Kettering (UK Parliament constituency)

Kettering
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundaries since 2024
Boundary of Kettering in the East Midlands
County	Northamptonshire
Electorate	76,163 (2023) [1]
Major settlements	Kettering, Desborough, Burton Latimer and Rothwell
Current constituency
Created	1918
Member of Parliament	Rosie Wrighting (Labour Party (UK))
Seats	One
Created from	North Northamptonshire and Mid Northamptonshire

Kettering is a constituency ^{[n 1]} in Northamptonshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Rosie Wrighting of the Labour Party. ^{[n 2]}

Boundaries

Historic

1918–1950: The Urban Districts of Desborough, Kettering, and Rothwell, the Rural Districts of Brixworth, Kettering, and Oxendon, and in the Rural District of Northampton the parishes of Great Billing, Little Billing, and Weston Favell.

1950–1974: The Municipal Borough of Kettering, the Urban Districts of Burton Latimer, Desborough, Corby and Rothwell, and the Rural Districts of Brixworth and Kettering.

1974–1983: The Municipal Borough of Kettering, the Urban Districts of Burton Latimer, Corby, Desborough, and Rothwell, and the Rural District of Kettering.

1983–1997: The Borough of Kettering, and the District of Daventry wards of Boughton and Pitsford, Brixworth, Clipston, Moulton, and Overstone and Walgrave.

The constituency created in 1950 included the generally (in the late 20th century) Labour-majority industrial town of Corby until the 1983 general election, when Corby gained its own constituency.

1997–2010: The Borough of Kettering, and the District of Daventry wards of Boughton and Pitsford, Brixworth, Clipston, Guilsborough, Moulton, Overstone and Walgrave, Spratton, and Welford.

2010–2021: The Borough of Kettering.

The Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies proposed an additional seat due to population growth in the county. Parliament approved its recommendations for 2010 which made way for the new constituency of South Northamptonshire. The resulting boundary changes resulted in the loss of the District of Daventry wards.

2021–2024: With effect from 1 April 2021, the Borough of Kettering was absorbed into the new unitary authority of North Northamptonshire. ^[2] From that date, the constituency comprised the North Northamptonshire Council wards of Burton and Broughton, Clover Hill, Desborough, Ise, Northall, Rothwell and Mawsley, Wicksteed and Windmill.

Current

Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, Kettering will be unchanged, except for the addition of polling districts CRWB, CRWC, CRWD, CRWE, CSCB and CSCC in the Corby Rural ward, transferred from the Corby constituency. ^[3]

The constituency covers the major town of Kettering, the smaller towns of Desborough, Rothwell and Burton Latimer together with a number of villages. A semi-rural seat, the preponderance of constituents live in the towns and a minority of the wards form a wide array of rural communities that have civil parish or hamlet status.

Constituency profile

Economically, it is predominantly middle-class, well within managerial/directorial commuter zones for London and the West Midlands. Industry continues in some sectors ranging from, for example, lingerie, ^[4] food production, rigid containers, abattoirs, to the Weetabix factory in Burton Latimer, but the industrial activity of the area, as with the rest of the county, is reduced whereas the wider area's headline gross value added for the area per head has been mostly consistently higher, from £11,667 in 1997 in North Northamptonshire to £17,835. ^{[n 3] [5]}

In 2005 The Guardian described it as:

'[A] mixed industrial town in Northamptonshire with good links to London.'

Prior to 1983, the constituency had been dominated not by the eponymous town, but by the nearby industrial town of Corby. The town's general support for Labour made Kettering a reliable Labour seat, as the party won it at every election from 1945 to when Corby was split off to form its own constituency in 1983. In its current configuration Kettering is much more inclined towards the Conservatives, though Labour won it in their landslide victories in 1997, 2001 and 2024.

Members of Parliament

The current Member of Parliament is Rosie Wrighting of the Labour Party. She was elected in 2024 when she defeated the sitting Conservative MP, Philip Hollobone, in an election which nationally saw a landslide win for the Labour Party. Prior to Wrighting's victory, Kettering had been a predominantly safe Conservative seat since the removal of Corby in 1983, as Labour had only won it in their two landslides in 1997 and 2001, by tight margins of just 189 and 665 votes (0.3 and 1.2 percent of the vote) respectively. Her majority was by far the largest for Labour since before Corby was removed from the seat.

