The Bury St Edmunds parliamentary constituency includes the towns of Bury, Stowmarket, Needham Market and surrounding Suffolk villages.  A complete list of the towns and villages within the constituency is available by clicking here.

This constituency is bordered by three other Suffolk parliamentary constituencies, Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, South Suffolk and West Suffolk, and by two Norfolk constituencies, Norfolk South and Norfolk South West.

The constituency of Bury St Edmunds is named after its main town, which is located in the west of the constituency. Bury St Edmunds is growing market town with the brewer Greene King amongst the business based in the town. Bury has a strong ecclesiastical tradition with its Cathedral and ruined abbey. In the town there is the smallest pub in Britain The Nutshell.

In the east, the constituency includes the two towns of Stowmarket and Needham Market, which as their names suggest are rural market towns. The rest of the constituency is countryside stretching from the Norfolk border in the North to the edge of Babergh District in the South. This rural area combines a strong arable sector with picturesque villages and interesting historical buildings. These villages vary in size from the large villages such as Elmswell and Woolpit in the centre of the constituency to small hamlets such as Burgate in the north of the constituency.

The electorate in 2005 numbered 79,066.  The seat’s boundaries were substantially redrawn prior to the 1997 General Election, when Suffolk was granted an additional constituency by the Boundary Commission, reflecting the increase in the local population of this predominantly agricultural county.  Much of the former Bury St Edmunds constituency formed the new West Suffolk constituency.  

Sir Eldon Griffiths represented the constituency for the Conservative Party from 1964 to 1992; he was Minister for Sport from 1970 to 1974.  His successor, Richard Spring, held the seat from 1992 to 1997, when he contested West Suffolk.  

At the 1997 General Election, the Conservative Party’s majority over the Labour Party was reduced to 368.  The sitting Member of Parliament is David Ruffley, who was re-elected at the 2001 General Election with a seven-fold increase in his majority to 2,503.

You may also find the following pages from this website of interest:

Living in Suffolk links

 List of Towns and Villages (with links to local websites)

Local Government in Suffolk links

Local Newspapers Radio and Television links

Parliamentary Election Results for the Bury St Edmunds constituency 1924 - 2001 
Adobe Acrobat .pdf file

Overview map and detailed map of the Bury St Edmunds constituency 

Bibliography and Credits

A History of Britain's Parliamentary Constituencies, Jacques Arnold (Patricia Arnold Publishing, 2003)

Politico's Guide to the General Election, Simon Henig and Lewis Baston (Politico's Publishing, 2000)

Microsoft ® Encarta ® Encyclopedia 2005 © 1993-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

The Almanac of British Politics, Robert Waller and Byron Criddle (Routledge, 1999)