County Tyne and Wear Created 1918 European Parliament constituency North East England Number of members 1 | Electorate 60,795 (December 2010) Created from Newcastle-upon-Tyne Member of parliament Chi Onwurah Replaced by Newcastle-upon-Tyne | |
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Newcastle upon Tyne Central is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Chi Onwurah from Labour, a former head of OFCOM.
Contents
History
Parliament created this seat under the Representation of the People Act 1918 for the general election later that year. From its creation the constituency has been represented by members of the Labour and Conservative parties only. Since the 1987 general election, the seat has been served by an MP in the Labour Party.
Boundaries
1918-1950: The County Borough of Newcastle wards of All Saints, St John's, St Nicholas, Stephenson, and Westgate.
1950-1983: The County Borough of Newcastle wards of Armstrong, Byker, St Anthony's, St Nicholas, and Stephenson, and the Rural District of Newcastle.
1983-1997: The City of Newcastle wards of Blakelaw, Fenham, Jesmond, Kenton, Moorside, South Gosforth, and Wingrove.
1997-2010: The City of Newcastle wards of Blakelaw, Fenham, Jesmond, Kenton, Moorside, Sandyford, South Gosforth, and Wingrove.
2010-present: The City of Newcastle wards of Benwell and Scotswood, Blakelaw, Elswick, Fenham, Kenton, Westgate, West Gosforth, and Wingrove.
The constituency covers the central part of Newcastle upon Tyne, being one of three constituencies in the city. Between 1983 and 2010, the seat did not actually include the city's commercial centre, being instead part of the now-abolished Tyne Bridge constituency.
Constituency profile
The constituency is mostly the urban city itself, which has seen end its once export-leading shipbuilding industry, its adult population has mostly a middle or low income, however with modern advanced engineering, learning, design, graphics, production company headquarters and tourism the city forms is 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 total unemployment (based on the more up-to-date claimant statistics) placed the City of Newcastle in joint 17th place of 29 constituencies in the region, above, for example the City of Durham at the bottom of the list, with just 3.4% claimants whereas Newcastle had 6.0% claimants, identical to Sunderland Central.
Elections in the 2010s
David Robinson-Young was previously standing for UKIP in Newcastle Central, but has now moved to Newcastle East.
* Gareth Kane, Lib Dem candidate, was Councillor for Ouseburn Ward at the time of the General Election 2010