In 1997, Phyllis Starkey increased the Labour vote here by over 16%, while the Conservative vote fell by 13%. This resulted in a Labour majority of almost 10,300.
Unlike Milton Keynes North East, this constituency incorporates very little of the rural area surrounding Milton Keynes. It is the more compact of the two, and contains the long-established communities of Fenny Stratford, Bletchley, Stony Stratford and Wolverton. The parts of the new city in this seat have in the past been less inclined towards the Conservatives than those further east and north.
However, Loughton Park, which was almost entirely developed in the 1980s, has always consisted only of private housing and has not usually favoured Labour. Traditionally, Labourís strongest ward has been the old railway town of Wolverton, which provided their only county councillor in Buckinghamshire in their disastrous year of 1977.