Battleground Anglia: Milton Keynes North

The Conservatives won the Milton Keynes North constituency at the 2010 General Election with a majority of nearly 9,000 votes. Credit: ITV News Anglia

Milton Keynes North is the more rural of the two Milton Keynes seats stretching north from the New Town through Newport Pagnell and towards Onley close to the border with Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire.

Milton Keynes had the country's first multiplex cinema, the first NHS Direct centre, and even has a ski slope with real snow. Cars and motor-racing are important, with the Silverstone racing circuit nearby. Formula 1 team Red Bull Racing is based in the constituency.

  • Conservative majority in 2010: 8,961

  • Milton Keynes North is Labour target 17 of the 66 seats the party doesn't hold in the Anglia region

  • Labour would need a swing of 8% to win in 2015 and the Lib Dems would need an 11% swing

When the boundaries of Milton Keynes North East were redrawn to become Milton Keynes North it was deemed to be a notional Labour seat in 2005. Thus when Mark Lancaster retained his seat in 2010 it was a notional Labour gain from the Conservatives.

Mark Lancaster has been an MP since 2005 and has been a government whip since 2012.

In the most recent local elections in Milton Keynes in 2014, the Conservatives took a 28% share of the vote while Labour were on 27%. However Labour are the largest party on the hung council.

UKIP took 20% of the votes but won just a single seat. The Lib Dems polled 16% of the vote but won 13 council seats.

Candidates in 2015

  • Emily Darlington - Labour

  • Paul Graham - Liberal Democrats

  • Mark Lancaster - Conservative

  • Jennifer Marklew - Green

  • David Mortimer - Independent

  • David Reilly - UKIP

  • Katie Simpson - Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition