Hexham (UK Parliament constituency)

Hexham
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Hexham in Northumberland.
Location of Northumberland within England.
County	Northumberland
Electorate	60,499 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1885 (1885)
Member of Parliament	Guy Opperman (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	North Northumberland and South Northumberland
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	North East England

Hexham is a county 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 considered a safe seat for the Conservative Party.

Colonel Douglas Clifton Brown, who was Speaker of the House of Commons during the latter years of the Second World War, represented the seat for two separate tenures. The current MP is Guy Opperman who was elected at the general election in May 2010.

Boundaries

The constituency is named after the town of Hexham in Northumberland. It includes the former Tynedale district and part of the former Castle Morpeth district. A mostly rural seat which houses much of Newcastle's commuting middle-class, Hexham was the only Conservative seat in the North East between 1997–2010, and the only one in Northumberland since 1973.

(Tynedale and Castle Morpeth district councils were abolished in April 2009 in favour of a unitary Northumberland County Council).

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Northumberland, the Boundary Commission for England has made only minor changes to the existing boundaries of the Hexham constituency. The electoral wards used in its formation are:

• The entire former district of Tynedale
• The former Castle Morpeth wards of Heddon-on-the-Wall, Ponteland East, Ponteland North, Ponteland South, Ponteland West, Stamfordham and Stannington

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Miles MacInnes	Liberal
	1892	Nathaniel George Clayton	Conservative
	1893	Miles MacInnes	Liberal
	1895	Wentworth Beaumont, later Viscount Allendale	Liberal
	1907 by-election	Richard Durning Holt	Liberal
	1918	Douglas Clifton Brown	Coalition Conservative
	1923	Victor Harold Finney	Liberal
	1924	Douglas Clifton Brown	Conservative
	1943		Speaker
	1951	Rupert Speir	Conservative
	1966	Geoffrey Rippon	Conservative
	1987	Alan Amos	Conservative
	1992	Peter Atkinson	Conservative
	2010	Guy Opperman	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Hexham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Guy Opperman	18,795	43.2	+0.8
	Liberal Democrat	Andrew Duffield	13,007	29.9	+4.2
	Labour	Antoine Tinnion	8,253	19.0	-11.4
	Independent	Steven Ford	1,974	4.5	+4.5
	BNP	Quentin Hawkins	1,205	2.8	+2.8
	Independent	Colin Moss	249	0.6	0.6
Majority			5,788	13.3
Turnout			43,483	70.8	+2.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.7

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Hexham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Atkinson	17,605	42.4	-2.2
	Labour	Kevin Graham	12,585	30.3	-8.3
	Liberal Democrat	Andrew Duffield	10,673	25.7	+10.7
	English Democrats	Ian Riddell	521	1.3	+1.3
	Imperial	Thomas Davison	129	0.3	+0.3
Majority			5,020	12.1
Turnout			41,513	68.8	-2.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.0

General Election 2001: Hexham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Atkinson	18,917	44.6	+5.8
	Labour	Paul Brannen	16,388	38.6	+0.4
	Liberal Democrat	Philip Latham	6,380	15.0	-2.4
	UKIP	Alan Patterson	728	1.7	-0.8
Majority			2,529	6.0
Turnout			42,413	70.9	-6.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Hexham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Atkinson	17,701	38.8
	Labour	Ian McMinn	17,479	38.2
	Liberal Democrat	Philip Carr	7,959	17.4
	Referendum Party	Robert Waddell	1,362	3.0
	UKIP	David Lott	1,170	2.6
Majority			222	0.5
Turnout			45,671	77.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1992: Hexham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Atkinson	24,967	52.4	+2.8
	Labour	ICF Swithenbank	11,529	24.2	+6.2
	Liberal Democrat	JC Wallace	10,344	21.7	−10.0
	Green	JP Hartshorne	781	1.6	+0.9
Majority			13,438	28.2	+10.3
Turnout			47,621	82.4	+2.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.7

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Hexham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Amos	22,370	49.59
	Liberal	E.M. Robson	14,304	31.71
	Labour	M.R. Wood	8,103	17.96
	Green	S.M. Wood	336	0.74
Majority			8,066	17.88
Turnout				80.04
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Hexham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Geoffrey Rippon	21,374	51.51
	Liberal	E.M. Robson	13,066	31.49
	Labour	Stephen Byers	7,056	17.00
Majority			8,308	20.02
Turnout				73.36
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Hexham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Geoffrey Rippon	25,483	47.98
	Labour	Stuart Bell	16,935	31.88
	Liberal	John Shipley	10,697	20.14
Majority			8,548	16.09
Turnout				79.52
	Conservative hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Northumberland

Notes and references

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Daventry	Constituency represented by the Speaker 1943–1951	Succeeded by Cirencester and Tewkesbury

54.971°N 2.101°W / 54.971; -2.101