Between 1997 and 2010, all the majorities in the constituency were lower than 3,000 votes, remaining strongly marginal and seeing in 2005 Cotter lose the seat to John Penrose.

[2] Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was subject to moderate boundary changes to bring the electorate within the permitted range.

This involved the loss of rural areas to the east of Weston-super-Mare, including the villages of Banwell, Blagdon, Churchill, Congresbury, Puxton and Winscombe, which were transferred to the new constituency of Wells and Mendip Hills, first contested at the 2024 general election.

[3] The constituency now consists largely of the town of Weston-super-Mare on the Bristol Channel, part of the North Somerset Unitary Authority.

Workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 3.5% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.