The Ipswich constituency has generally been favourable to candidates from the Labour Party, being won by Labour at every postwar general election since the end of World War II; except 1970, February 1974, 1987, 2010 and 2015. Despite this, it was traditionally won by the party by fairly small margins; however, from 1997 until being gained by the Conservative Party in 2010, Labour won the contests with safer margins, and after the Conservatives increased their majority in 2015, Labour regained the seat in 2017.