Calder Valley (UK Parliament constituency)

Calder Valley
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Calder Valley in West Yorkshire
Location of West Yorkshire within England
County	West Yorkshire
Population	102,961 (2011 census) [1]
Electorate	77,504 (December 2019) [2]
Major settlements	Hebden Bridge, Todmorden, Brighouse
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of Parliament	Craig Whittaker (Conservative)
Seats	One
Created from	Sowerby Brighouse and Spenborough Halifax [3]

Calder Valley is a constituency in West Yorkshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Craig Whittaker, a Conservative. ^{[n 1]}

Constituency profile

The constituency covers most of the upland metropolitan district of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, including the town of Todmorden which was formerly split in half between Lancashire and Yorkshire. Hebden Bridge and Todmorden are known for their bohemian culture and are more Labour-leaning, whereas Elland and Brighouse tend to vote Conservative, ^[4] making the seat marginal overall.

Boundaries

Map of present boundaries

Since the constituency's creation in 1983, it has comprised the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale wards of Brighouse, Calder, Elland, Greetland and Stainland, Hipperholme and Lightcliffe, Luddendenfoot, Rastrick, Ryburn, and Todmorden.

Proposed

Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, the composition of the constituency from the 2024 general election will be unchanged, apart from the loss of part of the Ryburn ward (polling districts MB, MC and MD) to Halifax in order to bring the electorate within the permitted range. ^[5]

History

The constituency was created in 1983, primarily from the former seat of Sowerby as well as parts of Brighouse and Spenborough. Historically a bellwether seat between Labour and the Conservatives, at the 2010 general election the seat became the closest three-way marginal in the north of England, with less than 1,000 votes between the Labour candidate in second place and the Liberal Democrat candidate in third, although with a significant Conservative majority. The seat's three-way marginal status did not last; the Labour vote increased significantly in both 2015 and 2017 while the Liberal Democrat vote collapsed dramatically over the same period. The seat has followed national trends, albeit with a disadvantage to the Conservatives when compared to the national swing, and is still considered a bellwether seat.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [6] [7]	Party
	1983	Sir Donald Thompson	Conservative
	1997	Christine McCafferty	Labour
	2010	Craig Whittaker	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Calder Valley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Josh Fenton-Glynn [8]
	Conservative	Vanessa Lee [9]
	SDP	James McNeill [10]

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Calder Valley ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Craig Whittaker	29,981	51.9	+5.8
	Labour	Josh Fenton-Glynn	24,207	41.9	-3.2
	Liberal Democrats	Javed Bashir	2,884	4.9	+1.5
	Liberal	Richard Phillips	721	1.2	New
Majority			5,774	10.0	+9.0
Turnout			57,793	72.9	-0.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	+4.5

General election 2017: Calder Valley ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Craig Whittaker	26,790	46.1	+2.5
	Labour	Josh Fenton-Glynn	26,181	45.1	+9.7
	Liberal Democrats	Janet Battye	1,952	3.4	−1.6
	UKIP	Paul Rogan	1,466	2.6	−8.5
	Independent	Robert Holden	1,034	1.8	New
	Green	Kieran Turner	631	1.1	-2.8
Majority			609	1.0	−7.2
Turnout			58,054	73.4	+4.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	−3.6

General election 2015: Calder Valley ^{[13] [14]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Craig Whittaker	23,354	43.6	+4.2
	Labour	Josh Fenton-Glynn	18,927	35.4	+8.4
	UKIP	Paul Rogan	5,950	11.1	+8.8
	Liberal Democrats	Alisdair McGregor	2,666	5.0	−20.2
	Green	Jenny Shepherd	2,090	3.9	+2.2
	Yorkshire First	Rod Sutcliffe	389	0.7	New
	World Peace Through Song	Joe Stead	165	0.3	New
Majority			4,427	8.2	−4.0
Turnout			53,541	68.9	+1.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	-2.1

General election 2010: Calder Valley ^{[15] [16] [17]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Craig Whittaker	20,397	39.4	+3.6
	Labour	Steph Booth	13,966	27.0	−11.5
	Liberal Democrats	Hilary Myers	13,037	25.2	+6.3
	BNP	John Gregory	1,823	3.5	−0.4
	UKIP	Greg Burrows	1,173	2.3	New
	Green	Kate Sweeny	858	1.7	−1.2
	Independent	Tim Cole	194	0.4	New
	Independent	Barry Greenwood	175	0.3	New
	English Democrat	Paul Rogan	157	0.3	New
Majority			6,431	12.4	N/A
Turnout			51,780	67.3	+1.3
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+7.6

