South Devon.
Liberal Democrats MP Caroline Voaden holds the seat on 46.0% of the vote — a split-council geography across 2 councils.
2 Jun 2026
Coastal erosion, rural banking, and pelvic mesh compensation have dominated Caroline Voaden's recent work -- she has fought the government on several fronts through petitions, Prime Minister's Questions, and parliamentary debates on behalf of South Devon constituents. The most prominent of these is the Slapton Line: storm damage to the coastal road prompted a petition that gathered more than 40,000 signatures and a direct challenge to the Prime Minister for government funding. Separately, she raised pelvic mesh failures in the Commons and publicly criticised the government's exclusion of flood-hit Torcross from emergency funding -- a pattern of vocal, local-first advocacy that has generated significant news coverage.
In Parliament, Voaden votes with the Liberal Democrats 100% of the time and has no rebel votes on record. Her participation rate of 70% sits below the Commons average. She strongly supports Lords scrutiny (97% aligned) and parliamentary accountability (95%), which explains her recent votes backing Lords amendments to the English Devolution Bill and opposing government powers to direct pension fund investment. She voted to refer the Prime Minister to the Privileges Committee over the Mandelson appointment, and against asylum seeker support regulations she regards as punitive. Her 365 speech contributions span economy and jobs, social care, education, and local government. She sits on the Education Committee.
One notable gap in her voting record -- she is 32 percentage points below her own party's average on armed forces welfare votes, a deviation without obvious explanation from available data. Her local news coverage is high-volume but mixed in sentiment, reflecting a constituency with pressing infrastructure and rural services pressures. The data covers her since winning South Devon at the 2024 general election.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allington Strete | Laurel Lawford | 628 | South Hams LD | May 2023 |
| Blackawton Stoke Fleming | Simon Rake | 527 | South Hams LD | May 2023 |
| Charterlands | Bernard Taylor | 523 | South Hams LD | May 2023 |
| Churston With Galmpton(2 seats) | Billings · Tyerman | 2,194 | Torbay Con | May 2023 |
| Collaton St Mary | Martin Brook | 325 | Torbay Con | May 2023 |
| Dartington Staverton | Jacqi Hodgson | 740 | South Hams LD | May 2023 |
| Dartmouth East Dart(3 seats) | Cooper · Yardy · Hawkins | 3,491 | South Hams LD | May 2023 |
| Furzeham With Summercombe(3 seats) | Strang · Stevens · Hutchings | 3,006 | Torbay Con | May 2023 |
| Kings Ash(2 seats) | Thomas · Twelves | 1,176 | Torbay Con | May 2023 |
| Kingsbridge(2 seats) | O'Callaghan · Jackson | 1,918 | South Hams LD | May 2023 |
| Loddiswell Aveton Gifford | Lee Bonham | 487 | South Hams LD | May 2023 |
| Marldon Littlehempston | Samantha Penfold | 355 | South Hams LD | May 2023 |
| Salcombe Thurlestone(2 seats) | Long · Dennis | 1,778 | South Hams LD | May 2023 |
| South Brent(2 seats) | Hancock · Pannell | 2,181 | South Hams LD | May 2023 |
| St Peters With St Marys(2 seats) | Tolchard · Bryant | 1,490 | Torbay Con | May 2023 |
| Stokenham | Julian Brazil | 712 | South Hams LD | May 2023 |
| Totnes(3 seats) | Presswell · Allen · Birch | 3,894 | South Hams LD | May 2023 |
| West Dart | John McKay | 699 | South Hams LD | May 2023 |
Source · Democracy Club · DCLEAPIL v1.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The seat’s population is concentrated in Rural & dispersed (20,648), with Brixham (18,074) as the second pole. Total population across named built-up areas: 90,738.
Source · ONS Built-Up Areas · Census 2021
| Settlement | Pop. | Class |
|---|---|---|
| Rural & dispersed | 20,648 | town |
| Brixham | 18,074 | town |
| Paignton | 14,901 | large town |
| Totnes | 9,031 | town |
| Kingsbridge | 6,284 | town |
| Dartmouth | 5,257 | town |
Headline indicators.
| Indicator | Local | National | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employment rate | 50.8% | 57.1% | -11% |
| Owner-occupied | 71.1% | 63.1% | +13% |
| Private rented | 16.9% | 20.0% | -16% |
| Social rented | 12.0% | 16.8% | -28% |
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 | £240m |
| Taxpayers | 47,000 |
| Median per taxpayer | £2,330 |
| Mean per taxpayer | £5,140 |
Source · HMRC SPI · ±8% confidence
Where the money flows back in.
This constituency is served by South Hams and Torbay. 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 | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caroline VoadenWON | LD | 22,540 | 46.0 |
| Anthony Mangnall | Con | 15,413 | 31.4 |
| Michael Bagley | Ref | 6,363 | 13.0 |
| Daniel Steel | Lab | 3,066 | 6.3 |
| Robert Bagnall | Grn | 1,497 | 3.0 |
| Becca Collings | Ind | 125 | 0.3 |
Turnout 49,004
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