Kettering Constituency (1918–present)

Election		Member [6]	Party
	1918	Alfred Waterson	Co-operative
	1922	Owen Parker	Conservative
	1923	Samuel Perry	Labour Co-operative
	1924	Mervyn Manningham-Buller	Conservative
	1929	Samuel Perry	Labour Co-operative
	1931	John Eastwood	Conservative
	1940 by-election	John Profumo	Conservative
	1945	Gilbert Mitchison	Labour
	1964	Geoffrey de Freitas	Labour
	1979	Bill Homewood	Labour
	1983	Roger Freeman	Conservative
	1997	Phil Sawford	Labour
	2005	Philip Hollobone	Conservative
	2024	Rosie Wrighting	Labour

Mid Northamptonshire Constituency (1885–1918)

Prior to boundary changes in 1918, at least the majority of modern-day Kettering Constituency laid within the Mid Northamptonshire constituency.

North Northamptonshire Constituency (1832–1885)

Prior to boundary changes in 1885, at least the majority of modern-day Kettering Constituency laid within the North Northamptonshire constituency, which elected two members to Parliament.

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Kettering ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rosie Wrighting	18,009	35.9	+9.0
	Conservative	Philip Hollobone	14,189	28.2	−32.1
	Reform UK	Crispian Besley	8,468	16.9	New
	Green	Emily Fedorowycz	7,004	13.9	+10.9
	Liberal Democrats	Sarah Ryan	1,357	2.7	−4.0
	Independent	Jim Hakewill	1,057	2.1	−1.1
	SDP	Matthew Murphy	85	0.2	New
	Alliance for Democracy and Freedom	Jehad Aburamadan	62	0.1	New
Majority			3,900	7.7	N/A
Turnout			50,231	63.3	−5.0
Registered electors			79,390
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+20.6

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Kettering ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Philip Hollobone	29,787	60.3	2.4
	Labour	Clare Pavitt	13,022	26.4	10.1
	Liberal Democrats	Chris Nelson	3,367	6.8	3.5
	Independent	Jim Hakewill	1,642	3.3	New
	Green	Jamie Wildman	1,543	3.1	0.8
Majority			16,765	33.9	12.5
Turnout			49,361	67.4	1.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	6.25

General election 2017: Kettering

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Philip Hollobone	28,616	57.9	6.1
	Labour	Mick Scrimshaw	18,054	36.5	11.3
	Liberal Democrats	Suzanna Austin	1,618	3.3	0.1
	Green	Rob Reeves	1,116	2.3	1.2
Majority			10,562	21.4	5.2
Turnout			49,404	69.1	1.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	2.6

General election 2015: Kettering ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Philip Hollobone	24,467	51.8	+2.7
	Labour	Rhea Keehn [10]	11,877	25.2	−4.7
	UKIP	Jonathan Bullock [11]	7,600	16.1	New
	Green	Rob Reeves [12]	1,633	3.5	New
	Liberal Democrats	Chris McGlynn	1,490	3.2	−12.6
	English Democrat	Derek Hilling [13]	151	0.3	−1.7
Majority			12,590	26.6	+7.4
Turnout			47,218	67.3	−1.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.75

General election 2010: Kettering ^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Philip Hollobone	23,247	49.1	+6.2
	Labour	Phil Sawford	14,153	29.9	−12.7
	Liberal Democrats	Chris Nelson	7,498	15.8	+3.6
	BNP	Clive Skinner	1,366	2.9	New
	English Democrat	Derek Hilling	952	2.0	New
	Bus-Pass Elvis	Dave Bishop	112	0.2	New
Majority			9,094	19.2	+13.2
Turnout			47,328	68.8	−0.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	+9.4

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Kettering ^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Philip Hollobone	25,401	45.6	+2.1
	Labour	Phil Sawford	22,100	39.7	−5.0
	Liberal Democrats	Roger Aron	6,882	12.4	+2.2
	UKIP	Rosemarie Clarke	1,263	2.3	+0.6
Majority			3,301	5.9	N/A
Turnout			55,646	68.0	−0.1
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+3.55

General election 2001: Kettering ^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Phil Sawford	24,034	44.7	+1.4
	Conservative	Philip Hollobone	23,369	43.5	+0.5
	Liberal Democrats	Roger Aron	5,469	10.2	−0.5
	UKIP	Barry Mahoney	880	1.6	New
Majority			665	1.2	+0.9
Turnout			53,752	68.1	−7.4
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.45

