of the population at the 2021 census.

At the local borough council level, most of Stafford is represented by Labour Party councillors whilst the town's western suburbs elected Green Party representatives and the rural villages elected Conservatives. At the county council, which held elections more recently (in 2025), most of the constituency's seats were won by Reform UK. An estimated 56% of voters across the Stafford constituency supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum, higher than the UK-wide figure of 52%.

Boundaries

1885–1918: The existing parliamentary borough, and so much of the municipal borough of Stafford as was not already included in the parliamentary borough.

1918–1950: The Municipal Borough of Stafford, the Rural District of Gnosall, the Rural District consisting of the civil parishes of Blymhill and Weston-under-Lizard, the Rural District of Stafford except the detached part of the civil parish of Colwich, and part of the Rural District of Cannock.

1983–1997: The Borough of Stafford wards of Baswich, Beaconside, Castletown, Church Eaton, Common, Coton, Doxey, Eccleshall, Forebridge, Gnosall, Highfields, Holmcroft, Littleworth, Manor, Milford, Parkside, Rowley, Seighford, Swynnerton, Tillington, Weeping Cross, and Woodseaves, and the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme wards of Loggerheads, Madeley, and Whitmore.

1997–2010: The Borough of Stafford wards of Baswich, Beaconside, Castletown, Common, Coton, Doxey, Forebridge, Haywood, Highfields, Holmcroft, Littleworth, Manor, Milford, Parkside, Rowley, Seighford, Tillington, and Weeping Cross, and the District of South Staffordshire wards of Acton Trussell, Bishopswood and Lapley, Penkridge North East, Penkridge South East, and Penkridge West.

2010–2024: The Borough of Stafford wards of Baswich, Castletown, Common, Coton, Doxey, Haywood and Hixon, Highfields and Western Downs, Holmcroft, Littleworth, Manor, Milford, Parkside, Rowley, Seighford, Tillington, and Weeping Cross, and the District of South Staffordshire wards of Penkridge North East and Acton Trussell, Penkridge South East, Penkridge West, and Wheaton Aston, Bishopswood and Lapley.

From 1997 to 2024, the constituency formed the southerly part of the Borough of Stafford, including the eponymous town itself plus the Penkridge area. in the District of South Staffordshire.

2024–present: Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency is composed of the following (as they existed on 1 December 2020):

The Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme wards of: Loggerheads; Maer & Whitmore. The Borough of Stafford wards of: Baswich; Common; Coton; Doxey & Castletown; Eccleshall; Forebridge; Gnosall & Woodseaves; Highfields & Western Downs; Holmcroft; Littleworth; Manor; Penkside; Rowley; Seighford & Church Eaton; Weeping Cross & Wildwood.

The constituency was subject to significant changes due to the re-organisation of seats within Staffordshire. The parts in the South Staffordshire District, including Penkridge, together with areas to the east of Stafford, were included in the newly created constituency of Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge. To compensate, the boundaries were extended to the north and west, to include Eccleshall, Gnosall and the two Newcastle-under-Lyme wards, previously part of the abolished Stone constituency. The boundaries now resemble those in place from 1983 to 1997.

History Stafford, as a parliamentary borough, first existed between the Model Parliament in 1295 and 1950.

The current constituency was recreated for the 1983 general election.

Prominent members The town was represented in Parliament by leading playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan at the end of the 18th century.

Political history Taken together with the Stafford and Stone seat which existed during the 33-year gap mentioned above, since 1910 when the last Liberal served the seat, the Conservative party has had five members and the Labour party three (this total includes the present member). In summary:

Labour saw a bellwether result in their 1945 landslide victory, but Conservative Hugh Fraser regained the seat at the next election in 1950 in the successor seat which he held until his death in 1984. Effects from the creation of the Stone constituency in 1997 made Stafford somewhat more marginal: sitting Stafford MP Bill Cash followed some of his electors into the Stone constituency, which he won, and after a 47-year lack of a member, Labour's David Kidney gained the constituency in his party's landslide victory in 1997. The defeated Conservative candidate in 1997 was David Cameron, who in the next election was elected as the MP for the safe seat of Witney, and became the Conservative Party leader in 2005, and Prime Minister in 2010.

