Sedgefield | |
---|---|
Former county constituency for the House of Commons | |
County | County Durham |
Electorate | 67,386 (December 2010) [1] |
Major settlements | Sedgefield, Newton Aycliffe, Ferryhill |
1983–2024 | |
Seats | One |
Created from | Durham, Durham North West, Easington and Bishop Auckland [2] |
Replaced by |
|
1918–1974 | |
Seats | One |
Type of constituency | County constituency |
Created from | South East Durham, The Hartlepools and Mid Durham |
Replaced by | Bishop Auckland, Durham, Easington |
Sedgefield was a constituency in County Durham represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 2019 until its abolition for the 2024 general election by Paul Howell of the Conservative Party. [a]
Under the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was abolished. Subject to major boundary changes, though retaining the town of Sedgefield, the constituency was reformed as Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor to reflect the two largest communities in the revised seat. [3]
Sedgefield was first created under the Representation of the People Act 1918 for the 1918 general election, comprising primarily southern parts of the abolished South Eastern Division of Durham, including the communities of Segefield and Billingham. It also included parts of the former Mid Durham seat (Ferryhill) and a small area transferred from Bishop Auckland (Chilton).
It was abolished for the February 1974 general election, when its contents were distributed to the neighbouring seats of Bishop Auckland (Darlington RD), Durham (Sedgefield RD), Easington (Stockton RD) and Teesside, Stockton (Billingham UD).
The constituency was recreated at the next redistribution, which came into effect at the 1983 general election, with similar boundaries, but excluding Billingham and Newton Aycliffe and including Spennymoor.
Minor changes – the Rural District of Stockton had been altered, absorbing the Rural District of Hartlepool, but losing Billingham to a new urban district.
From 1955, the boundaries of the Rural Districts of Darlington, Sedgefield and Stockton were altered in line with changes to local authority boundaries. [5] [6]
Spennymoor and Tudhoe transferred from North West Durham; remainder of District of Sedgefield wards from Durham; District of Easington wards from Easington; and Borough of Darlington wards from Bishop Auckland.
Newton Aycliffe transferred in from Bishop Auckland in exchange for Spennymoor and Tudhoe.
Minor changes only to reflect redrawing of local authority ward boundaries.
In the 2009 structural changes to local government in England, the local authority districts in Durham were abolished and replaced with a single unitary authority; however, this did affected the boundaries of the constituency.
The 2023 review of Westminster constituencies recommended that all wards in the Borough of Darlington should be removed from the seat, with Shildon moving in from Bishop Auckland and Coxhoe from City of Durham. The reconfigured seat would be renamed "Newton Aycliffe and Sedgefield".
From its recreation in 1983 until 27 June 2007, the Member of Parliament was Tony Blair, who led a successful campaign for his party to win the 1997 general election in a landslide and thereafter served for ten years as prime minister, leading the campaigns at two subsequent general elections. Blair was the first Prime Minister to lead the Labour Party to three consecutive victories. He resigned as the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield on the same day as he resigned as prime minister, which triggered a by-election. [10]
At the by-election on 19 July 2007, the official Labour Party candidate Phil Wilson was elected on a reduced majority which in national terms is safe instead of marginal. While Wilson had never came close to the enormous majorities held by Blair during his tenure as MP and only secured an absolute majority of the vote for the first time at the 2017 general election, he consistently had majorities of over 6,000 votes in every election at which he had stood.
At the 2019 election, the Conservatives' candidate Paul Howell defeated Wilson with a majority of 4,513 and a swing of 12.8%. Sedgefield was one of the net gain of 48 seats in England by the Conservatives, as well as being considered part of the so-called "Red Wall".