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Kettering ^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Phil Sawford	24,650	43.3	+11.4
	Conservative	Roger Freeman	24,461	43.0	−9.8
	Liberal Democrats	Roger Aron	6,098	10.7	−4.7
	Referendum	Arthur Smith	1551	2.7	New
	Natural Law	Rosemary le Carpentier	197	0.3	New
Majority			189	0.3	N/A
Turnout			56,957	75.5	−7.4
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+9.9

General election 1992: Kettering ^{[18] [19]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roger Freeman	29,115	52.0	+0.9
	Labour Co-op	Phil Hope	17,961	32.1	+12.4
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Denton-White	8,962	16.0	−13.3
Majority			11,154	19.9	−1.8
Turnout			56,038	82.6	+3.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	−5.7

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Kettering ^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roger Freeman	26,532	51.0	+2.6
	SDP	Celia Goodhart	15,205	29.3	−1.2
	Labour	Ashley Minto	10,229	19.7	−1.4
Majority			11,327	21.7	+3.8
Turnout			51,196	78.8	+2.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1983: Kettering ^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roger Freeman	23,223	48.4	−0.2
	SDP	Celia Goodhart	14,637	30.5	+18.4
	Labour	Alex Gordon	10,119	21.1	−18.3
Majority			8,586	17.9	N/A
Turnout			47,979	76.4	−2.9
	Conservative win (new boundaries)

Note: The boundary changes to the seat for the 1983 election meant that this seat would have been won by the Conservatives in 1979, as parts of the seat were moved into the newly created seat of Corby which was notionally Labour on the new boundaries and thus saw William Homewood attempt (unsuccessfully albeit) to seek re-election there.

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1979: Kettering

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Homewood	31,579	45.0	−4.3
	Conservative	Rupert Allason	30,101	42.9	+11.4
	Liberal	G. Raven	8,424	12.0	−7.2
Majority			1,478	2.1	−15.7
Turnout			70,104	79.3	+6.1
	Labour hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Kettering

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey de Freitas	30,970	49.3	+3.4
	Conservative	G.D. Reed	19,800	31.5	−0.2
	Liberal	A. James W. Haigh	12,038	19.2	−3.1
Majority			11,170	17.8	+3.6
Turnout			62,808	73.2	−7.9
	Labour hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Kettering

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey de Freitas	31,659	45.9	−2.3
	Conservative	G.D. Reed	21,872	31.7	−10.7
	Liberal	A. James W. Haigh	15,393	22.3	+13.0
Majority			9,787	14.2	+8.4
Turnout			68,924	81.1	+5.6
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1970: Kettering

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey de Freitas	34,803	48.3	−4.3
	Conservative	John Charles Taylor	30,613	42.5	+6.9
	Liberal	A. James W. Haigh	6,695	9.3	−2.5
Majority			4,190	5.8	−11.2
Turnout			72,111	75.5	−5.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1966: Kettering

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey de Freitas	35,337	52.6	−2.6
	Conservative	Trevor E.T. Weston	23,877	35.6	−9.2
	Liberal	Anthony Smith	7,903	11.8	New
Majority			11,460	17.0	+6.6
Turnout			67,117	81.3	−0.2
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1964: Kettering

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey de Freitas	36,210	55.2	+2.4
	Conservative	J. Hedley Lewis	29,405	44.8	−2.4
Majority			6,805	10.4	+2.4
Turnout			65,615	81.5	+4.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1959: Kettering

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dick Mitchison	32,933	52.8	−2.4
	Conservative	Neil Stone	29,448	47.2	2.4
Majority			3,485	5.6	−4.8
Turnout			62,381	77.5	−4.1
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1955: Kettering

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dick Mitchison	31,198	55.2	−0.6
	Conservative	John F. Nash	25,495	44.8	+0.6
Majority			5,903	10.4	−1.2
Turnout			56,893	81.6	−5.6
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1951: Kettering

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dick Mitchison	32,604	55.8	+3.2
	Conservative	C. Peter B. Bailey	25,777	44.2	+5.6
Majority			6,827	11.6	−2.4
Turnout			58,381	87.2	−0.9
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1950: Kettering

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dick Mitchison	30,243	52.6	−1.0
	Conservative	Gyles Isham	22,169	38.6	−3.5
	Liberal	Ian Morrow	4,692	8.2	New
	Communist	L.P. O'Connor	368	0.6	New
Majority			8,074	14.0	+2.5
Turnout			57,472	88.1	+13.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Kettering

