Middlesbrough (UK Parliament constituency)

History

Parliament created this seat under the Representation of the People Act 1867 for the general election the next year, however the population expanded so was split into east/west areas in 1918. From its second creation for the February 1974 general election, the seat has been served by an MP in the Labour Party.

The 2012 by-election result was remarkable in seeing UKIP finish second, behind the large winning Labour share of the vote which would have seen Labour ranked 17th (behind 9 Scottish seats and 8 English seats) against their results for 2010 in the 632 mainland seats.

Boundaries

1974-1983: The County Borough of Teesside wards of Berwick Hills, Marton, North Ormesby, St Hilda's, Thorntree, and Tollesby.

1983-1997: The Borough of Middlesbrough wards of Acklam, Beckfield, Beechwood, Berwick Hills, Gresham, Grove Hill, Kirby, Linthorpe, North Ormesby, Pallister, Park, St Hilda's, Southfield, Thorntree, and Westbourne.

1997-2010: The Borough of Middlesbrough wards of Acklam, Ayresome, Beckfield, Beechwood, Berwick Hills, Brookfield, Gresham, Grove Hill, Kader, Kirby, Linthorpe, North Ormesby, Pallister, Park, St Hilda's, Southfield, Thorntree, and Westbourne.

2010-present: The Borough of Middlesbrough wards of Acklam, Ayresome, Beckfield, Beechwood, Brookfield, Clairville, Gresham, Kader, Linthorpe, Middlehaven, North Ormesby and Brambles Farm, Pallister, Park, Thorntree, and University.

The boundaries of the constituency are loosely based on the pre 1968 County Borough of Middlesbrough boundaries, which is now defined as the Borough (or Town) of Middlesbrough; the exclusions are its Easterside and Park End Wards, instead in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland.

Constituency profile

The constituency is mostly the urban city itself, largely in the sunset of its once world-leading steel-making output, its adult population has mostly a low income with high unemployment, however with modern advanced engineering, design and tourism the city forms with nearby Redcar a bellwether for the North East region's economy firmly in the British forefront of a determined return to increasing national output. In November 2012 male and female unemployment (based on the more up-to-date claimant statistics) placed Middlesbrough topmost of 29 constituencies in the region, well ahead for example the City of Durham at the bottom of the list, with just 3.4% claimants whereas this area had 9.4% claimants.

In terms of housing stock, the authority is one of few authorities to see the proportion of detached and semi-detached homes increase (to 13.6% and 39.9%), in this instance this was coupled with a similar rise in flats to 11.9%, all at a loss to the share of terraced properties, down 4.7%.

ToryBoy The Movie

ToryBoy The Movie is a British documentary feature film directed by and starring John Walsh. It follows Walsh as he becomes a political candidate for the Conservative Party in the north east England constituency of Middlesbrough. A staunch Labour Party supporter all his life, Walsh had become disillusioned with the party. When David Cameron opened the door to allow non-party members to run for the Conservative candidacy ahead of the 2010 General Election. The claims made about Sir Stuart Bell became national news with some newspapers suggesting he may be "Britain's Laziest MP". This led to further local investigation Neil Macfarlane a report for the Teesside Gazette asked "Are Teessiders getting enough from Sir Stuart Bell?" when he failed to answer over 100 telephone calls made to his consistency office, as outlined in the film.

Elections in the 2010s

UKIP originally selected Ian Neil but later changed to Nigel Baker.

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1914/15:

A General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;