Wakefield (UK Parliament constituency)

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Wakefield
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Outline map
Boundary of Wakefield in West Yorkshire.
Outline map
Location of West Yorkshire within England.
County West Yorkshire
Electorate 71,531 (December 2010)[1]
Current constituency
Created 1997
Member of parliament Mary Creagh (Labour)
Number of members One
1832–1997
Number of members One
Type of constituency Borough constituency
Created from Yorkshire
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency Yorkshire and the Humber

Wakefield is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Mary Creagh, a member of the Labour Party.[n 2]

Boundaries

Latest boundary changes

Parliament accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which altered this constituency for the 2010 general election, removing all three wards from Kirklees that reached far to the south-west[n 3] and instead adding wards from the abolished Normanton constituency to the immediate west, since which time the seat has comprised three-quarters of the West Yorkshire city of Wakefield along with Ossett, Horbury and small outlying settlements. The seat has six electoral wards:

The far eastern suburbs of the city and its southern part falls within the Wakefield South ward and this is in the Hemsworth seat, the largest towns of which are, by a small margin, the towns of South Elmsall and South Kirkby, which form a contiguous settlement 7 miles (11 km) to the east.[3][4]

History

Electors of the area, since five years before the Model Parliament of 1295 until 1826 had entitlement to vote for the two representatives for Yorkshire, the largest county in the country. Parliament legislated for, from an unusual disfranchisement in 1826 of a Cornish rotten borough, two additional MPs.[n 4] From April 1784 until September 1812, one of the two members elected was William Wilberforce, internationally recognised as a leading figure in abolitionism (the anti-slavery movement). The large county was given far greater representation by the Reform Act 1832: Belle Vue's electors until 1885, alongside other Forty Shilling Freeholders non-resident in the Parliamentary Borough of Wakefield itself but owning such property in any part of the county division could elect the two members for that division: this became the West Riding of Yorkshire from 1832 until 1865 (which had its polling place in this city), after which, the relevant county subdivision became the Southern West Riding until 1885. Wakefield became a county division under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, drawing in, as an extension, the Belle Vue area of the parish of Sandal Magna.[5]

Political history

Wakefield has returned Labour MPs since 1932 and since 1983[n 5] has witnessed medium to large majorities, presenting a safe seat for the party, but as of the 2010 general election the majority has moved into the bounds of marginality at 3.6% of the vote. In all general elections since 1923 the runner-up candidate has been a Conservative.

Prominent frontbenchers

Rt Hon Arthur Greenwood was succeeded by Clement Attlee as leader of the Opposition in 1945, a few months before the party's landslide election victory. He had been from 1929-1931 the Minister of State (present equivalent: Secretary of State) for Health under the Second MacDonald ministry. In this role he successfully steered the Housing Act 1930 through both Houses of Parliament under the minority government, which expended more significant subsidies for slum clearance, allowing more affordable, spacious housing to be built for residents of slums. When the wartime coalition government was formed, Winston Churchill appointed him to the British War Cabinet as Minister without Portfolio in 1940. He was generally seen in such a role as of little wartime legislative effect, but in May 1940 he emerged as Churchill's strongest and most vocal supporter in the lengthy War Cabinet debates on whether to accept or reject a peace offer from Germany.[6] Without the vote in favour of fighting on by Greenwood and Clement Attlee, Churchill would not have had the slim majority he needed to do so.[7]

Rt Hon Arthur Creech Jones was Secretary of State for the Colonies from October 1946 until February 1950, appropriately given that in June 1936 he pressed the Government, who were encouraging Colonies to set up memorials to King George V, to follow the example of Uganda and set up a technical educational institution.[8] The Labour Party nominated him to the Colonial Office's Educational Advisory Committee in 1936, on which he served for nine years. In 1937, he was a founding member of the Trades Union Congress Colonial Affairs Committee, and in 1940 he founded the Fabian Colonial Bureau.

Mary Creagh, since October 2010 has been the Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, succeeding Rt Hon Hilary Benn.

