Hartlepool (UK Parliament constituency)

Hartlepool
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
120px Boundary of Hartlepool in Cleveland.
120px Location of Cleveland within England.
County	County Durham
Electorate	70,010 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1974 (1974)
Member of parliament	Iain Wright (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	South Durham
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	North East England

Hartlepool /ˈhɑːrtˌlᵻpᵿl/ is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament which has elected a Labour member to serve it since 1964.

Boundaries

The seat is currently coterminous with the borough of Hartlepool, which has close to the average population for a UK parliamentary constituency. The seat includes the town of Hartlepool itself and the nearby villages of Hart, Elwick, Greatham, Newton Bewley and Dalton Piercy. Before 1974 the seat was known as The Hartlepools (reflecting the representation of both 'old' Hartlepool and West Hartlepool).

History

The constituency had previously substantially been in the constituency of The Hartlepools. It became the constituency of Hartlepool in 1974.

Since its creation Hartlepool has been a Labour constituency, although its predecessor did have Conservative MPs both in the early 1960s and during the Second World War. In the 1992 general election, Edward Leadbitter stood down and was succeeded by the former Labour Director of Communications Peter Mandelson. Mandelson's pivotal role in the reshaping of the Labour Party into New Labour has attracted much attention and he has become a prominent target. During the first term of office of the Labour government he was twice appointed to the Cabinet and twice forced to resign amid controversial small scandals. In the 2001 general election, there was a prominent contest when the former leader of the National Union of Mineworkers and current leader of the Socialist Labour Party, Arthur Scargill stood, hoping to exploit uneasiness about "New Labour" in the traditional Labour heartlands. In the event, Mandelson held his seat, while Scargill polled only 912 votes. Mandelson shocked many with a highly triumphalist victory speech in which he declared "They underestimated Hartlepool, and they underestimated me, because I am a fighter and not a quitter!"[1].

The following year, the town's first direct Mayoral election generated surprise when the mascot of Hartlepool United F.C., H'Angus the Monkey (real name Stuart Drummond) was elected on a platform that included free bananas for schoolchildren.

Mandelson quit his role as MP for Hartlepool when he was appointed as a European Commissioner in the summer of 2004. This triggered a by-election that took place on 30 September 2004. The Hartlepool by-election was the last before the 2005 general election. Iain Wright retained the seat for Labour. That by-election marked the first time that the United Kingdom Independence Party had ever come third in a by-election. Labour have continued to hold the seat since the by-election, and at the three most recent elections, three different parties have come second - the Liberal Democrats in 2005 (following their strong performance in the by-election the previous year), the Conservatives in 2010, and UKIP - going one better than their by-election showing - in 2015. In 2015, UKIP recorded their eleventh highest vote share in the UK in Hartlepool, taking 28% and reducing the Labour majority to just over 3,000.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Political party	Offices held
	1974	Edward Leadbitter	Labour
	1992	Peter Mandelson	Labour	Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (11 October 1999 – 24 January 2001), Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (27 July 1998 – 23 December 1998), Minister without Portfolio (2 May 1997 – 27 July 1998)
	2004 by-election	Iain Wright	Labour	Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for 14–19 Reform and Apprenticeships (9 June 2009 – 11 May 2010)

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Hartlepool

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Iain Wright	14,076	35.6	-6.9
	UKIP	Phillip Broughton	11,052	28.0	+21.0
	Conservative	Richard Royal	8,256	20.9	-7.2
	Independent	Stephen Picton	2,954	7.5	N/A
	Green	Michael Holt	1,341	3.4	N/A
	Save Hartlepool Hospital	Sandra Allison	849	2.1	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Hilary Allen	761	1.9	-15.2
	Independent	John Hobbs	201	0.5	+N/A
Majority			3,024	7.7	-6.7
Turnout			39,490	56.8	+1.3
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 2010: Hartlepool

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Iain Wright	16,267	42.5	−9.0
	Conservative	Alan Wright	10,758	28.1	+16.7
	Liberal Democrat	Reg Clark	6,533	17.1	−13.3
	UKIP	Stephen Allison	2,682	7.0	+3.5
	BNP	Ronnie Bage	2,002	5.2	N/A
Majority			5,509	14.4	-6.7
Turnout			38,242	55.5	+4.2
	Labour hold		Swing	−12.9

