County West Yorkshire Created 1918 Number of members One | Electorate 73,487 (December 2010) Member of parliament Jon Trickett (Labour) | |
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Major settlements South Wakefield, Hemsworth and Featherstone | ||
Hemsworth is a constituency in West Yorkshire represented in the House of Commons since 1996 by Jon Trickett of the Labour Party.
Contents
Constituency profile
The constituency comprises former coal mining towns and villages that also provided some of the workforce for the manufacturing bases of the town of Barnsley to the south and cities of Wakefield and Leeds to the northwest. Many constituents still commute to these today. Nearby to the east over the border in North Yorkshire is Kellingley Colliery, one of six functional coal mines and only three deep mines still in major production. It is the Labour Party's longest held seat, having elected its first Labour MP in 1918, and been in continuous existence since that date.
History
From the 1966 to February 1974 general elections (inclusive), Hemsworth was the safest seat for any party in the UK: the Labour vote had peaked in 1966 at 85.39% and consistently exceeded 80% from 1935 until October 1974 when the Liberal Party contested the seat for the first time since 1923. Successive boundary changes removed certain ex-mining communities to the new Barnsley East constituency in 1983: this and the addition of the highest income part of Wakefield in 1997 slightly reduced Labour's dominance, but Hemsworth remains a safe seat.
The incumbent member at Westminster is Jon Trickett, former Leader of City of Leeds Council.
Boundaries
1918-1950: The Urban Districts of Cudworth and Royston, the Rural District of Hemsworth, and part of the Rural District of Barnsley.
1950-1983: The Urban Districts of Cudworth, Dearne, Hemsworth, and Royston, and the Rural District of Hemsworth.
1983-1997: The City of Wakefield wards of Crofton and Ackworth; Featherstone; Hemsworth; South Elmsall; and South Kirkby.
1997-2010: The City of Wakefield wards of Crofton and Ackworth; Featherstone; Hemsworth; South Elmsall; South Kirkby; and Wakefield South.
2010-present: The City of Wakefield wards of Ackworth, North Elmsall and Upton; Crofton, Ryhill and Walton; Featherstone; Hemsworth; South Elmsall and South Kirkby; and Wakefield South.
This constituency covers the towns of Hemsworth, Featherstone, South Kirkby & Moorthorpe and South Elmsall plus the southern part of Wakefield (Sandal, Agbrigg, Belle Vue) and the villages of Ackworth, Crofton, Fitzwilliam, Upton, Sharlston, Streethouse, Walton and Notton in the City of Wakefield district.
Elections in the 1940s
General Election 1939/40:
Another general election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;