Esher and Walton.
Liberal Democrats MP Monica Harding holds the seat on 52.5% of the vote.
3 Jun 2026
On the assisted dying bill, Harding broke from her party four times in a single day. Her rebel votes show a more cautious approach to safeguards than the Liberal Democrat mainstream -- she backed amendments to block voluntary starvation as a route to eligibility and supported procedural provisions that her party voted against, while opposing one amendment her party backed. Those deviations place her noticeably to the right of her party on assisted dying access, though she is more sympathetic to end-of-life autonomy overall than the Lib Dem average. Beyond that, she voted to refer Keir Starmer to the Privileges Committee over the Mandelson appointment and consistently backed Lords amendments to the English Devolution Bill -- both standard Lib Dem positions.
At 67%, her voting participation sits below the Commons average of roughly 75--80%, though newer MPs sometimes face a settling-in period. She is a near-perfect party-line voter in what votes she does cast -- 96% alignment -- with the assisted dying cluster as the clear outlier. Her speeches span defence, the economy, social care and health, with 242 contributions across 184 debates since 2024. She scores strongly on parliamentary and Lords scrutiny alignment, and shows above-party-average enthusiasm for opposition amendments.
News coverage paints a picture of active local casework: she secured South Western Railway service improvements, backed a pharmacy application in Thames Ditton, and raised water safety in Parliament following local drowning deaths. These issues -- transport, health access, river pollution -- match the priorities she set out in her maiden speech. She sits on the International Development Committee. The 90-day news sentiment data covers 41 articles but carries no usable sentiment scores, so local opinion cannot be assessed from that source.
Ward-level direction-of-travel: who controls what, who flipped recently, who holds the line.
| Ward | Latest winner | Votes | Council | Last cycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claygate | Mary Marshall | 1,020 | Elmbridge LD | May 2024 |
| Esher | Simon Jonathan Leifer | 1,102 | Elmbridge LD | May 2024 |
| Hersham Village | John O'Reilly | 1,029 | Elmbridge LD | Oct 2024 |
| Hinchley Wood Weston Green | Gill Coates | 1,627 | Elmbridge LD | May 2024 |
| Long Ditton | Jez Langham | 1,493 | Elmbridge LD | May 2024 |
| Molesey East | Kevin Malcolm Whincup | 1,291 | Elmbridge LD | May 2024 |
| Molesey West | Pat Gormley | 1,032 | Elmbridge LD | May 2024 |
| Oatlands Burwood Park | John Cope | 1,259 | Elmbridge LD | May 2024 |
| Thames Ditton | Alex Batchelor | 1,344 | Elmbridge LD | May 2024 |
| Walton Central | Stanley Francis Winston Luker | 1,055 | Elmbridge LD | May 2024 |
| Walton North | Joshua Noah Lambert | 1,206 | Elmbridge LD | May 2024 |
| Walton South | Alistair William Price | 1,389 | Elmbridge LD | May 2024 |
Source · Democracy Club · DCLEAPIL v1.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The seat’s population is concentrated in West Molesey (47,902), with Walton-on-Thames (26,291) as the second pole. Total population across named built-up areas: 102,513.
Source · ONS Built-Up Areas · Census 2021
| Settlement | Pop. | Class |
|---|---|---|
| West Molesey | 47,902 | large town |
| Walton-on-Thames | 26,291 | large town |
| Hersham | 12,364 | town |
| Esher | 9,259 | town |
| Weybridge | 6,697 | town |
Headline indicators.
| Indicator | Local | National | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employment rate | 62.5% | 57.1% | +10% |
| Owner-occupied | 73.2% | 63.1% | +16% |
| Private rented | 16.1% | 20.0% | -19% |
| Social rented | 10.7% | 16.8% | -37% |
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 | £1330m |
| Taxpayers | 57,000 |
| Median per taxpayer | £5,170 |
| Mean per taxpayer | £23,500 |
Source · HMRC SPI · ±8% confidence
Where the money flows back in.
This constituency is served by Elmbridge. 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 | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monica HardingWON | LD | 28,315 | 52.5 |
| John Cope | Con | 16,312 | 30.3 |
| Alastair Gray | Ref | 4,777 | 8.9 |
| Yoel Gordon | Lab | 2,846 | 5.3 |
| Maciej Pawlik | Grn | 1,396 | 2.6 |
| Richard Bateson | Ind | 234 | 0.4 |
Turnout 53,880
Prior contests.
| Year | Winner | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Dominic Raab | Con | 49.4 |
| 2017 | Dominic Raab | Con | 58.6 |
| 2015 | Dominic Raab | Con | 62.9 |
| 2010 | Raab, Dominic | Con | 58.9 |
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