Members of Parliament

Stafford parliamentary borough

MPs 1295–1640

Constituency created (1295) ParliamentFirst memberSecond member 1295 William Reynor John Beyton1337 Hugh Snel1353 Hugh Snel1360 Hugh Snel1362 Hugh Snel1363 Hugh Snel1365 Hugh Snel1366 Hugh Snel1368 Hugh Snel1369 Hugh Snel1371 Hugh Snel1373 Hugh Snel1376 Hugh Snel1377 Hugh Snel (murdered 1380)1386 Thomas JockeryRichard Stanford1388 (Feb)John NewtonNicholas Snell1388 (Sep)John NewtonRichard Stanford1390 (Jan)John NewtonJohn Snell1390 (Nov)1391 John NewtonRichard Stanford1393 Henry WarrileweJohn Baxter13941395 John WylastonJohn Baxter1397 (Jan)John WylastonJohn Clifton1397 (Sep)1399 John WylastonRichard Stanford14011402Richard StanfordThomas Barber1404 (Jan)Roger CotonAdam Hewster1404 (Oct)1406 Thomas JockeryJohn Huntingdon1407 Thomas JockeryJohn Huntingdon14101411 Thomas BarberRobert Whitgreve1413 (Feb)1413 (May)Thomas BarberAdam Edgeley1414 (Apr)1414 (Nov)Sampson ErdeswykRobert Whitgreve14151416 (Mar)Henry FentonRobert Whitgreve1416 (Oct)14171419 John HarperJohn Parker1420 John HarperRobert Whitgreve1421 (May)John HarperRobert Whitgreve1421 (Dec)Adam EdgeleyRobert Whitgreve1495Humphrey Barber 1510–1523No names known 1529 Thomas Stanford, died and replaced by 1553 by Sampson Erdeswick John Bickley 1536 ? 1539 ? 1542 Walter Blount William Stamford 1545 Henry StaffordSTAFFORD, Henry (by 1520–55 or later), of Pickering, Yorks, The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509–1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982 William Stamford 1547 Henry Stafford Richard Forsett 1553 (Mar) Edward Colbarne Francis Smith 1553 (Oct) Henry Stafford ?Sir Anthony Browne/Simon Lowe alias Fyfield 1554 (Apr) John Giffard Humphrey Swynnerton 1554 (Nov) James Fowler Matthew Cradock 1555Henry Stafford Thomas Harcourt 1558Edward Stafford James Fowler 1559 (Jan) Edward Stafford William Bowyer 1562–3 William Twyneho Henry Goodere 1571 Walter Stafford William Knollys 1572 (Apr) Richard Broughton Thomas Purslow 1584 (Nov) John Stafford Francis Cradock 1586 John Stafford Francis Cradock 1588 (Oct) Francis Cradock Henry Bourchier 1593 Henry Bourchier Francis Cradock 1597 (Oct) Sir Edward Stafford Henry Bourchier 1601 (Oct) Sir Edward Stafford William Essex 1604–1611 Hugh Beeston replaced 1609 by Arthur Ingram George CradockCobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London|| Thomas Hansard, 1808) 1614 Sir Walter DevereuxMaija Jansson (ed.), Proceedings in Parliament, 1614 (House of Commons) (Philadelphia|| American Philosophical Society, 1988) Thomas Gibbs 1621 Matthew Cradock Richard Dyott 1624 Matthew CradockRichard Dyott 1625 Matthew Cradock Sir Robert Hatton Sat for Sandwich replaced by Sir John Offley 1626 Sir John Offley Bulstrode Whitlock 1628 Matthew Cradock William Wingfield 1629–1640 No Parliaments convened

MPs 1640–1885