Wells and Mendip Hills.
Liberal Democrats MP Tessa Munt holds the seat on 46.9% of the vote — a split-council geography across 2 councils.
3 Jun 2026
A steady, locally active MP who has nonetheless been busier than her rebel-free record suggests. In late April, Munt acted as a teller against government regulations that would strip asylum seekers of accommodation and financial support for working illegally -- signalling opposition to what the Liberal Democrats characterise as punitive policy that ignores the ban on working as a root cause. She also voted against the government's reserve power to direct pension fund investments, twice backed the Lords' position on the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, and opposed carrying over the Northern Ireland Troubles legacy legislation. All of these votes followed her party's line, but they represent a consistent posture: back Lords scrutiny, resist executive overreach, and oppose coercive welfare measures.
Her parliamentary participation rate of 60% sits below the Commons average, though her 315 speech contributions across 150 debates suggest she is more active in debate than the headline voting figure implies. Her stance data tells a clear story: she votes with the Lords against government override nearly every time (97%), backs parliamentary scrutiny (95%), and opposes the employer National Insurance increase (100%). She is markedly less aligned than her party colleagues on civil liberties measures (57% versus the party's 79%), a gap of 22 percentage points worth watching. Her speeches cluster around economy-jobs, crime, health and local government -- broad rather than specialist in focus.
Locally, news coverage over the past 90 days has been modest in volume and mixed in direct relevance. She visited Somerset farms in March and spoke in a Westminster Hall debate on carnival funding, raising a specific constituency grievance about poor mobile signal hampering fundraising. She sits on the Justice Committee and the Administration Committee. No biographical background is provided, but no single prior specialism appears to dominate her parliamentary focus.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Banwell & Winscombe(2 seats) | Tristram · Nicholson | 1,953 | North Somerset Con | May 2023 |
| Blagdon & Churchill | Patrick Keating | 741 | North Somerset Con | May 2023 |
| Brent(2 seats) | Filmer · Grimes | 3,193 | Somerset LD | May 2022 |
| Cheddar(2 seats) | Ferguson · Ham | 2,485 | Somerset LD | May 2022 |
| Congresbury & Puxton | Dan Thomas | 831 | North Somerset Con | May 2023 |
| Huntspill(2 seats) | Healey · Aujla | 2,507 | Somerset LD | May 2022 |
| King Alfred(2 seats) | Munt · Martin | 3,350 | Somerset LD | May 2022 |
| Mendip Hills | Sam Phripp | 1,534 | Somerset LD | May 2026 |
| Mendip South | Rob Reed | 1,313 | Somerset LD | May 2024 |
| Mendip West(2 seats) | Shearer · Wyke | 4,356 | Somerset LD | May 2022 |
| Shepton Mallet(2 seats) | Height · Lovell | 2,146 | Somerset LD | May 2022 |
| Wells(2 seats) | Munt · Philip | 4,554 | Somerset LD | May 2022 |
| Yatton(2 seats) | Bridger · Griggs | 2,551 | North Somerset Con | May 2023 |
Source · Democracy Club · DCLEAPIL v1.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The seat’s population is concentrated in Rural & dispersed (25,735), with Wells (11,145) as the second pole. Total population across named built-up areas: 89,268.
Source · ONS Built-Up Areas · Census 2021
| Settlement | Pop. | Class |
|---|---|---|
| Rural & dispersed | 25,735 | large town |
| Wells | 11,145 | town |
| Shepton Mallet | 10,594 | town |
| Yatton | 9,845 | town |
| Cheddar | 5,484 | town |
| Winscombe and Sandford | 4,752 | village |
Headline indicators.
| Indicator | Local | National | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employment rate | 56.3% | 57.1% | -1% |
| Owner-occupied | 76.3% | 63.1% | +21% |
| Private rented | 14.8% | 20.0% | -26% |
| Social rented | 8.9% | 16.8% | -47% |
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 | £314m |
| Taxpayers | 52,000 |
| Median per taxpayer | £2,880 |
| Mean per taxpayer | £6,090 |
Source · HMRC SPI · ±8% confidence
Where the money flows back in.
This constituency is served by Somerset and North 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 | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tessa MuntWON | LD | 23,622 | 46.9 |
| Meg Powell-Chandler | Con | 12,501 | 24.8 |
| Helen Hims | Ref | 6,611 | 13.1 |
| Joe Joseph | Lab | 3,527 | 7.0 |
| Peter Welsh | Grn | 2,068 | 4.1 |
| Abi McGuire | Ind | 1,849 | 3.7 |
| Craig Clarke | Ind | 190 | 0.4 |
Turnout 50,368
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