Constituency view

Runcorn and Helsby

North West, England

Reform UK Gain · 2025 by-election

Current MP

Current representation

Sarah Pochin

Reform UK

By-election

1 May 2025

Reform UK Gain

Majority6

Turnout46.2%

Electorate70,666

Candidates15

Candidate	Party	Votes	Share
Sarah Joanne Pochin	Reform UK	12,645	38.7%
Karen Louise Shore	Labour	12,639	38.7%
Sean Houlston	Conservative	2,341	7.2%
Chris Copeman	Green Party	2,314	7.1%
Paul Duffy	Liberal Democrat	942	2.9%
Dan Clarke	Liberal	454	1.4%
Michael Williams	Independent	363	1.1%
Alan Mckie	Independent	269	0.8%
Peter Ford	Workers Party of Britain	164	0.5%
John Stevens	Rejoin EU	129	0.4%
Howling Laud Hope	Official Monster Raving Loony Party	128	0.4%
Catherine Anne Blaiklock	English Democrats	95	0.3%
Paul Andrew Murphy	Social Democratic Party	68	0.2%
Jason Philip Hughes	Volt United Kingdom	54	0.2%
Graham Harry Moore	English Constitution Party	50	0.2%

32,655 valid votes. Shares are of valid votes. Source: UK Parliament, retrieved 12 October 2026.

2024 general election

Majority14,696

Turnout59.7%

Electorate70,801

Valid votes42,235

2024 Results

Party breakdown

Labour22,358 - 52.9%

Reform7,662 - 18.1%

Conservative6,756 - 16.0%

Green2,715 - 6.4%

Lib Dem2,149 - 5.1%

Other595 - 1.4%

Reform UK policies →

Benefits bill · 2025/26

£264,005,617

Estimated yearly spend on the six main working-age and disability benefits paid to residents of this constituency.

£2,774 total benefits bill per resident · 23% above average

Runcorn and Helsby: £2,774
England and Wales average: £2,259

Ranked 142 of 575 constituencies (1 = highest)

Total benefits bill	£264,005,617	208/575
Change over 2 years	+18.7%
Median local wage (2025)	£41,098	+6.0%

Universal Credit£141,529,041
£1,487 per resident · 11,843 households claiming
Assessed LCWRA: 4,971 · 1 in 12 working-age adults
Personal Independence Payment£69,776,011
£733 per resident · 9,422 claimants (+14.6% since Jul 2024)
Psychiatric conditions: 3,359 · 36% of claimants
Enhanced mobility (Motability-eligible): 4,736
Disability Living Allowance£16,738,967
£176 per resident · 2,720 claimants
Housing Benefit£16,125,248
£169 per resident · 2,295 claimants
Employment Support Allowance£10,449,323
£110 per resident · 1,621 claimants
Carer's Allowance£9,387,027
£99 per resident · 2,165 claimants

Ranks are out of England and Wales constituencies, highest first. Source: TaxPayers' Alliance, benefitsdata.uk (estimated from DWP Stat-Xplore claimant counts). England and Wales only. See this seat on benefitsdata.uk ↗

Demographics

Source: ONS Census 2021 (England, Wales, NI) and Scotland's Census 2022, aggregated to 2024 constituency boundaries by the House of Commons Library.

Ethnic composition

2021

White 96.5%White British 93.7%Asian 1.1%Black, African or Caribbean 0.4%Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups 1.4%Other 0.5%

England & Wales (2021)

White 83.0%White British 74.4%Asian 8.6%Black, African or Caribbean 3.7%Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups 2.7%Other 2.0%

2011

White 97.8%White British 96.1%Asian 0.8%Black, African or Caribbean 0.2%Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups 1.1%Other 0.1%

England & Wales (2011)

White 86.0%White British 80.5%Asian 7.5%Black, African or Caribbean 3.3%Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups 2.2%Other 1.0%

2001

White 98.7%White British 97.3%Asian 0.5%Black, African or Caribbean 0.1%Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups 0.7%Other 0.1%

England & Wales (2001)

White 91.3%White British 87.5%Asian 4.8%Black, African or Caribbean 2.2%Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups 1.3%Other 0.4%

1991

White 99.2%White British N/AAsian 0.4%Black, African or Caribbean 0.2%Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups 0.0%Other 0.2%

England & Wales (1991)

White 94.1%White British N/AAsian 3.6%Black, African or Caribbean 1.8%Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups 0.0%Other 0.6%

Year-over-year comparison uses broad ethnic groups.

2011 values are reaggregated from 2011 Output Areas onto 2024 boundaries.

2001 values are reaggregated from 2001 LSOAs onto 2024 boundaries.

1991 values are reaggregated from 1997 parliamentary constituencies onto 2024 boundaries.

Country of birth

Runcorn and Helsby (2021)

UK 95.0%Other EU 2.6%Other countries 2.4%

England & Wales (2021)

UK 84.0%Other EU 6.0%Other countries 10.1%

Runcorn and Helsby (2011)

UK 96.8%Other EU 1.1%Other countries 2.1%

England & Wales (2011)

UK 86.6%Other EU 3.6%Other countries 9.8%

Runcorn and Helsby (2001)

UK 97.5%Other EU 0.7%Other countries 1.9%

England & Wales (2001)

UK 91.1%Other EU 1.4%Other countries 7.5%

Runcorn and Helsby (1991)

UK 97.6%Other EU 1.4%Other countries 1.1%

England & Wales (1991)

UK 92.7%Other EU 2.5%Other countries 4.8%

1991 country of birth data uses the 1991 census's Commonwealth-based classification. Ireland and EU countries are not separately broken out. Regional figures are approximations.

Inset map

Runcorn and Helsby

Loading constituency outline.

Comparison

How this seat compares

Metric	Runcorn and Helsby	National	Difference	Rank
% White	96.5%	83.0%	+13.5pp	138/650
% White British	93.7%	74.4%	+19.2pp	84/632
% Asian	1.1%	8.6%	-7.5pp	564/650
% Black, African or Caribbean	0.4%	3.7%	-3.3pp	502/650
% Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups	1.4%	2.7%	-1.2pp	440/650
% Other ethnic group	0.5%	2.0%	-1.4pp	436/650
% UK-born	95.0%	84.0%	+11.1pp	90/650
% Non-UK-born	5.0%	16.0%	-11.1pp	561/650
% Other EU-born	2.6%	6.0%	-3.4pp	520/650
% Other countries-born	2.4%	10.1%	-7.7pp	559/650
% Christian	54.7%	46.7%	+8.0pp	66/575
% Muslim	0.6%	6.3%	-5.7pp	435/575
% Hindu	0.2%	1.6%	-1.5pp	490/575
% Sikh	0.1%	0.9%	-0.8pp	478/575
% Jewish	0.1%	0.5%	-0.4pp	361/575
% Buddhist	0.3%	0.4%	-0.2pp	448/575
% Other religion	0.3%	0.6%	-0.2pp	520/575
% No religion	38.8%	37.0%	+1.8pp	295/575
% Religion not stated	5.0%	6.0%	-1.0pp	531/575
% Has any religion	56.2%	57.0%	-0.8pp	250/575

Nearby seats

Constituencies around Runcorn and Helsby

Neighbouring constituencies on 2024 boundaries, ordered by the length of the shared border.

Source: ONS Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies (July 2024) Boundaries UK BSC. Seats with a short coastline or none, such as islands, are completed with the closest constituencies by distance.