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Hartlepool

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Iain Wright	18,251	51.5	+10.8
	Liberal Democrat	Jody Dunn	10,773	30.4	+15.4
	Conservative	Amanda Vigar	4,058	11.5	+1.3
	UKIP	George Springer	1,256	3.5
	Socialist Labour	Frank Harrison	373	1.1	+0.8
	Green	Iris Ryder	288	0.8
	Independent	John Hobbs	275	0.8
	Monster Raving Loony	Headbanger (Sausage Supremo) Headbanger	162	0.5
Majority			7,478	21.1
Turnout			35,436	51.5	−4.3
	Labour hold		Swing	−11.5

By-election 2004: Hartlepool

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Iain Wright	12,752	40.7	−18.5
	Liberal Democrat	Jody Dunn	10,719	34.2	+19.2
	UKIP	Stephen Allison	3,193	10.2
	Conservative	Jeremy Middleton	3,044	9.7	-11.1
	Respect	John Bloom	572	1.8
	Green	Iris Ryder	255	0.8
	National Front	Jim Starkey	246	0.8
	Independent (Fathers 4 Justice)	Peter Watson	139	0.4
	Socialist Labour	Christopher Herriot	95	0.3	−2.1
	Common Good	Rev Dick Rodgers	91	0.3
	Independent	Philip Berriman	90	0.3
	Monster Raving Loony	Alan Hope	80	0.3
	Independent (Rainbow)	Ronnie Carroll	45	0.1
	English Democrats	Ed Abrams	41	0.1
Majority			2,033	6.5
Turnout			31,362	45.77
	Labour hold		Swing	−11.5

General Election 2001: Hartlepool

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Peter Mandelson	22,506	59.1	−1.6
	Conservative	Augustine Alberto Robinson	7,935	20.9	−0.5
	Liberal Democrat	Nigel Frederick Harrison Boddy	5,717	15.0	+1.0
	Socialist Labour	Arthur Scargill	912	2.4	N/A
	Independent	Ian John Henry Cameron	557	1.5	N/A
	Independent	John Richard Booth	424	1.1	N/A
Majority			14,571	38.2
Turnout			38,051	55.8	−9.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Hartlepool

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Peter Mandelson	26,997	60.7	+8.9
	Conservative	Michael Horsley	9,489	21.3	−13.5
	Liberal Democrat	Reginald Clark	6,248	14.1	+0.8
	Referendum	Maureen Henderson	1,718	3.9
Majority			17,508	39.4
Turnout			44,452	65.65
	Labour hold		Swing	+11.2

General Election 1992: Hartlepool

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Peter Mandelson	26,816	51.9	+3.4
	Conservative	Graham M. Robb	18,034	34.9	+1.0
	Liberal Democrat	Ian John Henry Cameron	6,860	13.3	−0.8
Majority			8,782	17.0	+2.4
Turnout			51,710	76.1	+3.1
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.2

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Hartlepool

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Edward Leadbitter	24,296	48.5	+3.0
	Conservative	Peter Charles Catchpole	17,007	33.9	-5.3
	Liberal	Arthur Preece	7,047	14.1	-1.3
	Independent	Ian John Henry Cameron	1,786	3.6
Majority			7,289	14.5
Turnout			50,136	73.0
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Hartlepool

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Edward Leadbitter	22,048	45.5	-9.9
	Conservative	F. Rogers	18,958	39.2	+1.3
	Social Democratic	N. Bertram	7,422	15.3	+8.6
Majority			3,090	6.3
Turnout			48,434	69.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Hartlepool

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Edward Leadbitter	27,039	55.1	+3.4
	Conservative	K. Miller	18,887	38.4	+3.4
	Liberal	C. Abbott	3,193	6.5	-6.9
Majority			8,162	16.6	-0.1
Turnout			49,109	74.7	+2.3
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Hartlepool

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Edward Leadbitter	24,440	51.7	-2.6
	Conservative	NH Freeman	16,546	35.0	-10.7
	Liberal	L Tostevin	6,314	13.4
Majority			7,894	16.7	+8.1
Turnout			47300	72.4	-4.5
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Hartlepool

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Edward Leadbitter	26,988	54.3	-3.6
	Conservative	NH Freeman	22,700	45.7	+3.5
Majority			4,288	8.6	-6.8
Turnout			49,688	76.9	+2.5
	Labour hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Cleveland

Notes and references

Notes

References

Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.