The placeConstituency · South East · Electorate 77,039 · 2023 boundaries

Worthing West.

Labour Party MP Beccy Cooper holds the seat on 40.2% of the vote — a split-council geography across 2 councils.

Member of ParliamentBeccy Cooper · Labour Party
CouncilsWorthing · Arun
Boundary set2023
ONS codeE14001599
Electorate · 2024
77.0k
Registered to vote
2024 GE — winner
40.2%
Labour Party · +7.7pp over Con
Settlements
4
Largest: Worthing
Crime · per 1k pop · 3mo
17.9
data.police.uk · 12mo rolling
Dispatch
1 Jun 2026

A steady Labour loyalist with a clear local focus, Beccy Cooper has not broken ranks with her party on a single vote since entering Parliament in 2024. Her recent votes follow the government line -- backing tighter asylum support rules, opposing the referral of Keir Starmer to the Privileges Committee, and supporting ministers' reserve power to direct pension fund investment. None of these positions diverge from Labour, making her a 100% party-line voter across 386 recorded votes.

Her participation rate of 75% sits below the Commons average, though not unusually so for a first-term MP with active committee responsibilities. Health and social care dominate her speech record -- 39 contributions on health topics out of 110 total -- consistent with her seat on the Health and Social Care Committee. She also speaks frequently on economy and jobs, local government, and fiscal policy. Her voting profile leans strongly toward workers' rights and progressive taxation, while she votes against pro-business positions roughly 87% of the time. She runs notably ahead of her Labour colleagues on local government powers and consumer protection, and somewhat behind them on welfare expansion and pension protection.

Outside the chamber, Cooper has championed constituency causes -- most visibly leading a Westminster Hall event backing Worthing FC's push for promotion reform in the National League. News coverage over the past 90 days is high in volume but low in sentiment signal, dominated by culture, crime, and environment stories rather than coverage of Cooper herself. Some articles in the data are attributed to a neighbouring MP, Tom Rutland, which limits the reliability of the local news picture. Voting data covers her full term since July 2024.

40.2%
Lab vote · 2024 GE
2
Councils overlapping the seat
12
Wards · 17 councillors
§ 01The local picture — wards.12 wards · 17 councillors · 2 councils

Ward-level direction-of-travel: who controls what, who flipped recently, who holds the line. Each ward links to the council that runs it.

WardLatest winnerVotesCouncilLast cycle
Angmering Findon(3 seats)Worne · Cooper · Bicknell3,599Arun ConMay 2023
Castle Lionel Harman953Worthing GrnMay 2026
Central Natasha Louise Davie1,256Worthing GrnMay 2026
Durrington Charles John Ellerington James793Worthing GrnMay 2026
East Preston(3 seats)Kelly · Bower · Bower3,904Arun ConMay 2023
Ferring(2 seats)Turner · Elkins1,967Arun ConMay 2023
Goring Jasmine Ariadne Watkins1,582Worthing GrnMay 2026
Heene Debbie Woudman1,014Worthing GrnMay 2026
Marine Martin McCabe1,295Worthing GrnMay 2026
Northbrook Rob Venn719Worthing GrnMay 2026
Salvington Karen Harman1,300Worthing GrnMay 2026
Tarring Hazel Thorpe887Worthing GrnMay 2026

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

§ 02Settlements.4 named places

The seat’s population is concentrated in Worthing (76,264), with Rustington (21,159) as the second pole. Total population across named built-up areas: 99,948.

city 76,264large-town 21,159village 2,525

Source · ONS Built-Up Areas · Census 2021

SettlementPop.Class
Worthing76,264city
Rustington21,159large town
Findon1,336village
Rural & dispersed1,189village
§ 03Demographics.Census 2021 · vs national avg

Headline indicators.

IndicatorLocalNationalΔ
Employment rate54.5%57.1%-5%
Owner-occupied70.4%63.1%+12%
Private rented19.9%20.0%-1%
Social rented9.7%16.8%-42%

Ethnicity.

White92.8%
Asian3.1%
Black1.0%
Mixed2.3%
Other0.8%

Source · Census 2021

Population by age & sexCensus 2021 · 18 bands · click to expand
Male 48.0% Female 52.1% 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
£28,000
HMRC SPI · 2024
Mean income
£36,200
HMRC SPI · 2024
Businesses
3,575
VAT/PAYE-registered
Schools
30
21 primary · 3 secondary
GCSE pass
64.9%
Attainment 8: 44.2

Income tax contribution.

Total income tax£313m
Taxpayers58,000
Median per taxpayer£2,800
Mean per taxpayer£5,430

Source · HMRC SPI · ±8% confidence

Where the money flows back in.

For council finance & suppliers

This constituency is served by Worthing and Arun. 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
17.9
-14% vs national
Monthly avg / 1k
6.0
12-month rolling
Top category
Violence & sexual offences
32% of recorded crime

By category.

Violence & sexual offences5.7
Anti-social behaviour3.0
Shoplifting2.7
Public order1.5
Criminal damage & arson1.5
Other theft0.9
Vehicle crime0.6

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.5 contests · created on 2023 boundaries

2024 — full result.

CandidateVotes%
Beccy CooperWONLab20,51940.2
Peter BottomleyCon16,57032.5
Edmund RookeRef7,56214.8
Sonya MallinGrn3,2746.4
Morag ChuggLD2,7085.3
Kathryn AttwoodInd3640.7

Turnout 50,997

Prior contests.

YearWinner%
2019Peter BottomleyCon55.8
2017Peter BottomleyCon55.4
2015Peter BottomleyCon51.5
2010Bottomley, PeterCon51.7
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