Batley and Spen (UK Parliament constituency)
Coordinates: 53°43′01″N 1°38′06″W / 53.717°N 1.635°W
| Batley and Spen | |
|---|---|
| County constituency | |
| for the House of Commons | |
 Boundary of Batley and Spen in West Yorkshire. |
|
 Location of West Yorkshire within England. |
|
| County | West Yorkshire |
| Electorate | 77,472 (December 2010)[1] |
| Major settlements | Batley, Cleckheaton, Birstall, Birkenshaw |
| Current constituency | |
| Created | 1983 |
| Member of Parliament | Mike Wood (Labour) |
| Number of members | One |
| Created from | Batley and Morley, Brighouse and Spenborough and Dewsbury |
| Overlaps | |
| European Parliament constituency | Yorkshire and the Humber |
Batley and Spen is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It is a marginal seat between Labour and the Conservatives.
Contents |
[edit] Boundaries
The constituency was created in 1983 from parts of the seats of Batley and Morley, Brighouse and Spenborough & Dewsbury. This West Yorkshire constituency covers Batley, Birkenshaw, Birstall, Cleckheaton, East Brierley, Gomersal, Hunsworth, and Liversedge. Traditionally Batley has been inclined to vote Labour, while the other settlements have been more inclined to vote Conservative. The exception is Cleckheaton which has returned Liberal Democrat members for the local council.
The seat swung in Labour's favour in the elections of 1997, 2001 and 2005 though the Conservatives reduced the Labour majority in 2010 with a swing below the national average.
For the purposes of the 2010 general election, a neighbouring town, Heckmondwike was added to the constituency. Heckmondwike, also considered to be part of the Spen Valley (although it was never included in the former Spenborough Urban district) is a ward that is typically a Labour/British National Party[2] stronghold, especially in the local elections. The BNP's representation in the town was cut in half due to a broad-based community campaign by Labour at the 2008 council elections which saw the sitting BNP councillor defeated.
The population in the district is diverse. Cleckheaton and many of the villages in the Spen Valley have few residents from non-white heritage backgrounds, while Batley has a sizeable number residents with South Asian backgrounds, namely Pakistani (9.2%) and Indian (Gujarati) (15.9%). Heckmondwike also has a sizeable South Asian community with 16.9% residents having Pakistani heritage.[3]
The seat did not exist in its present form prior to 1983. It has seen not insignificant boundary changes during that time - most notably those changes that took effect for the 1997 General Election.
[edit] Members of Parliament
| Election | Member [4] | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Elizabeth Peacock | Conservative | |
| 1997 | Mike Wood | Labour | |
[edit] Elections
[edit] Elections in the 2010s
| General Election 2010: Batley and Spen[5] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Mike Wood | 21,565 | 41.5 | −3.7 | |
| Conservative | Janice Small | 17,159 | 33.0 | +1.3 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Neil Bentley | 8,925 | 17.2 | +1.8 | |
| BNP | David Exley | 3,685 | 7.1 | +1.1 | |
| Green | Matt Blakeley | 605 | 1.2 | −0.5 | |
| Majority | 4,406 | 8.5 | |||
| Turnout | 51,939 | 67.7 | +6.9 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
[edit] Elections in the 2000s
| General Election 2005: Batley and Spen | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Mike Wood | 17,974 | 45.8 | −4.1 | |
| Conservative | Robert Light | 12,186 | 31.1 | −5.6 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Neil Bentley | 5,731 | 14.6 | +4.3 | |
| BNP | Colin Auty | 2,668 | 6.8 | N/A | |
| Green | Clive Lord | 649 | 1.7 | +0.2 | |
| Majority | 5,788 | 14.8 | |||
| Turnout | 39,208 | 62.3 | +1.8 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
| General Election 2001: Batley and Spen | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Mike Wood | 19,224 | 49.9 | +0.5 | |
| Conservative | Elizabeth Peacock | 14,160 | 36.7 | +0.4 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Kathryn Pinnock | 3,989 | 10.3 | +1.5 | |
| Green | Clive Lord | 595 | 1.5 | +0.7 | |
| UKIP | Allen Burton | 574 | 1.5 | N/A | |
| Majority | 5,064 | 13.2 | |||
| Turnout | 38,542 | 60.5 | −12.6 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
[edit] Elections in the 1990s
| General Election 1992:Batley and Spen[6] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Elizabeth Peacock | 27,629 | 45.4 | +2.0 | |
| Labour | Mrs EA Durkin | 26,221 | 43.1 | +2.0 | |
| Liberal Democrat | GJ Beever | 6,380 | 10.5 | -3.8 | |
| Green | CR Lord | 628 | 1.0 | +1.0 | |
| Majority | 1,408 | 2.3 | 0.0 | ||
| Turnout | 60,858 | 79.7 | +0.7 | ||
| Conservative hold | Swing | 0.0 | |||
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. http://www.boundarycommissionforengland.org.uk/electoral-figures/electoral-figures.htm. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
- ^ Kirklees Election Results 2007
- ^ Kirklees Census 2001
- ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 1)[self-published source?][better source needed]
- ^ "UK > England > Yorkshire & the Humber > Batley & Spen". Census 2010. BBC. 7 May 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/constituency/a19.stm. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
- ^ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge92/ge92index.htm. Retrieved 6 Dec 2010.
