North West Durham (UK Parliament constituency)

North West Durham
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of North West Durham in County Durham.
Location of County Durham within England.
County	County Durham
Electorate	72,760 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1950 (1950)
Member of Parliament	Pat Glass (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Barnard Castle
1885 (1885)–1918 (1918)
Number of members	One
Type of constituency	County constituency
Replaced by	Consett
Created from	South Durham
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	North East England

North West Durham 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 to be a safe seat for the Labour Party; the majority of the electorate live in former mining or steel towns, where Labour traditionally poll higher than other parties. The current MP is Pat Glass, elected at the 2010 general election.

Boundaries

The constituency is located in the north west of County Durham, in the North East England region. It consists of the western part of the former Derwentside district (including Consett and Lanchester) and the northern part of the former Wear Valley district (including Weardale, Crook and Willington).

Boundary review

Following its review of parliamentary representation in County Durham, the Boundary Commission for England has made minor changes to the existing North West Durham seat. It will be fought at the UK general election in 2010

The electoral wards used in the creation of the modified seat are;

• Crook North, Crook South, Howden, Hunwick, St John’s Chapel, Stanhope, Tow Law and Stanley, Wheatbottom and Helmington Row, Willington Central, Willington West End, and Wolsingham and Witton-le-Wear from the former Wear Valley district
• Benfieldside, Blackhill, Burnhope, Burnopfield, Castleside, Consett East, Consett North, Consett South, Cornsay, Delves Lane, Dipton, Ebchester and Medomsley, Esh, Lanchester and Leadgate from the former Derwentside district

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885–1918

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Llewellyn Archer Atherley-Jones	Liberal
	1914 by-election	Aneurin Williams	Liberal
	1918	Constituency abolished

MPs since 1950

Election		Member	Party
1950		Constituency recreated
	1950	James Murray	Labour
	1955	William Ainsley	Labour
	1964	Ernest Armstrong	Labour
	1987	Hilary Armstrong	Labour
	2010	Pat Glass	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: North West Durham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Pat Glass	18,539	42.3	-11.6
	Liberal Democrat	Owen Temple	10,927	24.9	+5.0
	Conservative	Michelle Tempest	8,766	20.0	+3.6
	Independent	Watts Stelling	2,472	5.6	-4.2
	BNP	Michael Stewart	1,852	4.2	+4.2
	UKIP	Andrew McDonald	1,259	2.9	+2.9
Majority			7,612	17.4
Turnout			43,815	62.0	+4.2
	Labour hold		Swing	-8.3

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: North West Durham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hilary Armstrong	21,312	53.9	-8.6
	Liberal Democrat	Alan Ord	7,869	19.9	+5.0
	Conservative	Jamie Devlin	6,463	16.4	-4.5
	Independent	Watts Stelling	3,865	9.8	+9.8
Majority			13,443	34.0
Turnout			39,509	58.0	-0.5
	Labour hold		Swing	-6.8

General Election 2001: North West Durham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hilary Armstrong	24,526	62.5	-6.2
	Conservative	William Clouston	8,193	20.9	+5.6
	Liberal Democrat	Alan Ord	5,846	14.9	+4.1
	Socialist Labour	Joan Hartnell	661	1.7	N/A
Majority			16,333	41.6
Turnout			39,226	58.5	-10.2
	Labour hold		Swing	-5.9

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: North West Durham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hilary Armstrong	31,855	68.8	+10.7
	Conservative	Louise St John-Howe	7,101	15.3	-12.0
	Liberal Democrat	Anthony Gillings	4,991	10.8	-3.9
	Referendum Party	Rodney Atkinson	2,372	5.1	+5.1
Majority			24,754	53.5
Turnout			46,319	68.7	-6.8
	Labour hold		Swing	11.4

General Election 1992: North West Durham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hilary Armstrong	26,734	57.8	+6.9
	Conservative	Theresa May	12,747	27.6	-0.8
	Liberal Democrat	Tim Farron	6,728	14.6	-6.1
Majority			13,987	30.2	+7.7
Turnout			46,209	75.5	+2.0
	Labour hold		Swing	3.4

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: North West Durham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hilary Armstrong	22,947	50.9
	Conservative	D Iceton	12,785	28.36
	SDP–Liberal Alliance	C Foote Wood	9,349	20.74
Majority			10,162	22.54
Turnout			45,081	73.54

General Election 1983: North West Durham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest Armstrong	19,135	44.58
	Conservative	T Middleton	12,779	29.77
	SDP–Liberal Alliance	C Foote Wood	11,008	25.65
Majority			6,356	14.81
Turnout			42,923	70.66

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: North West Durham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest Armstrong	29,525	61.3
	Conservative	T Fenwick	14,245	29.58
	Liberal	J Hannibell	4,394	9.12
Majority			15,280	31.72
Turnout			48,161	75.98

General Election October 1974: North West Durham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest Armstrong	27,953	64.16
	Conservative	MJB Cookson	9,197	21.11
	Liberal	JK Forster	6,418	14.73
Majority			18,756	43.05
Turnout			43,566	71.09

General Election February 1974: North West Durham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest Armstrong	28,326	59.01
	Conservative	J Riddell	10,865	22.64
	Liberal	JK Forster	8,809	18.35
Majority			17,461	36.38
Turnout			47,999	79.09

General Election 1970: North West Durham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest Armstrong	24,245	69.6
	Conservative	AE Page	10,590	30.4
Majority			13,655	39.2
Turnout			34,834	72.85

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in County Durham