The placeConstituency · South East · Electorate 81,078 · 2023 boundaries

Milton Keynes Central.

Labour Party MP Emily Darlington holds the seat on 42.3% of the vote.

Member of ParliamentEmily Darlington · Labour Party
CouncilMilton Keynes
Boundary set2023
ONS codeE14001369
Electorate · 2024
81.1k
Registered to vote
2024 GE — winner
42.3%
Labour Party · +15.3pp over Con
Settlements
4
Largest: Milton Keynes
Crime · per 1k pop · 3mo
32.4
data.police.uk · 12mo rolling
Dispatch
3 Jun 2026

A consistent party-line voter with no rebel votes, Darlington has been most visible recently in local campaigning rather than parliamentary dissent. She has pushed hard on child online safety -- surveying schools and parents, engaging technology companies, and backing legislation to keep pornography away from children -- and has used that platform to speak openly about her own experience of online harassment. Her news coverage is broadly positive, with recent stories highlighting falling hospital waiting lists in Milton Keynes and her work securing SEND school funding alongside local council partners.

In Parliament, Darlington votes with Labour on every recorded division -- a 100% party-line record across 467 votes -- and participates at 91%, well above the Commons average. Her stance profile flags strong alignment with workers' rights and progressive taxation, and she sits at the more sceptical end of her party on Lords scrutiny and parliamentary oversight. Where she deviates from her party's average, the gaps are modest: she votes more consistently than most Labour MPs for local government powers and welfare reform, and slightly less so on assisted dying safeguards and end-of-life autonomy measures. Her speeches cluster around economy and jobs, defence, crime, and social care -- a broad portfolio rather than a narrow specialism.

Her seat on the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee aligns with her online safety focus and may shape future parliamentary activity. Local news coverage is high-volume but largely neutral in tone, with crime and transport generating the most articles in the past 90 days. Speech data covers 215 contributions since July 2024, giving a reasonable picture of her priorities, though no data is available on individual debate interventions before that point.

42.3%
Lab vote · 2024 GE
1
Council overlapping the seat
8
Wards · 8 councillors
§ 01The local picture — wards.8 wards · 8 councillors

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

WardLatest winnerVotesCouncilLast cycle
Broughton Uroy Clarke1,652Milton Keynes LabMay 2024
Campbell Park Old Woughton Graham Eaton1,263Milton Keynes LabMay 2024
Central Milton Keynes Martin Ronald Petchey1,383Milton Keynes LabMay 2024
Danesborough Walton Victoria Hopkins1,990Milton Keynes LabMay 2024
Loughton Shenley Mandy Legg1,457Milton Keynes LabMay 2024
Monkston Duncan Banks1,118Milton Keynes LabMay 2024
Shenley Brook End Saleena Raja1,379Milton Keynes LabMay 2024
Woughton Fishermead Donna Juli Fuller1,421Milton Keynes LabMay 2024

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

§ 02Settlements.4 named places

The seat’s population is concentrated in Milton Keynes (109,794), with Rural & dispersed (14,090) as the second pole. Total population across named built-up areas: 129,273.

city 109,794town 14,090village 5,389

Source · ONS Built-Up Areas · Census 2021

SettlementPop.Class
Milton Keynes109,794city
Rural & dispersed14,090town
Woburn Sands3,673village
Bow Brickhill1,716village
§ 03Demographics.Census 2021 · vs national avg

Headline indicators.

IndicatorLocalNationalΔ
Employment rate66.4%57.1%+16%
Owner-occupied54.2%63.1%-14%
Private rented24.7%20.0%+23%
Social rented21.0%16.8%+25%

Ethnicity.

White65.8%
Asian14.9%
Black12.4%
Mixed4.4%
Other2.5%

Source · Census 2021

Population by age & sexCensus 2021 · 18 bands · click to expand
Male 50.0% Female 50.1% 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
£29,700
HMRC SPI · 2024
Mean income
£40,100
HMRC SPI · 2024
Businesses
5,190
VAT/PAYE-registered
Schools
54
36 primary · 6 secondary
GCSE pass
68.1%
Attainment 8: 47.1

Income tax contribution.

Total income tax£463m
Taxpayers68,000
Median per taxpayer£3,100
Mean per taxpayer£6,840

Source · HMRC SPI · ±8% confidence

Where the money flows back in.

For council finance & suppliers

This constituency is served by Milton Keynes. 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
32.4
+57% vs national
Monthly avg / 1k
10.8
12-month rolling
Top category
Violence & sexual offences
36% of recorded crime

By category.

Violence & sexual offences11.5
Shoplifting4.8
Anti-social behaviour2.7
Other theft2.6
Public order2.5
Vehicle crime2.4
Criminal damage & arson2.0

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%
Emily DarlingtonWONLab20,20942.3
Johnny LukCon12,91827.1
David ReillyRef6,24513.1
James CoxLD4,93110.3
Frances BonneyGrn3,2266.8
Alfred Saint-ClairInd2000.4

Turnout 47,729

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