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dick Mitchison	29,868	53.6	+5.7
	Conservative	John Profumo	23,424	42.1	−10.0
	Christian Pacifist Party	John Chamberlain Dempsey	2,381	4.3	New
Majority			6,444	11.5	N/A
Turnout			24,530	75.1	−2.2
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

The British Council commissioned a short film on the 1945 General Election which portrays the contest in the Kettering constituency. ^[22]

1940 Kettering by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Profumo	17,914	73.0	+20.9
	Workers' and Pensioners' Anti-War	W. Ross	6,616	27.0	New
Majority			11,298	46.0	+41.8
Turnout			24,530	37.8	−39.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1935: Kettering

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Eastwood	22,885	52.1	−8.1
	Labour Co-op	J.R. Sadler	21,042	47.9	+8.1
Majority			1,843	4.2	−16.1
Turnout			43,927	77.3	−8.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1931: Kettering

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Eastwood	25,811	60.2	+23.1
	Labour Co-op	Samuel Perry	17,095	39.8	−4.0
Majority			8,716	20.3	N/A
Turnout			42,906	85.7	−0.1
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1929: Kettering ^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Samuel Perry	18,253	43.8	−4.2
	Unionist	J. Brown	15,469	37.1	−14.9
	Liberal	Cuthbert Snowball Rewcastle	7,972	19.1	New
Majority			2,784	6.7	N/A
Turnout			23,441	85.8	+1.5
Registered electors			48,588
	Labour Co-op gain from Unionist		Swing	+5.4

General election 1924: Kettering

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Mervyn Manningham-Buller	16,042	52.0	+17.0
	Labour Co-op	Samuel Perry	14,801	48.0	+4.5
Majority			1,241	4.0	N/A
Turnout			30,843	84.3	+3.0
Registered electors			36,574
	Unionist gain from Labour Co-op		Swing	+6.3

General election 1923: Kettering

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Samuel Perry	12,718	43.5	−6.0
	Unionist	Owen Parker	10,212	35.0	−15.5
	Liberal	Alfred Yeo	6,273	21.5	New
Majority			2,506	8.5	N/A
Turnout			29,203	81.3	+0.3
Registered electors			35,899
	Labour Co-op gain from Unionist		Swing	+4.8

General election 1922: Kettering

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Owen Parker	14,333	50.5	New
	Labour Co-op	Alfred Waterson	14,024	49.5	+1.8
Majority			309	1.0	N/A
Turnout			28,357	81.0	+15.9
Registered electors			35,024
	Unionist gain from Co-operative Party		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Kettering

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Co-operative Party	Alfred Waterson	10,299	45.7
C	Liberal	Leland William Buxton	7,761	34.4
	National	Algernon Ferguson [24]	4,489	19.9
Majority			2,538	11.3
Turnout			22,549	65.1
Registered electors			34,624
	Co-operative Party win (new seat)
Cindicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

See also

• 1940 Kettering by-election
• List of parliamentary constituencies in Northamptonshire

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. A decrease during the year 2009 was seen to £16,885

References

1. "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition – East Midlands". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
2. "The Northamptonshire (Structural Changes) Order 2020".
3. "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule I Part I.
4. "Eveden.com".
5. Foundation, Internet Memory. "[ARCHIVED CONTENT] UK Government Web Archive – The National Archives". www.ons.gov.uk.
6. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "K" (part 1)
7. "Kettering results". BBC. 2024. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
8. "Kettering Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
9. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
10. "Rhea Keehn - Kettering Labour Party". Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
11. "ukip-choose-councillor-as-general-election-candidate-against-conservative-mp-philip-hollobone-1-6534882" . Retrieved 30 January 2015.
12. "General Election 2017 Candidate - Green Party". Green Party Members' Website.
13. "Candidates". English Democrats. Archived from the original on 30 January 2015. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
14. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
15. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
16. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
17. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
18. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
19. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
20. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
21. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
22. British Council. "General Election" . Retrieved 10 September 2019.
23. Craig, F.W.S., ed. (1969). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 . Glasgow: Political Reference Publications. p.  437. ISBN   0-900178-01-9.
24. ‘FERGUSON, Brig.-Gen. Algernon Francis Holford’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 ; online edn, April 2014 accessed 18 Sept 2017

Sources

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN   0-900178-06-X.

External links

• Kettering Green Party
• Kettering Liberal Democrats
• Kettering Conservatives
• Kettering Labour Party
• Kettering UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK
• Kettering UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
• Kettering UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK

52°25′N0°45′W / 52.42°N 0.75°W / 52.42; -0.75