Braintree constituency is centred on the Essex town of Braintree and extends north through Halstead and a wide collection of villages toward the Suffolk border. It includes Bocking, Great Notley, Rayne, the Hedingham villages and the Stour Valley, as well as a small area of neighbouring Uttlesford around Felsted, Stebbing and the Sampfords. Braintree is the largest urban centre, while Halstead provides another important market-town focus farther north. Beyond those towns the constituency is predominantly rural, with settlements dispersed across agricultural countryside. The result is a seat that combines a sizeable Essex town with smaller market towns, villages and an extensive rural hinterland.
Election data comes from UK Parliament. Turnout percentage is calculated by Project Open Gov from Parliament's turnout and electorate figures.
People and place
A population and household snapshot for Braintree, using validated House of Commons Library constituency datasets.
Estimated population108,544
EstimateMid-2024 estimate
Region / nationEast of England
Age profile
0 to 1720.2% · 21,884 people
18 to 246.6% · 7,181 people
25 to 3412.0% · 13,003 people
35 to 4918.6% · 20,214 people
50 to 6421.2% · 22,974 people
65 and over21.5% · 23,288 people
Population figures are mid-2024 estimates from the House of Commons Library. Project Open Gov calculates the estimated population shown above by summing the six published age-band counts. View population source ↗
Home ownership and renting
Housing tenure shows how households in this constituency described their home at the most recent census.
43,166 householdsCensus 2021
Home owners69.1% · 29,815 households
Private renters15.2% · 6,573 households
Social renters14.9% · 6,445 households
Other tenure0.8% · 333 households
“Other tenure” combines shared ownership and households recorded as living rent free.
Housing-tenure figures come from the most recent census: 2021 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 2022 in Scotland. View housing-tenure source ↗
Household composition
A broad view of household types in this constituency. Project Open Gov uses the four broad groups supplied by the Commons Library so the presentation remains consistent across the UK.
43,168 householdsCensus 2021
One-person households26.6% · 11,495 households
Families with dependent children28.8% · 12,420 households
Other single-family households41.4% · 17,870 households
Other household types3.2% · 1,383 households
Household-composition figures come from the Commons Library constituency dataset. The source uses census data and Project Open Gov displays its broad household groups rather than attempting to harmonise the detailed categories itself. View household-composition source ↗
Disability and day-to-day activities
The source records whether day-to-day activities are limited and uses separate person-level tables for England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
104,135 people in the source baseCensus 2021Source comparison: England & Wales
Day-to-day activities limited a lot6.3% · 6,597 people
Day-to-day activities limited a little10.1% · 10,543 people
Not disabled under the Equality Act83.5% · 86,995 people
Comparison note: the workbook uses different source terminology across the UK: England & Wales uses “Disabled under the Equality Act”, while Scotland and Northern Ireland use “Disabled” / “Non-disabled”. Project Open Gov therefore preserves the source categories and does not present them as one single like-for-like UK legal definition.
Disability figures come from the Commons Library constituency workbook. This profile uses the person-level tables only; the workbook also contains separate household-level disability tables which are not used here. View disability source ↗
This constituency in Parliament
A high-confidence subset of current-session parliamentary records from this constituency's current MP where the full constituency name is stated explicitly in the written question, debate title or recorded section.
This is not a complete record of every local issue raised in Parliament. Project Open Gov does not currently infer a constituency connection from the MP relationship alone, speech text, nearby place names or other local entities.
Written question13 May 2026
Members: Correspondence
Raised by Sir James Cleverly MP
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when the Rt. Hon Member for Braintree will receive a response to his correspondence dated 3 May 2026.
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when the Rt. Hon Member for Braintree will receive a response to his correspondence dated 18 February 2026.
Open UK Government and Parliament petitions that have reached at least 10,000 signatures nationally, ranked here by the number of signatures recorded in this constituency.
Petition signatures are not a poll and do not show what the constituency as a whole thinks. A person can also sign more than one petition.
Open petitionCloses 6 September 2026
Ban anyone convicted of terrorism offences from standing for public office
Signatures in this constituency464
Signatures nationally206,593
Government response published · Debate scheduled for 6 July 2026
Signature counts come from the official UK Government and Parliament petitions data and may change while a petition remains open. Browse official petitions ↗
Funding and local projects
National Lottery grants awarded to organisations recorded in this parliamentary constituency since 4 July 2024.
The constituency is based on the recipient organisation recorded in the source data. The funded activity may sometimes take place across a wider area.
Grants recorded26
Total awarded£787,074
Most recent awards
National Lottery grantAwarded 25 June 2026
Daphne Rogowski Orchard
Stebbing Parish Council
£15,154
The National Lottery Community Fund · Charitable and Community including Health, Education and Environment
About this award
Stebbing Parish Council - Environment - National Lottery Awards for All England
National Lottery grantAwarded 1 May 2026
Foxearth Village Hall Acoustics Improvement
Foxearth Village Hall
£8,000
The National Lottery Community Fund · Charitable and Community including Health, Education and Environment
About this award
Foxearth Village Hall - Community - National Lottery Awards for All England
National Lottery grantAwarded 2 April 2026
Oak Meadow Nature Reserve
Rayne Parish Council
£13,990
The National Lottery Community Fund · Charitable and Community including Health, Education and Environment
About this award
Rayne Parish Council - Environment - National Lottery Awards for All England
National Lottery grantAwarded 12 March 2026
Sensory Garden Planter
Ridgewell Garden Society
£1,900
The National Lottery Community Fund · Charitable and Community including Health, Education and Environment
About this award
Ridgewell Garden Society - Community - National Lottery Awards for All England
National Lottery grantAwarded 6 February 2026
Little Yeldham Village Hall - Solar Panels
LITTLE YELDHAM VILLAGE HALL
£14,114
The National Lottery Community Fund · Charitable and Community including Health, Education and Environment
About this award
LITTLE YELDHAM VILLAGE HALL - Environment - National Lottery Awards for All England
21 more awards are available.
Source: DCMS National Lottery Grants Database. The figures shown cover awards from 4 July 2024 to 1 July 2026. View official grants data ↗
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