Batley and Spen (UK Parliament constituency)
Coordinates: 53°43′01″N 1°38′06″W / 53.717°N 1.635°W
Batley and Spen | |
---|---|
County constituency for the House of Commons | |
Boundary of Batley and Spen in West Yorkshire. | |
Location of West Yorkshire within England. | |
County | West Yorkshire |
Population | 107,899 (2011 census)[1] |
Electorate | 77,472 (December 2010)[2] |
Major settlements | Batley, Cleckheaton, Birstall, Birkenshaw |
Current constituency | |
Created | 1983 |
Member of parliament | Jo Cox (Labour) |
Number of members | One |
Created from | Batley and Morley, Brighouse and Spenborough and Dewsbury |
Overlaps | |
European Parliament constituency | Yorkshire and the Humber |
Batley and Spen /bætli ənd spɛn/ normally: /bæʔli ənd spɛn/ is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Jo Cox of the Labour Party.[n 2]
Constituency profile
The area is in the rolling Pennines of West Yorkshire with considerable commerce, industry, retail and occupational trades carried out by most of its residents and a sizeable retired population, compared to city centres. A lower percentage of social housing is present than the regional average, however most of the larger settlements have some social housing.[3] The population in the district is diverse. Cleckheaton and many of the villages in the Spen Valley have few residents from non-white heritage backgrounds, while Batley has a sizeable number residents with South Asian backgrounds, namely Pakistani (9.2%) and Indian (Gujarati) (15.9%). Heckmondwike also has a well-established South Asian community with 16.9% residents having Pakistani heritage.[4]
The results of the last fifty years show marginal majorities for Labour and for the Conservatives.
Boundaries
1983-1997: The Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees wards of Batley East, Batley West, Birstall and Birkenshaw, Cleckheaton, Heckmondwike, and Spen.
1997-2010: The Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees wards of Batley East, Batley West, Birstall and Birkenshaw, Cleckheaton, and Spen.
2010–present: The Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees wards of Batley East, Batley West, Birstall and Birkenshaw, Cleckheaton, Heckmondwike, and Liversedge and Gomersal.
The constituency was created in 1983 from parts of the seats of Batley and Morley, Brighouse and Spenborough & Dewsbury. This West Yorkshire constituency covers Batley, Birkenshaw, Birstall, Cleckheaton, East Bierley, Gomersal, Hunsworth, and Liversedge. Traditionally Batley and Heckmondwike have been inclined to vote Labour, while the other settlements have been more inclined to vote Conservative. The exception is Cleckheaton which has returned Liberal Democrat members for the local council.
The seat swung in Labour's favour in the elections of 1997, 2001 and 2005 though the Conservatives reduced the Labour majority in 2010 with a swing below the national average.
History
The seat did not exist in its present form prior to 1983. It has seen not insignificant boundary changes during that time - most notably those changes that took effect for the 1997 General Election.
For the purposes of the 2010 general election, a neighbouring town, Heckmondwike was re-added to the constituency having previously been in the seat from its creation in 1983 until 1997 when it was transferred to Dewsbury where it remained for the next 13 years. Heckmondwike ward, also considered to be part of the Spen Valley (although it was never included in the former Spenborough Urban district) has in recent years been a Labour-BNP[5] marginal, especially in the local elections. The BNP's representation in the town was cut in half due to a broad-based community campaign by Labour at the 2008 local council elections which saw the sitting BNP councillor defeated and to date that party's share of the vote has not exceeded 7.1% at General Elections (2010).
