General Election 2024: Why the new Waveney Valley constituency is a top Green target

  • Tanya Mercer explores the new constituency of Waveney Valley in one of a series of reports looking at the key General Election battlegrounds in the ITV News Anglia region.

Waveney Valley is a newly-created constituency for 2024, and one of the first to cross county borders, taking in areas of both Norfolk and Suffolk.

Almost half of the seat was previously in the old South Norfolk constituency and it should be natural Conservative territory - but the Greens have their sights on a possible victory here.

The Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay is standing and Waveney Valley is a top target for his party.

Based on the notional result calculations, Labour would need a 21.8% swing to win it, the Liberal Democrats would need a 26.5% swing and the Greens would need a 26.4% swing.

Waveney Valley is the 15th safest Conservative seat in the Anglia region of 65 and the 46th safest Tory seat nationally, out of 372.

The Waveney Valley is a newly-created constituency. Credit: ITV News Anglia

The mainly rural area is a beautiful mosaic of fen, agricultural land and small market towns.

It takes in the towns of Diss, Harleston, Bungay, Halesworth and Eye on either side of the Waveney river, which divides Norfolk and Suffolk.

The candidates are:

  • Scott Huggins, Reform UK

  • Gurpreet Padda, Labour

  • Adrian Ramsay, Green Party

  • Richard Rout, Conservatives

  • Maya Severyn, Social Democratic Party

  • John Shreeve, Liberal Democrat

Subscribe free to our Election Briefing newsletter here for exclusive and original campaign coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox at 5pm every weekday.