Sunderland Central (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 54°54′14″N 1°22′52″W / 54.904°N 1.381°W

Sunderland Central
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Sunderland Central in Tyne and Wear for the 2010 general election.
Location of Tyne and Wear within England.
County	Tyne and Wear
Electorate	76,292 (December 2010)[1]
Current constituency
Created	2010
Member of parliament	Julie Elliott (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Sunderland North, Sunderland South
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	North East England

Sunderland Central is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 2010 creation by Julie Elliott, a member of the Labour Party who was re-elected in the 2015 General Election.^{[n 2]}

Boundaries

Parliament accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which created this constituency for the 2010 general election, with electoral wards:

• Barnes, Fulwell, Hendon, Millfield, Pallion, Ryhope, St Michael’s, St Peter’s and Southwick.

The review abolished the former Sunderland North and Sunderland South constituencies. The reorganisation also created the Houghton and Sunderland South and Washington and Sunderland West constituencies.

History

This new constituency of Sunderland Central was fought for the first time at the 2010 general election.

Sunderland Central is a slightly more marginal seat than its predecessors with a swing of 12.8% from Labour to the Conservatives required for the latter party to win the seat in 2010. This is because it brings together virtually all of the areas of traditional Conservative strength into one seat, such as Fulwell and St.Michaels.

Local politics of wards in the seat

At the 2009 city council elections, held in thirds, the Conservatives carried five of Sunderland Central's nine wards, with Labour winning three and the Liberal Democrats one. However, at the next city council elections held on the same day as the 2010 general election, the Conservatives carried only two of Sunderland Central's nine wards, with Labour winning seven and the Liberal Democrats none.

Constituency profile

The City of Sunderland spans the River Wear and is southeast of Newcastle upon Tyne, with long distance train and air links, as such it is a base for companies, particularly those requiring a large labour force, including in graphic design and production through to customer service jobs in fields such as insurance and banking. The public sector is also a source of significant employment, providing a wide range of services. Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 higher than the national average of 3.8%, at 6.0% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian, one percentage point higher than Houghton and Sunderland South. Similarly the regional average stood at 5.7%.^[2]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[3]	Party
	2010	Julie Elliott	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Sunderland Central[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Julie Elliott	20,959	50.2	+4.3
	Conservative	Jeff Townsend	9,780	23.4	−6.7
	UKIP	Bryan George Foster[5]	7,997	19.1	+16.5
	Green	Rachel Sara Featherstone	1,706	4.1	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Adrian Page	1,105	2.6	−14.3
	Independent	Joseph Young	215	0.5	N/A
Majority			11,179	26.8
Turnout			41,762	57.0	+0.0
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.5

General Election 2010: Sunderland Central[6][7][8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Julie Elliott	19,495	45.9	−4.1
	Conservative	Lee Martin	12,770	30.1	+5.6
	Liberal Democrat	Paul Dixon	7,191	16.9	+0.1
	BNP	John McCaffrey	1,913	4.5	+1.4
	UKIP	Pauline Fentonby-Warren	1,094	2.6	+2.6
Majority			6,725	15.8
Turnout			42,463	57	+6.3
	Labour hold		Swing

See also

• City of Sunderland
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Tyne and Wear
• Houghton and Sunderland South
• Washington and Sunderland West

Notes and references

Notes

1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
2. 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. "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
2. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
3. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 6)
4. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
5. http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/2015guide/sunderlandcentral/
6. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
7. http://www.sunderland.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=8437&p=0
8. "BBC NEWS – Election 2010 – Sunderland Central". BBC News.