Constituency profile

The constituency has a rolling landscape with villages surrounding the city of Wakefield which is well connected to West Yorkshire in particular Leeds, Bradford and Huddersfield, however also via two junctions of the M1 to the west, to South Yorkshire such as Barnsley, Rotherham and Sheffield. The small city itself has a large central trading and industrial estate, a central park, Clarence Park which includes a national athletics training squad, a Rugby League major team, the Wildcats and its own Cathedral. Wakefield Europort employs approximately 3,000 people, a major rail-motorway hub for Northern England imports and exports with other EU countries. Horbury and Ossett and towns in the low foothills of the Pennines. In the far west of the constituency, there is the National Coal Mining Museum for England, on the site of the old Caphouse Colliery.

Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 slightly higher than the regional average of 4.9%, at 5.3% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian, which is also higher than the national average of 3.8%.[9]

Members of Parliament

Election Member[10] Party Notes
1832 Daniel Gaskell Liberal
1837 William Saunders Sebright Lascelles Conservative
1841 Joseph Holdsworth Liberal
1842 William Saunders Sebright Lascelles Conservative
1847 George Sandars Conservative
1857 John Charlesworth Dodgson-Charlesworth Conservative
1859 William Henry Leatham Liberal Party (UK)
July 1859 Both candidates disqualified for bribery, and borough went unrepresented until new writ issued
1862 by-election John Charles Dalrymple Hay Conservative
1865 William Henry Leatham Liberal
1868 Somerset Archibald Beaumont Liberal
1874 Edward Green Conservative Election declared void on petition
1874 by-election Thomas Kemp Sanderson Conservative
1880 Robert Bownas Mackie Liberal Died in office
1885 by-election Edward Green Conservative
1892 Albany Hawkes Charlesworth Conservative
1895 Viscount Milton Conservative Succeeded his grandfather in 1902 as the 7th Earl FitzWilliam
1902 by-election Edward Allen Brotherton Conservative
1910 (December) Arthur Harold Marshall Liberal
1918 Edward Allen Brotherton Conservative
1922 Robert Geoffrey Ellis Conservative
1923 George Henry Sherwood Labour
1924 Robert Geoffrey Ellis Conservative
1929 George Henry Sherwood Labour
1931 George Brown Hillman Conservative Died in office
1932 by-election Arthur Greenwood Labour
1954 by-election Arthur Creech Jones Labour
1964 Walter Harrison Labour
1987 David Hinchliffe Labour
2005 Mary Creagh Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Wakefield[11][12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Mary Creagh 17,301 40.3 +1.0
Conservative Antony Calvert 14,688 34.2 −1.5
UKIP Alan Hazelhurst 7,862 18.3 +18.3
Liberal Democrat Finbarr Cronin 1,483 3.5 −12.9
Green Rebecca Thackray 1,069 2.5 +0.5
TUSC Mick Griffiths 287 0.7 +0.7
CISTA Elliot Barr 283 0.7 +0.7
Majority 2,613 6.1
Turnout 42,973 60.9
Labour hold Swing +1.3
General Election 2010: Wakefield[13][14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Mary Creagh 17,454 39.3 −4.8
Conservative Alex Story 15,841 35.6 +9.1
Liberal Democrat David Stewart Smith 7,256 16.3 −2.5
BNP Ian Senior 2,581 5.8 +2.7
Green Miriam Hawkins 873 2.0 -1.0
Independent Mark Harrop 439 1.0 +1.0
Majority 1,613 3.7 −8.6
Turnout 44,444 62.7 +1.3
Labour hold Swing −6.9

