Wansbeck (UK Parliament constituency)

Wansbeck
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Wansbeck in Northumberland.
Location of Northumberland within England.
County	Northumberland
Electorate	62,395 (December 2010)^[1]
Major settlements	Morpeth
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of parliament	Ian Lavery (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Morpeth and Blyth^[2]
1885–1950
Number of members	One
Type of constituency	County constituency
Replaced by	Morpeth, Bedlington and Newbiggin-by-the-Sea
Created from	South Northumberland
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	North East England

Wansbeck is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Ian Lavery, a member of the Labour Party.^{[n 2]}

Boundaries

1983–present: The District of Wansbeck, and the Borough of Castle Morpeth wards of Hebron Hepscott and Mitford, Morpeth Central, Morpeth Kirkhill, Morpeth North, Morpeth South, Morpeth Stobhill, and Pegswood.

Parliament accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies did not alter this constituency for the 2010 general election, thus since 1997 it has electoral wards:

Bedlington: Central, East and West wards; Bothal, Central, Choppington, Guide Post, Haydon, Hurst, Newbiggin East, Newbiggin West, Park, Seaton, Sleekburn and Stakeford which formed the former district of Wansbeck
Hebron, Hepscott and Mitford, Morpeth Central, Morpeth Kirkhill, Morpeth North, Morpeth South, Morpeth Stobhill and Pegswood in the former borough of Castle Morpeth - all of the above being in the unitary county of Northumberland.^[3]

History

1885-1950

Political history

The seat alternated in accordance with the national trend in mining-strong communities outside of South Yorkshire, which as such saw significant early Labour support, and led to, in the 1931 and 1935 elections, a general transfer of loyalty to the Conservative Party, and ushered in a return to Labour support in the next contested election in 1945.

Prominent frontbenchers

Alfred Robens represented the area in the Attlee ministry and towards the end of the year of Attlee's more marginal victory (1950–51) served as Minister of Labour and National Service. He then in 1951 won instead the newly created Blyth seat to the immediate south. In 1955 he became Shadow Foreign Secretary until an unimpressive performance in predicting and reacting to events in the Suez Crisis in 1956. However, in a position which would span the period 1961 until 1971, he became Chairman of the National Coal Board (and Lord Robens) and oversaw substantial cuts in the mining industry. During this period he co-authored the Robens Report that followed his difficult but practical risk management of the coal mining sector, including accepting some culpability in the Aberfan Disaster. This led, with the ministry of Barbara Castle's adjustments, to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 which set up the Health and Safety Executive and remains the foundation of this area of English law.

1983-date

The constituency has been held solely by Labour since its recreation, during which time its history presents a safe seat. The most marginal majority was in 2010, in a similar result to 1983 when the runner-up candidate was a Liberal Democrat.

Constituency profile

The seat has the visitor attractions of a historic main town with a castle, Morpeth and the traditional seaside town of Newbiggin. Workless claimants as registered jobseekers, with high male unemployment, which is widespread but exacerbated in the area, in November 2012, was higher than the national average of 3.8%, at 6.2% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian. This was marginally higher than the then regional average of 5.9%.^[4]

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885-1950

	Member^[5]	Party
1885	Charles Fenwick	Liberal
1918	Robert Mason	Liberal
1919	Robert Mason	Coalition Liberal
1922	George Henry Warne	Labour
1929	George William Shield	Labour
1931	Bernard Cruddas	Conservative
1940	Donald Scott	Conservative
1945	Alfred Robens	Labour
1950	Constituency abolished

MPs since 1983

	Member^[5]	Party
1983	Jack Thompson	Labour
1997	Denis Murphy	Labour
2010	Ian Lavery	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Wansbeck^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Ian Lavery	19,267	50.0	+4.2
	Conservative	Chris Galley	8,386	21.8	+4.2
	UKIP	Melanie Hurst	7,014	18.2	+15.7
	Liberal Democrat	Tom Hancock	2,407	6.2	-21.2
	Green	Christopher Hedley	1,454	3.8	+2.2
Majority			10,881	28.2	+19.8
Turnout				63.6	+2.9
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.03

General Election 2010: Wansbeck^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Ian Lavery	17,548	45.9	-9.3
	Liberal Democrat	Simon Reed	10,517	27.5	+1.0
	Conservative	Campbell Storey	6,714	17.5	+2.6
	BNP	Stephen Finlay	1,481	3.7	+3.7
	UKIP	Linda-Lee Stokoe	974	2.5	+2.5
	Green	Nic Best	601	1.6	-1.8
	Independent	Malcolm Reid	359	0.9	+0.9
	Christian	Michael Flynn	142	0.4	+0.4
Majority			7,031	18.4	-10.3
Turnout			38,273	60.7	+2.3
	Labour hold		Swing	-5.2