Members of Parliament
Election | Member[6] | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
1983 | Elizabeth Peacock | Conservative | |
1997 | Mike Wood | Labour | |
2015 | Jo Cox | Labour |
Elections
Elections in the 2010s
General Election 2015: Batley and Spen[7][8] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Labour | Jo Cox | 21,826 | 43.2 | +1.7 | |
Conservative | Imtiaz Ameen | 15,769 | 31.2 | -1.8 | |
UKIP | Aleks Lukic | 9,080 | 18.0 | +18.0 | |
Liberal Democrat | John Lawson | 2,396 | 4.7 | -11.1 | |
Green | Ian Bullock | 1,232 | 2.4 | +1.3 | |
TUSC | Dawn Wheelhouse | 123 | 0.2 | +0.2 | |
Patriotic Socialist | Karl Varley | 53 | 0.1 | +0.1 | |
Majority | 6,057 | 12.0 | |||
Turnout | 50,479 | 64.4 | |||
Labour hold | Swing | +1.7 | |||
General Election 2010: Batley and Spen[9][10] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Labour | Michael Roy Wood | 21,565 | 41.5 | −3.7 | |
Conservative | Janice Small | 17,159 | 33.0 | +1.3 | |
Liberal Democrat | Neil Bentley | 8,925 | 17.2 | +1.8 | |
BNP | David Exley | 3,685 | 7.1 | +1.1 | |
Green | Matt Blakeley | 605 | 1.2 | −0.5 | |
Majority | 4,406 | 8.5 | |||
Turnout | 51,939 | 67.7 | +6.9 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | ||||
Elections in the 2000s
General Election 2005: Batley and Spen[11] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Labour | Michael Roy Wood | 17,974 | 45.8 | −4.1 | |
Conservative | Robert Light | 12,186 | 31.1 | −5.6 | |
Liberal Democrat | Neil Bentley | 5,731 | 14.6 | +4.3 | |
BNP | Colin Auty | 2,668 | 6.8 | N/A | |
Green | Clive Richard Lord | 649 | 1.7 | +0.2 | |
Majority | 5,788 | 14.8 | |||
Turnout | 39,208 | 62.3 | +1.8 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +0.8 | |||
General Election 2001: Batley and Spen[12] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Labour | Michael Roy Wood | 19,224 | 49.9 | +0.5 | |
Conservative | Elizabeth Peacock | 14,160 | 36.7 | +0.4 | |
Liberal Democrat | Kathryn Mary Pinnock | 3,989 | 10.3 | +1.5 | |
Green | Clive Richard Lord | 595 | 1.5 | +0.7 | |
UKIP | Allen Frederick Burton | 574 | 1.5 | N/A | |
Majority | 5,064 | 13.2 | |||
Turnout | 38,542 | 60.5 | −12.6 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +0.1 | |||
Elections in the 1990s
General Election 1997: Batley and Spen[13] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Labour | Michael Roy Wood | 23,213 | 49.4 | +6.3 | |
Conservative | Elizabeth Peacock | 17,072 | 36.4 | −9.0 | |
Liberal Democrat | Kathryn Mary Pinnock | 4,133 | 8.8 | −1.7 | |
Referendum | Ed O.C. Wood | 1,691 | 0.5 | N/A | |
BNP | Ron A. Smith | 472 | 0.5 | N/A | |
Green | Clive Richard Lord | 384 | 0.8 | −0.2 | |
Majority | 6,141 | 13.1 | |||
Turnout | 46,965 | 73.2 | −6.5 | ||
Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | +7.7 | |||
General Election 1992: Batley and Spen[14][15] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Conservative | Elizabeth Peacock | 27,629 | 45.4 | +2.0 | |
Labour | Eunice A. Durkin | 26,221 | 43.1 | +2.0 | |
Liberal Democrat | Gordon J. Beever | 6,380 | 10.5 | −3.8 | |
Green | Clive Richard Lord | 628 | 1.0 | N/A | |
Majority | 1,408 | 2.3 | 0.0 | ||
Turnout | 60,858 | 79.7 | +0.7 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | 0.0 | |||
Elections in the 1980s
General Election 1987: Batley and Spen[16] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Conservative | Elizabeth Peacock | 25,512 | 43.4 | +4.1 | |
Labour | Kenneth John Woolmer | 24,150 | 41.1 | +3.5 | |
Social Democratic | Keith Burke | 8,372 | 14.3 | −7.2 | |
Moderate Labour | Allan Harrison | 689 | 1.2 | N/A | |
Majority | 1,365 | 2.3 | |||
Turnout | 58,723 | 79.0 | +5.6 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +0.3 | |||
General Election 1983: Batley and Spen[17] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Conservative | Elizabeth Peacock | 21,433 | 39.6 | N/A | |
Labour | Kenneth John Woolmer | 20,563 | 38.0 | N/A | |
Social Democratic | Stephen Woollery | 11,678 | 21.5 | N/A | |
Ecology | Clive Richard Lord | 493 | 0.9 | N/A | |
Majority | 870 | 1.6 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 54,167 | 73.4 | N/A | ||
Conservative win (new seat) | |||||
See also
Notes and references
- Notes
- ↑ A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
- ↑ 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
- ↑ "Batley and Spen: Usual Resident Population, 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
- ↑ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
- ↑ 2001 census
- ↑ Kirklees Census 2001
- ↑ Kirklees Election Results 2007
- ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 1)
- ↑ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ↑ "Batley & Spen". BBC News. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
- ↑ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ↑ "UK > England > Yorkshire & the Humber > Batley & Spen". Census 2010. BBC. 7 May 2010. Archived from the original on 1 May 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
- ↑ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ↑ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ↑ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ↑ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ↑ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
- ↑ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ↑ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.