Ipswich is the largest town in Suffolk, and is a port and commercial centre on the River Orwell. It is the most industrial of the Suffolk towns, and also has the largest non-white population.
Labour support has tended to be at its highest in the council estates, like Gainsborough and Priory Heath in the south eastern part of Ipswich, and the inner city areas such as the Town and Bridge wards, whereas the Tories have been strong in the residential areas of Bixley and St Margarets.
The last 30 years has been an electoral rollercoaster for Ipswich. A Conservative named Ernle Money won the seat in 1970 with a majority of just 13 votes and held it until October 1974. In the Conservative tide of 1979, which put Mrs Thatcher into Number Ten, the Labour Party got their second best result in the country in this seat. Again in 1987, Ipswich defied the national trend, by providing one of the few Tory gains from Labour. The sitting MP Jamie Cann won the seat back for Labour in 1992, and increased his majority to over 10,000 votes in 1997.