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Calder Valley ^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Christine McCafferty	18,426	38.6	−4.1
	Conservative	Liz Truss	17,059	35.7	−0.5
	Liberal Democrats	Liz Ingleton	9,027	18.9	+2.9
	BNP	John Gregory	1,887	4.0	New
	Green	Paul Palmer	1,371	2.9	+0.7
Majority			1,367	2.9	−3.6
Turnout			47,770	67.0	+4.0
	Labour hold		Swing	−1.8

General election 2001: Calder Valley ^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Christine McCafferty	20,244	42.7	−3.4
	Conservative	Susan Robson-Catling	17,150	36.2	+1.1
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Taylor	7,596	16.0	+1.3
	Green	Steven Hutton	1,034	2.2	+1.3
	UKIP	John Nunn	729	1.5	New
	Legalise Cannabis	Philip Lockwood	672	1.4	New
Majority			3,094	6.5	-4.5
Turnout			47,425	63.0	−12.4
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.3

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Calder Valley ^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Christine McCafferty	26,050	46.1	+8.7
	Conservative	Donald Thompson	19,795	35.1	−10.3
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Pearson	8,322	14.7	−1.4
	Referendum	Anthony Mellor	1,380	2.4	New
	Green	Vivienne Smith	488	0.9	−0.1
	BNP	Christian Jackson	431	0.8	New
Majority			6,255	11.0	N/A
Turnout			56,466	75.4	−6.7
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+9.5

General election 1992: Calder Valley ^{[21] [22]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Donald Thompson	27,753	45.4	+1.9
	Labour	David Chaytor	22,875	37.4	+4.0
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Pearson	9,842	16.1	−7.0
	Green	Vivienne Smith	622	1.0	New
Majority			4,878	8.0	−2.1
Turnout			61,092	82.1	+1.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.1

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Calder Valley ^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Donald Thompson	25,892	43.5	−0.2
	Labour	David Chaytor	19,847	33.4	+6.4
	Liberal	David Shutt	13,761	23.1	−6.3
Majority			6,045	10.1	-4.2
Turnout			59,500	81.1	+2.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	−3.3

General election 1983: Calder Valley ^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Donald Thompson	24,439	43.7
	Liberal	David Shutt	16,440	29.4
	Labour	Patricia Holmes	15,108	27.0
Majority			7,999	14.3
Turnout			55,987	78.5
	Conservative win (new seat)

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in West Yorkshire

Notes

1. 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.

References

1. "Calder Valley: Usual Resident Population, 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
2. "Constituency data: electorates – House of Commons Library". Parliament UK. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
3. "'Calder Valley', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
4. Electoral Calculus https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/seatdetails.py?seat=Calder+Valley
5. "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 1 Part 9 Yorkshire and the Humber region.
6. "Calder Valley 1983-". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . Retrieved 2 February 2015.
7. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 1)
8. "Labour choose their candidate to try to take Calder Valley from the Conservatives at next general election". Halifax Courier . Retrieved 29 March 2024.
9. "Politics: Meet the Conservatives' candidate for the Calder Valley at the next general election". Halifax Courier . Retrieved 29 March 2024.
10. "GENERAL ELECTION CANDIDATES". SDP . Retrieved 29 March 2024.
11. "Calder Valley parliamentary constituency - Election 2017". BBC News . Retrieved 19 November 2019.
12. "Calder Valley parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
13. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
14. "Calder Valley". BBC News. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
15. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
16. "Calder Valley constituency: Parliamentary Election: Calder Valley constituency: Calderdale Council". Archived from the original on 9 May 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
17. "UK > England > Yorkshire & the Humber > Calder Valley". Election 2010. BBC News. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
18. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
19. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
20. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
21. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
22. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
23. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
24. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

Sources

• Calder Valley Election Forum

External links

• nomis Constituency Profile for Calder Valley — presenting data from the ONS annual population survey and other official statistics.

53°42′18″N1°56′13″W / 53.705°N 1.937°W / 53.705; -1.937