Sedgefield has a long mining history (extracting coal, fluorspar and iron ore) and once had a very strong affiliation to the Labour Party, with nearly monolithic support in parts of the constituency.[ citation needed ] The area contains a mixture of former coal country in the area around Trimdon and more industrial areas around the new town of Newton Aycliffe. The construction of a new Hitachi factory created 730 jobs in the town. [11] There are also more prosperous parts of the constituency that form the bulk of the Conservative vote – for example, the ancient market town of Sedgefield itself, with a charter dating back to 1312. The outer suburbs of Darlington are also relatively wealthy, as well as Hurworth-on-Tees, where unemployment stands at just 1.0%. [12]
The constituency consists of Census Output Areas of two local government districts with similar characteristics: a working population whose average income is lower than the national average and close-to-average reliance upon social housing. [13] At the end of 2012 the unemployment rate in the constituency stood as 5.0% of the population claiming Jobseekers' Allowance, compared to the regional average of 5.5%. [14]
The local authority contributing to the bulk of the seat has a middling 27.2% of its population without a car, a high 27.5% of the population without qualifications and a medium 21.5% with level 4 qualifications or above. Darlington has 28% of its population without a car, 24.8% of the population without qualifications and a medium 23.7% with level 4 qualifications or above.
In terms of tenure 65.8% of County Durham homes and 64.9% of Darlington homes are owned outright or on a mortgage as at the 2011 census. [15]
Election | Member [16] | Party | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1918 | Rowland Burdon | Coalition Conservative | ||
1922 | John Herriotts | Labour | ||
1923 | Leonard Ropner | Conservative | ||
1929 | John Herriotts | Labour | ||
1931 | Roland Jennings | Conservative | ||
1935 | John Leslie | Labour | ||
1950 | Joe Slater | Labour | ||
1970 | David Reed | Labour | ||
1974 | Constituency abolished |
Election | Member [16] | Party | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1983 | Tony Blair | Labour | ||
2007 by-election | Phil Wilson | Labour | ||
2019 | Paul Howell | Conservative | ||
2024 | Constituency abolished |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Tony Blair | 21,401 | 47.6 | ||
Conservative | Toby Horton | 13,120 | 29.2 | ||
SDP | David Shand | 10,183 | 22.6 | ||
Independent | Maurice Logan-Salton | 298 | 0.7 | ||
Majority | 8,281 | 18.4 | |||
Turnout | 45,002 | 72.9 | |||
Labour win (new seat) |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Tony Blair | 25,965 | 56.0 | +8.4 | |
Conservative | Nigel Hawkins | 12,907 | 27.9 | −1.3 | |
SDP | Ralph Andrew | 7,477 | 16.1 | −6.5 | |
Majority | 13,058 | 28.1 | +9.7 | ||
Turnout | 46,349 | 76.2 | +3.3 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +4.9 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Tony Blair | 28,453 | 60.5 | +4.5 | |
Conservative | Nicholas Jopling | 13,594 | 28.9 | +1.0 | |
Liberal Democrats | Gary Huntington | 4,982 | 10.6 | −5.5 | |
Majority | 14,859 | 31.6 | +3.5 | ||
Turnout | 47,029 | 77.1 | +0.9 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +1.8 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Tony Blair | 33,526 | 71.2 | +10.7 | |
Conservative | Elizabeth Pitman | 8,383 | 17.8 | −11.1 | |
Liberal Democrats | Ronald Beadle | 3,050 | 6.5 | −4.1 | |
Referendum | Miriam Hall | 1,683 | 3.6 | New | |
Socialist Labour | Brian Gibson | 474 | 1.0 | New | |
Majority | 25,143 | 53.4 | +21.8 | ||
Turnout | 47,116 | 72.6 | −4.5 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +11.3 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Tony Blair | 26,110 | 64.9 | −6.3 | |
Conservative | Douglas Carswell | 8,397 | 20.9 | +3.1 | |
Liberal Democrats | Andrew Duffield | 3,624 | 9.0 | +2.5 | |
UKIP | Andrew Spence | 974 | 2.4 | New | |
Socialist Labour | Brian Gibson | 518 | 1.3 | +0.3 | |
