The great advantage of democracy is the huge power that it bestows upon everyone to support or reject individual candidates for political office. General elections are held every five years. The next one is due in May 2020. Votes cast in May 2015 were as follows:
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Ian Liddell-Grainger | 25,020 | 46.0 | +0.7 | |
| UKIP | Stephen Fitzgerald | 10,437 | 19.2 | +14.4 | |
| Labour | Michael Lerry | 9,589 | 17.6 | +0.5 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Theo Butt Philip | 6,765 | 12.4 | -15.9 | |
| Green | Julie Harvey-Smith | 2,636 | 4.8 | +3.3 | |
| Majority | 14,583 | 26.8 | |||
| Turnout | 54,447 | 67.6 | |||
Here are the resulta for 2010:
| Ian Liddell-Grainger | Conservative |
24,675 |
45.3 |
-0.1 |
| Theo Butt Philip | Liberal Democrat |
15,426 |
28.3 |
+5.7 |
| Kathryn Pearce | Labour |
9,332 |
17.1 |
-8.5 |
| Peter Hollings | UKIndependence Party |
2,604 |
4.8 |
+1.1 |
| Donna Treanor | British National Party |
1,282 |
2.4 |
+2.4 |
| Charles Graham | Green |
859 |
1.6 |
-1.2 |
| Bob Cudlipp | Independent |
315 |
0.6 |
+0.6 |
|
Majority |
9,249 |
17.0 |
||
|
Turnout |
54,493 |
71.2 |
+7.2 |
|
Here are the statistics for 2005:
Ian Liddell-Grainger, Conservative (21,240 votes – 44.1%)
Matthew Burchell, Labour (12,771 votes – 26.5%)
James Main, Liberal Democrat (10,940 – 22.7%)
Ray Weinstein, UKIP (1767 – 3.7%)
Charlie Graham, Green (1391 -2.9%)
On 1st May 2001 the results were:
Ian Liddell-Grainger, Conservative (19,354 votes – 40.5%)
Ian Thorn, Liberal Democrat (14,367 votes – 30%)
William Monteith, Labour (12,803 votes – 26.8%)
Vicky Gardner, UK Independence Party (1,323 votes – 2.8%)