Barnsley West and Penistone (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 53°33′22″N 1°35′28″W / 53.556°N 1.591°W

Barnsley West and Penistone
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Barnsley West and Penistone in South Yorkshire in 2005.
Location of South Yorkshire within England.
County	South Yorkshire
Major settlements	Penistone
1983–2010
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Barnsley Central, Penistone & Stocksbridge
Created from	Barnsley and Penistone

Barnsley West and Penistone was a parliamentary constituency in South Yorkshire which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system.

History

It was considered a safe seat for the Labour Party.

Boundaries

The Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley wards of Darton, Dodworth, Hoyland East, Hoyland West, Park, Penistone East, Penistone West, and Worsbrough.

Barnsley West and Penistone constituency was created in 1983 when the former Barnsley constituency was split into three divisions. This seat also contained parts of the former Penistone constituency, which was abolished in the same boundary review: in total it covered the western part of the Borough of Barnsley and included the town of Penistone. It bordered the constituencies of Sheffield Hillsborough, Wentworth, Barnsley East and Mexborough, Barnsley Central, Hemsworth, Wakefield, Colne Valley, and High Peak. Penistone itself provides the highest Tory vote in the Borough of Barnsley (although not always a majority - see for instance Barnsley Council election, 1998 and Barnsley Council election, 2008), but the other small towns and villages, mostly former mining areas, are safely Labour.

Boundary review

Following the Boundary Commission for England's report on South Yorkshire's Parliamentary constituencies in 2004 and the subsequent inquiry in 2005 it was announced that the constituency of Barnsley West and Penistone would be abolished for future elections. The revisions split the constituency in two: the easternmost wards were to become part of a revised Barnsley Central constituency, while the western most wards, around Penistone, would be combined with the northern wards from the Sheffield Hillsborough constituency. This new constituency was to be named Penistone and Stocksbridge, and covers a similar area to the historic Penistone constituency.

Members of Parliament

The constituency had two Members of Parliament, both of which were from the Labour Party.

Election		Member[1]	Party
	1983	Allen McKay	Labour
	1992	Michael Clapham	Labour
	2010	constituency abolished: see Barnsley Central & Penistone and Stocksbridge

Elections

General election results since 1983

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Barnsley West & Penistone
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Clapham	20,372	55.3	-3.3
	Conservative	Clive Watkinson	9,058	24.6	+1.8
	Liberal Democrat	Alison Brelsford	7,422	20.1	+1.5
Majority			11,314	30.7
Turnout			36,842	55.0	+2.1
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.5

General Election 2001: Barnsley West & Penistone
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Clapham	20,244	58.6	-0.7
	Conservative	William Rowe	7,892	22.8	+4.5
	Liberal Democrat	Miles Crompton	6,428	18.6	+0.6
Majority			12,352	35.8
Turnout			34,564	52.9	-12.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Barnsley West & Penistone[2][3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Clapham	25,017	59.3	+1.0
	Conservative	Paul Watkins	7,750	18.4	−9.6
	Liberal Democrat	Winifred Knight	7,613	18.0	+6.3
	Referendum	Joyce Miles	1,828	4.3	N/A
Majority			17,267	40.9	+10.7
Turnout			42,208	65.0	−10.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.3

General Election 1992: Barnsley West and Penistone[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Michael Clapham	27,965	58.3	+0.9
	Conservative	Graham Sawyer	13,461	28.0	+1.4
	Liberal Democrat	Hugh Nicolson	5,610	11.7	−4.3
	Green	D Jones	970	2.0	N/A
Majority			14,504	30.2	−0.5
Turnout			48,006	75.7	+0.1
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	−0.2

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Barnsley West & Penistone
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Allen McKay	26,498	57.4
	Conservative	Alan Duncan	12,307	26.6
	Social Democratic	Richard Hall	7,409	16.0
Majority			14,191	30.7
Turnout				75.7
	Labour hold		Swing

The first general election in this constituency was won by Allen McKay, who had been the MP for the abolished Penistone constituency since 1978.

General Election 1983: Barnsley West & Penistone
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Allen McKay	22,560	50.8
	Conservative	G. Sawyer	12,218	27.5
	SDP–Liberal Alliance	J. Evans	9,624	21.7
Majority			10,342	23.3
Turnout				73.2
	New creation: Labour gain.		Swing	N/A

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in South Yorkshire

Notes and references

1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 1)
2. "Politics Resources". Election 1997. Politics Resources. 1 May 1997. Retrieved 2010-12-25.
3. C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, p.120 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995)
4. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 Dec 2010.

Sources

• BBC Election 2005
• BBC Vote 2001
• Guardian Unlimited Politics (Election results from 1992 to the present)
• Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources (1983 and 1987 results)