County Lancashire Created 1983 Member of parliament Jake Berry | Electorate 73,443 (December 2010) European Parliament constituency North West England Number of members 1 | |
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Created from Rossendale, Darwen and Heywood & Royton Replaced by Rossendale, Darwen, Heywood and Royton | ||
Rossendale and Darwen is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Jake Berry, a Conservative.
Contents
Boundaries
1983-1997: The Borough of Rossendale, and the Borough of Blackburn wards of Earcroft, Marsh House, North Turton, Sudell, Sunnyhurst, and Whitehall.
1997-2010: All the wards of the Borough of Rossendale except the Greenfield and Worsley wards, and the Borough of Blackburn wards of Earcroft, Marsh House, North Turton, Sudell, Sunnyhurst, and Whitehall.
2010-present: The Borough of Rossendale wards of Cribden, Eden, Facit and Shawforth, Goodshaw, Greensclough, Hareholme, Healey and Whitworth, Helmshore, Irwell, Longholme, Stacksteads, and Whitewell, and the Borough of Blackburn with Darwen wards of Earcroft, East Rural, Fernhurst, Marsh House, North Turton with Tockholes, Sudell, Sunnyhurst, and Whitehall.
Proposed Boundary Changes For the 2020 general election it is proposed that Fernhurst ward will be moved to Blackburn constituency and Worsley and Greenfield wards will move from Hyndburn back to Rossendale and Darwen constituency. This is subject to confirmation.
Constituency profile
The constituency consists of Census Output Areas of two local government districts with similar characteristics: a working population whose income is close to the national average but varying reliance upon social housing in relative terms to the national average. At the end of 2012 the unemployment rate in the constituency stood as 3.5% of the population claiming jobseekers allowance, compared to the regional average of 4.2%.
The borough of Rossendale that contributes to the bulk of the population has a 21.5% of its population without a car, whereas this is 30.5% in Blackburn and outside of the seat in Burnley is 32.3%. A relatively high 24% of Rossendale's population were in 2001 without qualifications and a high 25.1% were with level 4 qualifications or above. A higher share, 28.7% of Blackburn's population lacked qualifications, however 19.8% of its population had Level 4 qualifications or above.
In terms of tenure 69.6% of homes are owned outright or on a mortgage as at the 2011 census across the Rossendale district; this compares to a similar 63.7% across Blackburn. Whereas in Ribble Valley to the north 76.6% of homes fall within this category, in Leeds the figure is 58.2% and in Manchester just 37.8%.
History
This constituency was created in 1983 and has alternated between the two largest parties' MPs during this time; since 1997 the constituency has been a bellwether of the national result.