Rock 'n' Roll Loony | Christopher Driver | 375 | 0.9 | New | |
Independent | Helen John | 260 | 0.6 | New | |
Majority | 17,713 | 44.0 | −9.4 | ||
Turnout | 40,258 | 62.0 | −10.6 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −4.7 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Tony Blair | 24,421 | 58.9 | −6.0 | |
Conservative | Al Lockwood | 5,972 | 14.4 | −6.5 | |
Liberal Democrats | Robert Woodthorpe Browne | 4,935 | 11.9 | +2.9 | |
Independent | Reg Keys | 4,252 | 10.3 | New | |
UKIP | William Brown | 646 | 1.6 | −0.8 | |
National Front | Mark Farrell | 253 | 0.6 | New | |
Veritas | Fiona Luckhurst-Matthews | 218 | 0.5 | New | |
Independent | Berony Abraham | 209 | 0.5 | New | |
Monster Raving Loony | Melodie Staniforth | 157 | 0.4 | New | |
Blair Must Go Party | Jonathan Cockburn | 103 | 0.2 | New | |
Senior Citizens | Terence Pattinson | 97 | 0.2 | New | |
Pensioners | Cherri Gilham | 82 | 0.2 | New | |
Independent | Helen John | 68 | 0.2 | −0.4 | |
Independent | John Barker | 45 | 0.1 | New | |
Independent | Julian Brennan | 17 | 0.0 | New | |
Majority | 18,449 | 44.5 | +0.5 | ||
Turnout | 41,475 | 62.2 | +0.2 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +0.25 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Phil Wilson | 12,528 | 44.8 | −14.1 | |
Liberal Democrats | Gregory Stone | 5,572 | 19.9 | +8.0 | |
Conservative | Graham Robb | 4,082 | 14.6 | +0.2 | |
BNP | Andrew Spence | 2,494 | 8.9 | New | |
Independent | Paul Gittins | 1,885 | 6.7 | New | |
UKIP | Gavin Horton | 536 | 1.9 | +0.3 | |
Green | Christopher Haine | 348 | 1.2 | New | |
English Democrat | Stephen Gash | 177 | 0.6 | New | |
Christian Vote | Tim Grainger | 177 | 0.6 | New | |
Monster Raving Loony | Alan Hope | 129 | 0.5 | +0.1 | |
Anti Crime | Norman Scarth | 34 | 0.1 | New | |
Majority | 6,956 | 24.9 | −19.6 | ||
Turnout | 27,962 | 43.0 | −19.2 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −11.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Phil Wilson | 18,141 | 45.1 | −13.9 | |
Conservative | Neil Mahapatra | 9,445 | 23.5 | +9.3 | |
Liberal Democrats | Alan Thompson | 8,033 | 20.0 | +8.2 | |
BNP | Mark Walker | 2,075 | 5.2 | N/A | |
UKIP | Brian Gregory | 1,479 | 3.7 | +2.1 | |
Independent | Paul Gittins | 1,049 | 2.6 | N/A | |
Majority | 8,696 | 21.6 | −3.3 | ||
Turnout | 40,222 | 62.1 | −0.2 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −11.6 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Phil Wilson | 18,275 | 47.2 | +2.1 | |
Conservative | Scott Wood | 11,432 | 29.5 | +6.0 | |
UKIP | John Leathley | 6,426 | 16.6 | +12.9 | |
Liberal Democrats | Stephen Glenn | 1,370 | 3.5 | −16.5 | |
Green | Greg Robinson | 1,213 | 3.1 | New | |
Majority | 6,843 | 17.7 | −3.9 | ||
Turnout | 38,716 | 61.6 | −0.5 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −2.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Phil Wilson | 22,202 | 53.4 | +6.2 | |
Conservative | Dehenna Davison | 16,143 | 38.8 | +9.3 | |
UKIP | John Grant | 1,763 | 4.2 | −12.4 | |
Liberal Democrats | Stephen Psallidas | 797 | 1.9 | −1.6 | |
Green | Melissa Wilson | 686 | 1.6 | −1.5 | |
Majority | 6,059 | 14.6 | −3.1 | ||
Turnout | 41,591 | 65.1 | +3.5 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −1.6 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Paul Howell | 19,609 | 47.2 | +8.4 | |
Labour | Phil Wilson | 15,096 | 36.3 | −17.1 | |
Brexit Party | David Bull | 3,518 | 8.5 | New | |
Liberal Democrats | Dawn Welsh | 1,955 | 4.7 | +2.8 | |
Green | John Furness | 994 | 2.4 | +0.8 | |
Independent | Michael Joyce | 394 | 0.9 | New | |
Majority | 4,513 | 10.9 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 41,566 | 64.6 | −0.5 | ||
Registered electors | 64,325 | ||||
Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | +12.8 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
C | Unionist | Rowland Burdon | 6,627 | 42.1 | |
Labour | John Herriotts | 5,801 | 36.8 | ||
Liberal | Charles Starmer | 3,333 | 21.1 | ||
Majority | 826 | 5.3 | |||
Turnout | 15,761 | 63.4 | |||
Unionist win (new seat) | |||||
Cindicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government. |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Herriotts | 9,756 | 43.6 | +6.8 | |
Unionist | Eli Waddington | 9,067 | 40.5 | −1.6 | |
Liberal | Charles Henry Brown | 3,561 | 15.9 | −5.2 | |
Majority | 689 | 3.1 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 22,384 | 76.1 | +12.7 | ||
Labour gain from Unionist | Swing | +4.2 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unionist | Leonard Ropner | 11,093 | 50.0 | +9.5 | |
Labour | John Herriotts | 11,087 | 50.0 | +6.4 | |
Majority | 6 | 0.0 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 22,180 | 74.5 | −1.6 | ||
Unionist gain from Labour | Swing | +1.6 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unionist | Leonard Ropner | 13,968 | 52.7 | +2.7 | |
Labour | John Herriotts | 12,552 | 47.3 | −2.7 | |
Majority | 1,416 | 5.4 | +5.4 | ||
Turnout | 26,520 | 85.4 | +10.9 | ||
Unionist hold | Swing | +2.7 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Herriotts | 15,749 | 47.7 | +0.4 | |
Unionist | Leonard Ropner | 13,043 | 39.5 | −13.2 | |
Liberal | William Leeson | 4,236 | 12.8 | New | |
Majority | 2,706 | 8.2 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 33,028 | 83.0 | −2.4 | ||
Labour gain from Unionist | Swing | +6.8 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Roland Jennings | 21,956 | 58.8 | +19.3 | |
Labour | John Herriotts | 15,404 | 41.2 | −6.5 | |
Majority | 6,552 | 17.6 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 37,360 | 84.4 | +1.4 | ||
Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | +12.9 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Leslie | 20,375 | 52.3 | +11.1 | |
Conservative | Roland Jennings | 18,604 | 47.7 | −11.1 | |
Majority | 1,771 | 4.6 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 38,979 | 81.4 | −3.0 | ||
Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | +11.1 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Leslie | 27,051 | 63.8 | +11.5 | |
Conservative | John Walford | 15,360 | 36.2 | −11.5 | |
Majority | 11,691 | 27.6 | +23.0 | ||
Turnout | 42,411 | 77.5 | −3.9 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +11.5 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Joseph Slater | 27,946 | 62.5 | −1.3 | |
Conservative | John Walford | 16,782 | 37.5 | +1.3 | |
Majority | 11,164 | 25.0 | −2.6 | ||
Turnout | 44,728 | 87.0 | +9.5 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -1.3 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Joseph Slater | 28,219 | 62.3 | −0.2 | |
Conservative | Eric H Harrison | 17,095 | 37.7 | +0.2 | |
Majority | 11,124 | 24.6 | −0.4 | ||
Turnout | 45,314 | 86.4 | −0.6 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -0.2 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Joseph Slater | 27,221 | 59.7 | −2.6 | |
Conservative | Dudley Fitz Mowbray Appleby | 18,368 | 40.3 | +2.6 | |
Majority | 8,853 | 19.4 | −5.2 | ||
Turnout | 45,589 | 79.9 | −6.5 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -2.6 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Joseph Slater | 30,642 | 58.5 | −1.2 | |
Conservative | Dudley Fitz Mowbray Appleby | 21,771 | 41.5 | +1.2 | |
Majority | 8,871 | 17.0 | −2.6 | ||
Turnout | 52,413 | 82.5 | +2.6 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -1.2 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Joseph Slater | 32,273 | 60.7 | +2.2 | |
Conservative | Cyril Frank Thring | 20,931 | 39.3 | −2.2 | |
Majority | 11,342 | 21.4 | +4.4 | ||
Turnout | 53,204 | 79.5 | −3.0 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +2.2 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Joseph Slater | 34,058 | 64.7 | +4.0 | |
Conservative | Cyril Frank Thring | 18,620 | 35.4 | −4.1 | |
Majority | 15,438 | 29.3 | +7.9 | ||
Turnout | 52,678 | 76.0 | −3.5 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +4.1 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | David Reed | 36,867 | 60.5 | −4.2 | |
Conservative | Arthur Albert Beck | 24,036 | 39.5 | +4.1 | |
Majority | 12,831 | 21.0 | −8.3 | ||