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Wakefield[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Mary Creagh 18,802 43.3 −6.6
Conservative Alec Shelbrooke 13,648 31.5 +0.9
Liberal Democrat David Ridgway 7,063 16.3 +3.9
BNP Grant Rowe 1,328 3.1 N/A
Green Derek Hardcastle 1,297 3.0 +0.4
UKIP John Upex 467 1.1 −0.5
English Democrats Adrian McEnhill 356 0.8 N/A
Socialist Alternative Mick Griffiths 319 0.7 N/A
Socialist Labour Linda Sheridan 101 0.2 −1.3
Majority 5,154 11.9 −7.6
Turnout 43,381 59.3 +4.8
Labour hold Swing −3.7
General Election 2001: Wakefield[16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour David Hinchliffe 20,592 49.9 −7.5
Conservative Thelma Karran 12,638 30.6 +2.2
Liberal Democrat Dale Douglas 5,097 12.4 +1.2
Green Sarah Greenwood 1,075 2.6 N/A
UKIP Janice Cannon 677 1.6 N/A
Socialist Labour Abdul Aziz 634 1.5 N/A
Socialist Alliance Mick Griffiths 541 1.3 N/A
Majority 7,954 19.3 −9.6
Turnout 41,254 54.5 −14.5
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Wakefield[17]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour David Hinchliffe 28,977 57.4 +6.8
Conservative Jonathan Peacock 14,373 28.5 −9.8
Liberal Democrat Douglas Dale 5,656 11.2 +0.1
Referendum Simon Shires 1,480 2.9 N/A
Majority 14,604 28.9 +16.6
Turnout 50,486 68.9 −7.3
Labour hold Swing
General Election 1992: Wakefield[18][19]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour David Hinchliffe 26,964 50.6 +4.0
Conservative David P. Fanthorpe 20,374 38.3 −3.0
Liberal Democrat Tim J. Wright 5,900 11.1 −1.0
Majority 6,590 12.4 +7.1
Turnout 53,238 76.2 +0.7
Labour hold Swing +3.5

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Wakefield[20]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour David Hinchliffe 24,509 46.61
Conservative NJ Hazell 21,720 41.31
Social Democratic L Kamal 6,350 12.08
Majority 2,789 5.30
Turnout 75.57
Labour hold Swing
General Election 1983: Wakefield[21]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Walter Harrison 19,166 40.41
Conservative NJ Hazell 18,806 39.65
Social Democratic D Carlton 9,166 19.32
BNP V Parker 295 0.62
Majority 360 0.76
Turnout 69.33
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Wakefield
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Walter Harrison 27,124 50.90
Conservative J Sheard 19,571 36.73
Liberal N Collins-Tooth 6,059 11.37
National Front A Cooper 530 0.99
Majority 7,553 14.17
Turnout 75.57
Labour hold Swing
General Election October 1974: Wakefield
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Walter Harrison 25,616 54.82
Conservative EJL Koops 12,810 27.41
Liberal A Fussey 8,304 17.77
Majority 12,806 27.40
Turnout 70.23
Labour hold Swing
General Election February 1974: Wakefield
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Walter Harrison 27,032 51.34
Conservative EJL Koops 15,614 29.65
Liberal A Fussey 10,009 19.01
Majority 11,418 21.68
Turnout 79.87
Labour hold Swing
General Election 1970: Wakefield
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Walter Harrison 27,352 58.08
Conservative D Smith 15,668 33.27
Liberal Beatrice Nancy Seear 4,071 8.64
Majority 11,684 24.81
Turnout 72.65
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: Wakefield
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Walter Harrison 28,907 65.39
Conservative Ron Benson 15,299 34.61
Majority 13,608 30.78
Turnout 73.38
Labour hold Swing
General Election 1964: Wakefield
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Walter Harrison 26,315 55.45
Conservative John Deane Spence 14,385 30.31
Liberal JM Collins 6,753 14.23
Majority 11,930 25.14
Turnout 77.97
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Wakefield
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Arthur Creech Jones 29,705 59.63
Conservative Michael Jopling 20,114 40.37
Majority 9,591 19.25
Turnout 81.95
Labour hold Swing
General Election 1955: Wakefield
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Arthur Creech Jones 28,180 60.45
Conservative D Hinchcliffe 18,435 39.55
Majority 9,745 20.91
Turnout 77.92
Labour hold Swing
By-election 21 October 1954: Wakefield
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Arthur Creech Jones 21,822
Conservative Maurice Macmillan 15,714
Majority 6,108
Turnout
Labour hold Swing
General Election 1951: Wakefield
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Arthur Greenwood 27,100 58.28
Conservative M Grant 19,398 41.72
Majority 7,702 16.56
Turnout 85.27
Labour hold Swing
General Election 1950: Wakefield
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Arthur Greenwood 25,996 55.38
Conservative H Watson 15,925 33.92
Liberal Stanley Berwin 5,022 10.70
Majority 10,071 21.45
Turnout 87.31
Labour hold Swing

