Colchester Bernard Jenkin 16,305 15,891 17,886 0 148 Colchester North 23,692 13,582 18,424 0 658 Conservative Major boundary changes that affect the old Essex town of Colchester have offered a very real chance for a Liberal Democrat gain, in an area very far removed geographically from their traditional areas of success. In recent general elections, Colchester did not form a seat of its own, but rather was divided along the line of the river Colne, and each half diluted with very substantial areas of rural territory, providing county constituencies rather than a single borough seat. In the latest review, the Boundary Commission completely changed this view, unifying the town in a single compact urban seat. Neither of the sitting MPs for the two Colchester divisions fancied the prospect, and each have found safe seats elsewhere in Essex. A new candidate, Stephan Shakespeare, has been left to fight a formidable opponent. Bob Russell is a long-serving councillor on the Liberal Democrat-dominated Colchester council, having also served four years as their local leader. The Conservatives would probably have been about 5,000 votes ahead if this seat had existed on the new boundaries back in 1992; but the Lib Dems certainly fancy their chances of producing an upset here should the government be defeated. There is a feeling that all is to play for in an essentially new seat.

	2,395	5.56	9.03	62
	4,953	11.50	11.17	103
	5,557	12.90	11.25	115
	8,056	18.70	14.70	127
	6,140	14.25	10.45	136
	0	0.00	2.81	0
	6,367	14.78	8.01	184
	6,608	15.34	15.25	101
	479	1.11	7.13	16
	1,925	4.47	10.17	44