Suffolk Central & Ipswich North
Conservative hold

This is a clumsily named but well described seat. Ipswich is a little large for a single seat of its own, so it loses four northern wards, two basically Labour (the council estates of Whitton and White House) and two Conservative residential areas (Broom Hill and Castle Hill) on its northern periphery; these are placed together with a ragbag of central Suffolk left over from the creation of the Coastal, South, West and Bury St Edmunds divisions. This includes diverse territory such as the sprawling suburb of Kesgrave to the east of Ipswich, and Framlingham with its fine castle and public school, and a swathe of fertile and gently rolling farmland, golden with corn and dark green with oak trees in the summer. Like all the other mainly rural Suffolk seats, it was held by the Conservatives over Labour in 1997, but not by a large margin.

Michael Lord, a bald and pleasant arboriculturalist of Thatcherite hue, and first elected on the high rightwing tide of 1983, was the 16th most rebellious Tory MP on the Maastricht Bill. Born 1938 and educated at William Hulme's Grammar School, Manchester, and Christ's College, Cambridge, he worked previously in his own tree-selling business, and has fallen silent since 1997 as one of the Speaker's three deputies, in his case as Deputy Chairman of Ways & Means.

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   Thriving Wealthy Achievers, Suburban Areas 25.77% 14.99% 171.88 Affluent Greys, Rural Communities 8.99% 2.13% 422.94 Prosperous Pensioners, Retirement Areas 1.17% 2.49% 46.94 Expanding Affluent Executives, Family Areas 1.50% 4.43% 33.95 Well-Off Workers, Family Areas 6.58% 7.27% 90.44 Rising Affluent Urbanites, Town & City Areas 0.83% 2.56% 32.41 Prosperous Professionals, Metropolitan Areas 0.00% 2.04% 0.00 Better-Off Executives, Inner City Areas 0.00% 3.94% 0.00 Settling Comfortable Middle Agers, Mature Home Owning Areas 30.88% 13.04% 236.81 Skilled Workers, Home Owning Areas 10.00% 12.70% 78.72 Aspiring New Home Owners, Mature Communities 7.44% 8.14% 91.37 White Collar Workers, Better-Off Multi Ethnic Areas 0.54% 4.02% 13.53 Striving Older People, Less Prosperous Areas 2.14% 3.19% 67.27 Council Estate Residents, Better-Off Homes 2.78% 11.31% 24.57 Council Estate Residents, High Unemployment 0.21% 3.06% 6.99 Council Estate Residents, Greatest Hardship 1.16% 2.52% 45.98 People in Multi-Ethnic, Low-Income Areas 0.00% 2.10% 0.00 Unclassified Unclassified 0.00% 0.06% 0.00

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   £0-5K 8.34% 9.41% 88.62 £5-10K 16.18% 16.63% 97.26 £10-15K 16.91% 16.58% 102.00 £15-20K 14.17% 13.58% 104.35 £20-25K 10.93% 10.39% 105.15 £25-30K 8.16% 7.77% 104.99 £30-35K 6.04% 5.79% 104.24 £35-40K 4.47% 4.33% 103.14 £40-45K 3.33% 3.27% 101.84 £45-50K 2.49% 2.48% 100.44 £50-55K 1.88% 1.90% 98.98 £55-60K 1.44% 1.47% 97.51 £60-65K 1.11% 1.15% 96.06 £65-70K 0.86% 0.91% 94.63 £70-75K 0.67% 0.72% 93.24 £75-80K 0.53% 0.57% 91.90 £80-85K 0.42% 0.46% 90.60 £85-90K 0.33% 0.37% 89.35 £90-95K 0.27% 0.31% 88.14 £95-100K 0.22% 0.25% 86.98 £100K + 1.08% 1.34% 80.36