Turnout | 60,903 | 72.7 | −3.3 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -4.2 |
County Durham, officially simply Durham (/ˈdʌrəm/), is a ceremonial county in North East England. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne and Wear to the north, the North Sea to the east, North Yorkshire to the south, and Cumbria to the west. The largest settlement is Darlington.
Sedgefield District was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district and, borough in County Durham, in North East England. It had a population of about 87,000. It was named after Sedgefield, but its largest town was Newton Aycliffe. Other places included Shildon, Ferryhill and Spennymoor.
Easington is a constituency created in 1950 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Grahame Morris of the Labour Party.
City of Durham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Mary Kelly Foy of the Labour Party.
North West Durham was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament.
Bishop Auckland is a constituency in County Durham that is represented in the House of Commons since 2024 by Sam Rushworth of the Labour Party.
The unitary authorities of Durham and Borough of Darlington are divided into 8 parliamentary constituencies, including 2 cross-county constituencies, all of which are county constituencies.
The River Skerne is a tributary of the River Tees. It flows through County Durham in England.
South East Durham was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election between 1885 and 1918.
Paul Howell is a British Conservative Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 2019 until 2024. Prior to his political career, he was an accountant.
County Durham is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is governed by Durham County Council. The district has an area of 2,226 square kilometres (859 sq mi), and contains 135 civil parishes. It forms part of the larger ceremonial county of Durham, together with boroughs of Darlington, Hartlepool, and the part of Stockton-on-Tees north of the River Tees.
The county of Durham returned 7 MPs to the UK Parliament from 1983 to 2024. Under the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies, coming into effect for the 2024 general election, the boundary commission proposed that one constituency be shared with the county of Tyne and Wear. In addition, the unitary authority of Darlington, which had previously been included with Durham, was now included with the four unitary authorities which make up the former county of Cleveland. For the purposes of this series of articles, Darlington continues to be included with Durham.
The non-metropolitan county of Cleveland was created under the Local Government Act 1972, which came into effect on 1 April 1974, comprising the urban areas around the mouth of the River Tees, previously parts of the administrative counties of Durham and North Riding of Yorkshire. Cleveland was abolished in 1996 both as a county council and a non-metropolitan county, being succeeded by the unitary authorities of Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees. The constituency boundaries used up to the 2005 United Kingdom general election were drawn up when the county still existed. For the review which came into effect for the 2010 general election, the four authorities were considered separately, with Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland being combined.
Stockton West is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. Further to the completion of the 2023 periodic review of Westminster constituencies, it was first contested at the 2024 general election, when it was won by Matt Vickers of the Conservative Party. It is now the only seat held by the Conservatives in the North East of England.
Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. Following the completion of the 2023 periodic review of Westminster constituencies, it was first contested at the 2024 general election. The seat was won by Alan Strickland MP of Labour, with a majority of 8,839 and a vote share of 46.2%.