Election in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Wakefield
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Arthur Greenwood 14,378 54.75
Conservative H Watson 8,268 31.49
Liberal George Leonard Jack Oliver 3,613 13.76
Majority 6,110 23.27
Turnout 80.37
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1935: Wakefield
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Arthur Greenwood 15,804 56.03
Conservative AE Greaves 12,400 43.97
Majority 3,404 12.07
Turnout 84.91
Labour hold Swing
Wakefield by-election, 1932
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Arthur Greenwood 13,586 50.6
Conservative A. E. Greaves 13,242 49.4
Majority 344
Turnout 83.0
Labour gain from Conservative Swing
General Election 1931: Wakefield
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative George Brown Hillman 15,881 57.43
Labour George Henry Sherwood 11,774 42.57
Majority 4,107 14.85
Turnout 85.53
Conservative gain from Labour Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1929: Wakefield [22]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour George Henry Sherwood 13,393 48.8 +0.9
Unionist Robert Geoffrey Ellis 10,180 37.1 -15.0
Liberal Leonard Parish 3,875 14.1 n/a
Majority 3,213 11.7 15.9
Turnout 85.6 +5.8
Labour gain from Unionist Swing +7.9

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1914/15: Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

Arthur Marshall
General Election December 1910: Wakefield[23]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Arthur Harold Marshall 2,837 51.7 n/a
Conservative Edward Allen Brotherton 2,651 48.3 -6.2
Majority 186 3.4 n/a
Turnout 5,488
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing n/a
General Election January 1910: Wakefield[24]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Edward Allen Brotherton 3,121 54.5 +13.7
Labour Stanton George Coit 2,602 45.5 +8.6
Majority 519 9.0 +5.1
Turnout 90.5 +2.0
Conservative hold Swing +2.5

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1906: Wakefield[25]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Edward Allen Brotherton 2,285 40.8
Labour Stanton George Coit 2,068 36.9
Liberal Thomas Snape 1,247 22.3 n/a
Majority 217 3.9
Turnout 88.5
Conservative hold Swing
Wakefield by-election, 1902[26]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Edward Allen Brotherton 2,960 59.9
Ind. Labour Party Philip Snowden 1,979 40.1
Majority 981 19,8
Turnout
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1890s

Lord Milton was re-elected unopposed in the 1900 General election.[27]

General election 1895:Wakefield[27]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Viscount Milton 2,884 56.9
Liberal H. S. L. Wilson 2,185 43.1
Majority 699 13,8
Turnout
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1892:Wakefield[27]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Albany Hawkes Charlesworth 2,582 54.2
Liberal T. Y. Strachan 2,178 45.8
Majority 404 8,4.4
Turnout
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1886:Wakefield[27]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sir Edward Green 2,253 53.7
Liberal J. J. Cousins 1,946 46.3
Majority 307 7.4
Turnout
Conservative hold Swing
Wakefield by-election, 1885[27]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Edward Green 2,374 53.7
Liberal W. C. Beaumont 2,049 46.3
Majority 325 7.4
Turnout
Conservative gain from Liberal Swing

Elections in the 1870s

Elections in the 1860s

Elections in the 1850s

See also

Notes and references

Notes
  1. ↑ A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
  2. ↑ As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
  3. ↑ The wards of: Denby Dale and large parts of Almondbury, and Kirkburton
  4. ↑ This Cornish seat was a 19th century byword for corruption, Grampound.
  5. ↑ The majority in 1983 was the narrowest since 1932, at only 360 votes, see Walter Harrison.
References
  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 2010 post-revision map Greater London and metropolitan areas of England
  4. ↑ Grid Reference Finder distance tools
  5. ↑ Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. Schedule 5. Contents and Boundaries of Boroughs with altered Boundaries
  6. ↑ Jenkins, Roy, Churchill: A Biography (London, Macmillan, 2001), page 601
  7. ↑ Marr, Andrew: A History of Modern Britain (2009 paperback), page xvii
  8. ↑ "Parliament", The Times, 18 June 1936.
  9. ↑ Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
  10. ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 1)[self-published source][better source needed]
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
  23. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  24. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  25. ↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
  26. ↑ "Election intelligence" The Times (London). Wednesday, 26 March 1902. (36725), p. 10.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 "Election intelligence" The Times (London). Friday, 21 February 1902. (36697), p. 8.
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