Ipswich is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since December 2019 by Tom Hunt of the Conservative Party. History The constituency was created as Parliamentary Borough in the fourteenth century, returning two MPs to the House of Commons of England until 1707, then to the House of Commons of Great Britain until 1800, and from 1800 to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The constituency's parliamentary representation was reduced to a single seat with one MP under the Representation of the People Act 1918. Prior to the 1983 general election, when north-western areas were transferred to the Central Suffolk constituency, the Parliamentary and Municipal/County Boroughs were the same. Ipswich was the only seat won by a Labour candidate at the 2017 general election from a total of seven seats in Suffolk, the others being retained by Conservatives and more rural in comparison to Ipswich. Martin's 2017 election victory was one of thirty net gains made by the Labour Party. Ipswich is a marginal seat, having changed hands nine times since its creation as a single-member constituency in 1918. Before the Reform Act 1832, the franchise in Ipswich was in the hands of the Ipswich Corporation and the Freemen. Ipswich was seen as a partisan seat with active Blue (Tory inclined) and Yellow (Whig inclined) factions dominating elections for both Parliament and the Corporation and comparatively rare split tickets of one Whig and one Tory being returned to Parliament, although the identification of the local parties with national parties could at times be very blurred. In the mid eighteenth century the constituency had an electorate of around 700, which was a middle sized borough by the standards of the time - and a reputation of a borough that was likely to offer stiff opposition to government favoured candidates. Constituency profile The constituency includes Ipswich town centre and docks, with its mix of historic buildings and modern developments. Ipswich is a bustling town that serves as a centre for the rest of Suffolk which is predominantly rural and remote, and has the only serious concentration of Labour voters in the county, other than in Lowestoft. Portman Road Football Ground to the West of the centre, and the new university to the East are both in the seat, as is the vast Chantry council estate to the South. Ipswich's Conservative-leaning suburbs, such as Castle Hill,