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Wansbeck^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Denis Murphy	20,315	55.2	−2.6
	Liberal Democrat	Simon Reed	9,734	26.4	+3.6
	Conservative	Ginny Scrope	5,515	15.0	+2.2
	Green	Nic Best	1,245	3.4	+0.9
Majority			10,581	28.7	-6.3
Turnout			36,809	58.4	−0.9
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.1

General Election 2001: Wansbeck^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Denis Murphy	21,617	57.8	-7.7
	Liberal Democrat	Alan Thompson	8,516	22.8	+6.8
	Conservative	Rachael Lake	4,774	12.8	-1.2
	Independent	Michael Kirkup	1,076	2.9	N/A
	Green	Nic Best	954	2.5	+0.4
	UKIP	Gavin Attwell	482	1.3	N/A
Majority			13,101	35.0	-14.5
Turnout			37,419	59.3	-12.3
	Labour hold		Swing	-7.3

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Wansbeck^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Denis Murphy	29,569	65.5	+5.8
	Liberal Democrat	Alan Thompson	7,202	15.9	+0.6
	Conservative	Paul V. Green	6,299	13.9	-9.7
	Referendum	Peter H. Gompertz	1,146	2.5	N/A
	Green	Nic Best	956	2.1	+0.7
Majority			22,367	49.5	+13.4
Turnout			45,172	71.7	−7.6
	Labour hold		Swing	+7.8

General Election 1992: Wansbeck^[11]^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jack Thompson	30,046	59.7	+2.2
	Conservative	Glen Sanderson	11,872	23.6	+4.2
	Liberal Democrat	Brian C. Priestley	7,691	15.3	-7.8
	Green	Nic Best	710	1.4	+1.4
Majority			18,174	36.1	+1.7
Turnout			50,319	79.3	+1.3
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.0

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Wansbeck^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jack Thompson	28,080	57.5	+10.5
	Liberal	Mrs. Sarah Ann Genevieve Mitchell	11,291	23.1	-7.0
	Conservative	David Michael Walton	9,490	19.4	-3.5
Majority			16,789	34.4	+17.4
Turnout			48,861	78.0	+5.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+8.8

General Election 1983: Wansbeck^[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jack Thompson	21,732	47.0	N/A
	Liberal	Alan Thompson	13,901	30.1	N/A
	Conservative	C.H.W. Mitchell	10,563	22.9	N/A
Majority			7,831	17.0	N/A
Turnout			46,196	72.8	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Wansbeck
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Alfred Robens	40,948	60.00
	Conservative	Robert Scott	27,295	40.00
Majority			13,653	20.01
Turnout				77.69
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Wansbeck by-election, 1940
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Robert Scott	unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1935: Wansbeck
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Bernard Cruddas	30,859	50.79
	Labour	E. Dowling	29,904	49.21
Majority			955	1.57
Turnout				79.59
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1931: Wansbeck
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Bernard Cruddas	33,659	58.25
	Labour	George William Shield	24,126	41.75
Majority			9,533	16.50
Turnout				81.86
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1929: Wansbeck
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	George William Shield	27,930	54.4
	Unionist	Bernard Cruddas	17,056	33.2
	Liberal	Rev. Frederick Wandby	6,330	12.3	n/a
Majority			10,874	21.2
Turnout			51,316
	Labour hold		Swing

Wansbeck by-election, 1929
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	George William Shield	20,398	58.0	+5.1
	Unionist	Ian M. Moffat-Pender	9,612	27.3	−19.8
	Liberal	Harry Anson Briggs	5,183	14.7	N/A
Majority			10,786	30.7	+24.9
Turnout			35,193	65.3	−14.1
	Labour hold		Swing	+14.5

General Election 1923: Wansbeck
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	George Henry Warne	18,583	56.8
	Unionist	Hilton Philipson	14,131	43.2
Majority			4,452	13.6
Turnout			32,714
	Labour hold		Swing

Election results 1885-1918

Elections in the 1880s

Fenwick

General Election 1885: Wansbeck ^[15]^[16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	±
	Lib-Lab	Charles Fenwick	5,858	n/a
	Conservative	John Blencowe Cookson	2,703	n/a
Majority			3,155	n/a
Turnout				n/a
	Lib-Lab win (new seat)

General Election 1886: Wansbeck ^[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Lib-Lab	Charles Fenwick	5,235
	Liberal Unionist	William Wight	1,710
Majority			3,525
Turnout
	Lib-Lab hold		Swing

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1892: Wansbeck ^[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Lib-Lab	Charles Fenwick	5,696
	Conservative	Seymour McCalmont Hill	2,920
Majority			2,776
Turnout
	Lib-Lab hold		Swing

General Election 1895: Wansbeck ^[15]^[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Lib-Lab	Charles Fenwick	5,629
	Conservative	Joseph John Harris	2,422
Majority			3,207
Turnout
	Lib-Lab hold		Swing

Elections in the 1900s