Tiverton and Minehead.
Liberal Democrats MP Rachel Gilmour holds the seat on 38.6% of the vote — a split-council geography across 2 councils.
1 Jun 2026
Gilmour's voting record sets her apart from much of the Liberal Democrat parliamentary group in one significant respect: she turns up less than half the time. At 43% participation -- well below the Commons average -- she has missed more than half of all votes since July 2024, though the votes she does cast align with her party 99% of the time. The exceptions are telling: she backed assisted dying legislation when most Lib Dems voted against, and she opposed the Tobacco and Vapes Bill at second reading, a rare departure that cut against both her party and the cross-party consensus behind the smoke-free generation policy. More recently she backed referring Keir Starmer to the Privileges Committee over the Mandelson appointment -- a standard Lib Dem position -- and opposed government powers to direct pension fund investments.
Her parliamentary record is dominated by local issues. She has spoken across 139 debates in under two years, with economy and jobs, local government, social care, and health making up the bulk of her contributions. Her news coverage reinforces this picture: she has written directly to ministers about foreign fishing vessels inside the 12-nautical-mile limit, pushed the Treasury on heating oil costs for off-grid rural households, and claimed partial credit for the government's inheritance tax u-turn on agricultural property -- coverage that local outlets received positively. She hosted over 60 constituency surgeries in her first year and visited Ukraine as part of a parliamentary delegation.
Her stance data flags one notable gap: she votes with NHS funding positions just a third of the time, 28 percentage points below her party's average -- a puzzling pattern for an MP who lists health as a top speech topic. She sits on the Public Accounts Committee, which scrutinises government spending. No significant negative coverage appears in the available data.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canonsleigh(2 seats) | Westcott · Lock | 1,307 | Mid Devon LD | May 2023 |
| Clare Shuttern | Martyn Stratton | 664 | Mid Devon LD | May 2025 |
| Dulverton Exmoor(2 seats) | Nicholson · Pugsley | 4,229 | Somerset LD | May 2022 |
| Dunster | Cara Elizabeth Strom | 1,142 | Somerset LD | Oct 2025 |
| Halberton | Gwen DuChesne | 360 | Mid Devon LD | May 2023 |
| Lower Culm(3 seats) | Glover · Connor · Poynton | 2,209 | Mid Devon LD | May 2023 |
| Lydeard(2 seats) | Sully · Rigby | 3,532 | Somerset LD | May 2022 |
| Minehead(2 seats) | Hadley · Chilcott | 2,340 | Somerset LD | May 2022 |
| Tiverton Castle(2 seats) | Holdman · Wulff | 1,085 | Mid Devon LD | May 2023 |
| Tiverton Cranmore(3 seats) | Fish · Kennedy · Cruwys | 1,514 | Mid Devon LD | May 2023 |
| Tiverton Lowman(3 seats) | Cuddy · Czapiewski · Farrell | 1,434 | Mid Devon LD | May 2023 |
| Tiverton Westexe | Adam Stirling | 431 | Mid Devon LD | Jun 2024 |
| Upper Culm(2 seats) | Bradshaw · Clist | 1,621 | Mid Devon LD | May 2023 |
| Watchet Stogursey(2 seats) | Davies · Woods | 1,731 | Somerset LD | May 2022 |
Source · Democracy Club · DCLEAPIL v1.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The seat’s population is concentrated in Tiverton (20,717), with Rural & dispersed (20,533) as the second pole. Total population across named built-up areas: 91,909.
Source · ONS Built-Up Areas · Census 2021
| Settlement | Pop. | Class |
|---|---|---|
| Tiverton | 20,717 | town |
| Rural & dispersed | 20,533 | town |
| Minehead | 11,755 | town |
| Williton | 3,927 | village |
| Willand | 3,476 | village |
| Bishops Lydeard | 3,128 | village |
Headline indicators.
| Indicator | Local | National | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employment rate | 53.8% | 57.1% | -6% |
| Owner-occupied | 67.4% | 63.1% | +7% |
| Private rented | 18.7% | 20.0% | -7% |
| Social rented | 13.8% | 16.8% | -18% |
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 | £223m |
| Taxpayers | 47,000 |
| Median per taxpayer | £2,270 |
| Mean per taxpayer | £4,720 |
Source · HMRC SPI · ±8% confidence
Where the money flows back in.
This constituency is served by Mid Devon and Somerset. 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 | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rachel GilmourWON | LD | 18,326 | 38.6 |
| Ian Liddell-Grainger | Con | 14,819 | 31.2 |
| Fred Keen | Ref | 7,787 | 16.4 |
| Jonathan Barter | Lab | 4,325 | 9.1 |
| Laura Buchanan | Grn | 2,234 | 4.7 |
Turnout 47,491
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