Brighouse and Spenborough (UK Parliament constituency)

Brighouse and Spenborough
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
1950–1983
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Batley and Spen Calder Valley
Created from	Elland Spen Valley

Brighouse and Spenborough was a parliamentary constituency in the West Riding of Yorkshire, comprising the two municipal boroughs of Brighouse and Spenborough and neighbouring areas. It returned one member of parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

History

The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, and abolished for the 1983 general election.

Boundaries

The constituency was first defined by the Representation of the People Act 1948 as comprising the borough of Brighouse and the urban districts of Queensbury and Shelf and Spenborough. These boundaries were used at the 1950 and 1951 general elections.

The boundaries were changed before the 1955 general election: Queensbury and Shelf was transferred to Bradford South while the urban district of Heckmondwike was added from Dewsbury. These boundaries were used until the seat's abolition.

In 1983 parliamentary seats were reorganised to reflect the changes in local government introduced in 1974. The area had become part of the Metropolitan County of West Yorkshire and was divided between two new constituencies: Batley and Spen (including Heckmondwike and Spenborough) and Calder Valley (including Brighouse).

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1950	Frederick Cobb	Labour
	1950 by-election	John Edwards	Labour
	1960 by-election	Michael Shaw	National Liberal Party
	1964	Colin Jackson	Labour
	1970	Wilfred Proudfoot	Conservative
	Feb 1974	Colin Jackson	Labour
	1979	Gary Waller	Conservative
1983		constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Brighouse and Spenborough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frederick Arthur Cobb	25,588	52.17	n/a
	National Liberal	William Edward Woolley	23,456	47.83	n/a
Majority			2,132	4.35	n/a
Turnout				88.04	n/a
	Labour win

Brighouse and Spenborough by-election, 1950

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lewis John Edwards	24,004	50.5	−1.71
	National Liberal	William Edward Woolley	23,567	49.5	+1.71
Majority			437	0.91	−3.44
Turnout			47,571	85.4	−2.6
	Labour hold		Swing	−1.71

General Election 1951: Brighouse and Spenborough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lewis John Edwards	26,105	52.28
	National Liberal	William Edward Woolley	23,828	47.72
Majority			2,277	4.56
Turnout				88.69
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Brighouse and Spenborough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lewis John Edwards	23,674	51.78
	National Liberal	Frederick W H Cook	22,048	48.22
Majority			1,626	3.56
Turnout				83.72
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1959: Brighouse and Spenborough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lewis John Edwards	23,290	50.05
	Conservative	Michael Norman Shaw	23,243	49.95
Majority			47	0.10
Turnout				85.50
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

Brighouse and Spenborough by-election, 1960

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Norman Shaw	22,472	50.8	+0.9
	Labour	George Colin Jackson	21,806	49.2	-0.9
Majority			666	1.5
Turnout			44,278
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	0.8

General Election 1964: Brighouse and Spenborough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Colin Jackson	20,734	44.16
	Conservative	Michael Norman Shaw	19,812	42.19
	Liberal	James Pickles	6,411	13.65
Majority			922	1.96
Turnout				85.28
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1966: Brighouse and Spenborough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Colin Jackson	25,740	54.82
	Conservative	Cyril Donald Chapman	21,216	45.18
Majority			4,524	9.63
Turnout				83.96
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Brighouse and Spenborough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Wilfred Proudfoot	22,953	46.25
	Labour	George Colin Jackson	22,894	46.13
	Liberal	George Henry Manley	3,781	7.62
Majority			59	0.12
Turnout				80.54
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election February 1974: Brighouse and Spenborough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Colin Jackson	22,107	41.04
	Conservative	George Wilfred Proudfoot	20,561	38.17
	Liberal	Patrick G Robertshaw	11,029	20.47
	Ind. Democratic Alliance	Shirley Milner	169	0.31
Majority			1,546	2.87
Turnout				85.31
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election October 1974: Brighouse and Spenborough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Colin Jackson	21,964	43.91
	Conservative	George Wilfred Proudfoot	19,787	39.56
	Liberal	John Smithson	8,265	16.52
Majority			2,177	4.35
Turnout				78.59
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1979: Brighouse and Spenborough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gary Peter Anthony Waller	23,448	44.71
	Labour	Michael McGowan	21,714	41.41
	Liberal	R Thomas	7,278	13.88
Majority			1,734	3.31
Turnout				80.17
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 5)