This constituency has only been lost by the Conservatives once in 75 years.
This is a large, mainly rural, constituency, which contains the Cambridge commuter-villes of Histon, Milton and Fulbourn, Linton on the border with Essex and the cathedral city of Ely.
Although the major source of employment is farming, there is also a lot of high tech industry in this constituency.
Cambridge Science Park falls within its borders and there is also a new Research Park in Waterbeach where NTL has recently become the largest factory, employing 400 people.
There is also the Granta Science Park near Great Abington on the A11. The farming is mainly arable with the northern side of the constituency near Ely dominated by sugarbeet farming.
A major current issue is the proposed redevelopment of the Waterbeach barracks into a new town with up to 13,000 new houses by 2016.
Although 700 acres, the site is classified as “brown field”, the scheme requires an additional 400 acres of good quality agricultural land to be used.
It has been estimated that between 35,000 and 70,000 new houses will be required in Cambridgeshire to accommodate the expected growth by 2016.