Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford | |
---|---|
County constituency for the House of Commons | |
County | West Yorkshire |
Electorate | 84,874 (December 2019) [1] |
Major settlements | Normanton, Castleford and Pontefract |
Current constituency | |
Created | 2010 |
Member of Parliament | Yvette Cooper (Labour Party (UK)) |
Seats | One |
Created from | Pontefract and Castleford, Normanton |
Replaced by | Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley |
Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford is a constituency [n 1] in West Yorkshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Yvette Cooper of the Labour Party since its 2010 creation. [n 2] Cooper has served under the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown alongside her husband Ed Balls, and served as Shadow Home Secretary under the leadership of Ed Miliband. Having served as chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, she is once again the Shadow Home Secretary.
Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat will be subject to boundary changes which will entail the loss of Normanton. As a consequence, it will be renamed Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley, to be first contested at the next general election. [2]
Parliament accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which recommended this constituency for the 2010 general election in the district of the city of Wakefield. Due to less increase in population than elsewhere the commission had to reduce constituencies in the county by one, resulting in the "merger" of Normanton and Pontefract/Castleford seats, however some wards of both went to other neighbouring seats to give the correct size electorate.
The commission had great difficulty in naming the constituency, with "Normanton and Pontefract" and "Pontefract and Castleford" both suggested. On 24 May 2006 the modified name was chosen following further public consultation. The only other three-place constituency in England in terms of name is Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner in London.
The constituency first contested at the 2010 general election has electoral wards of the City of Wakefield:
The area has the three retail towns, Pontefract being the most touristic — producing liquorice as well as Pontefract cakes — the wider economy includes self-employed trades, work in local manufacturing and jobs in creative industry, retail, public sector and corporate headquarters including in Leeds and Wakefield.
The last working deep coal mine in the United Kingdom, Kellingley Colliery, was a significant employer until it closed in December 2015. [3]
Well recovered from economic decline from the loss of most local mines, the rate of jobseeking benefits claimed is lower than the Yorkshire and Humber average (4.6%) at 4.4% however this slightly exceeds the national average and is over twice that of six constituencies in the region. [n 3] [4]
Election | Member [5] | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
2010 | Yvette Cooper | Labour |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Yvette Cooper | 18,297 | 37.9 | –21.6 | |
Conservative | Andrew Lee | 17,021 | 35.3 | +5.3 | |
Brexit Party | Deneice Florence-Jukes | 8,032 | 16.6 | New | |
Liberal Democrats | Tom Gordon | 3,147 | 6.5 | +5.1 | |
Yorkshire | Laura Walker | 1,762 | 3.7 | +0.8 | |
Majority | 1,276 | 2.6 | –26.9 | ||
Turnout | 48,419 | 57.3 | –3.0 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | –13.4 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Yvette Cooper | 29,268 | 59.5 | +4.6 | |
Conservative | Andrew Lee | 14,769 | 30.0 | +9.2 | |
UKIP | Lewis Thompson | 3,030 | 6.2 | –15.1 | |
Yorkshire | Daniel Gascoigne | 1,431 | 2.9 | New | |
Liberal Democrats | Clarke Roberts | 693 | 1.4 | –1.5 | |
Majority | 14,499 | 29.5 | –4.1 | ||
Turnout | 49,191 | 60.3 | +4.7 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Yvette Cooper | 25,213 | 54.9 | +6.8 | |
UKIP | Nathan Garbutt | 9,785 | 21.3 | New | |
Conservative | Beth Prescott | 9,569 | 20.8 | –3.6 | |
Liberal Democrats | Edward McMillan-Scott | 1,330 | 2.9 | –13.5 | |
Majority | 15,428 | 33.6 | +9.9 | ||
Turnout | 45,897 | 55.6 | –0.6 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | –7.3 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Yvette Cooper | 22,293 | 48.1 | ||
Conservative | Nick Pickles | 11,314 | 24.4 | ||
Liberal Democrats | Chris Rush | 7,585 | 16.4 | ||
BNP | Graham Thewlis-Hardy | 3,846 | 8.3 | ||
Independent | Gareth Allen | 1,183 | 2.6 | ||
Majority | 10,979 | 23.7 | |||
Turnout | 46,239 | 56.2 | |||
Labour win (new seat) |
The results for the referendum were not returned by individual parliamentary constituencies (instead using a counting area within a region), but the Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford area is estimated to have voted by a 69.3% – 30.7% margin to leave the European Union. [10]
Knottingley is a town in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England on the River Aire and the old A1 road before it was bypassed as the A1(M). Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it has a population of 13,503, increasing to 13,710 for the City of Wakefield ward at the 2011 Census. It makes up the majority of the Knottingley ward represented on Wakefield Council.
Wakefield, commonly known as the City of Wakefield, is a local government district with the status of a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Wakefield, the largest settlement, is the administrative centre of the district. The population of the City of Wakefield at the 2011 Census was 325,837. The district includes the Five Towns of Castleford, Featherstone, Knottingley, Normanton and Pontefract. Other towns include Hemsworth, Horbury, Ossett, South Elmsall and South Kirkby. The city and district are governed by Wakefield Metropolitan District Council from the County Hall.
Don Valley is a constituency in South Yorkshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Nick Fletcher of the Conservative Party.
North West Leicestershire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Andrew Bridgen, originally a Conservative who sat as an Independent following his suspension in January 2023 and subsequent expulsion, until he joined the Reclaim Party in May 2023.
Wakefield is a constituency created in 1832, represented by Simon Lightwood of the Labour Party since 2022.
Hemsworth is a constituency in West Yorkshire represented in the House of Commons since 1996 by Jon Trickett of the Labour Party.
Wentworth and Dearne is a constituency in South Yorkshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 2010 creation by John Healey, a member of the Labour Party who has served as Shadow Secretary of State for Defence since 2020.
Barnsley East is a constituency in South Yorkshire, represented since 2017 by Stephanie Peacock of the Labour Party.
Elmet and Rothwell is a constituency in West Yorkshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its creation in 2010 by Alec Shelbrooke, a Conservative. In the 2017 general election, Elmet and Rothwell recorded the largest turnout of any seat in West or South Yorkshire, with almost 60,000 electors casting a vote.
Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner is a constituency in Greater London represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by David Simmonds, a Conservative.
Morley and Outwood is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Andrea Jenkyns of the Conservative Party.
Yorkshire South West was a European Parliament constituency covering the southern parts of West Yorkshire in England and, at times, part of South Yorkshire.
The 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies was the most recent cycle of the process to redraw the constituency map for the House of Commons. The process for periodic reviews of parliamentary constituencies in the United Kingdom is governed by the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986, as amended by the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 and subsequently by the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020. This review was the successor to the 2018 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which was ultimately abandoned after it failed to pass into law.
Knottingley is an electoral ward of the City of Wakefield district used for elections to Wakefield Metropolitan District Council.
Normanton and Hemsworth is a proposed constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. The constituency is scheduled to be created by the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, and will first be contested at the next general election.
Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley is a proposed constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, it will first be contested at the next general election.
Kellingley Colliery in North Yorkshire closed in December, bringing to an end centuries of deep coal mining in Britain.