Wakefield (UK Parliament constituency)

Wakefield
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Wakefield in West Yorkshire.
Location of West Yorkshire within England.
County	West Yorkshire
Electorate	71,531 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1997 (1997)
Member of Parliament	Mary Creagh (Labour)
Number of members	One
1832 (1832)–1997 (1997)
Number of members	One
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Created from	Yorkshire
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	Yorkshire and the Humber

Wakefield 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.

Boundaries

Following the review of parliamentary representation in West Yorkshire, the Boundary Commission for England revised the boundary of the Wakefield constituency, removing all the areas from Kirklees and adding wards from the abolished Normanton constituency.

At the 2010 General Election the Wakefield parliamentary constituency covered three-quarters of the West Yorkshire city of Wakefield and a number of villages to the west and south-west of the city. The seat includes six wards of the Wakefield Metropolitan District. They are Horbury and South Ossett, Ossett, Wakefield East, Wakefield North, Wakefield Rural and Wakefield West. Wakefield has a history of returning Labour MPs since 1932 and has been considered a safe Labour seat.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	1832	Daniel Gaskell	Liberal
	1837	William Saunders Sebright Lascelles	Conservative
	1841	Joseph Holdsworth	Liberal
	1842	William Saunders Sebright Lascelles	Conservative
	1847	George Sandars	Conservative
	1857	John Charlesworth Dodgson-Charlesworth	Conservative
	1859	Both candidates disqualified for bribery, and borough went unrepresented until new writ issued
	1862 by-election	John Charles Dalrymple Hay	Conservative
	1865	William Henry Leatham	Liberal
	1868	Somerset Archibald Beaumont	Liberal
	1874	Edward Green	Conservative	Election declared void on petition
	1874 by-election	Thomas Kemp Sanderson	Conservative
	1880	Robert Bownas Mackie	Liberal	Died in office
	1885 by-election	Edward Green	Conservative
	1892	Albany Hawkes Charlesworth	Conservative
	1895	Viscount Milton	Conservative	Succeeded his grandfather in 1902 as the 7th Earl FitzWilliam
	1902 by-election	Edward Allen Brotherton	Conservative
	1910	Arthur Harold Marshall	Liberal
	1918	Edward Allen Brotherton	Conservative
	1922	Robert Geoffrey Ellis	Conservative
	1923	George Henry Sherwood	Labour
	1924	Robert Geoffrey Ellis	Conservative
	1929	George Henry Sherwood	Labour
	1931	George Brown Hillman	Conservative	Died in office
	1932 by-election	Arthur Greenwood	Labour
	1954 by-election	Arthur Creech Jones	Labour
	1964	Walter Harrison	Labour
	1987	David Hinchliffe	Labour
	2005	Mary Creagh	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Wakefield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mary Creagh	17,454	39.3	−4.8
	Conservative	Alex Story	15,841	35.6	+9.1
	Liberal Democrat	David Stewart Smith	7,256	16.3	−2.5
	BNP	Ian Senior	2,581	5.8	+2.7
	Green	Miriam Hawkins	873	2.0	-1.0
	Independent	Mark Harrop	439	1.0	+1.0
Majority			1,613	3.6	−8.6
Turnout			44,444	62.7	+1.3
	Labour hold		Swing	−6.9

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Wakefield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mary Creagh	18,802	43.3	−6.6
	Conservative	Alec Shelbrooke	13,648	31.5	+0.9
	Liberal Democrat	David Ridgway	7,063	16.3	+3.9
	BNP	Grant Rowe	1,328	3.1	N/A
	Green	Derek Hardcastle	1,297	3.0	+0.4
	UKIP	John Upex	467	1.1	−0.5
	English Democrats	Adrian McEnhill	356	0.8	N/A
	Socialist Alternative	Mick Griffiths	319	0.7	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Linda Sheridan	101	0.2	−1.3
Majority			5,154	11.9	−7.6
Turnout			43,381	59.3	+4.8
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.7

General Election 2001: Wakefield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Hinchliffe	20,592	49.9	−7.5
	Conservative	Thelma Karran	12,638	30.6	+2.2
	Liberal Democrat	Dale Douglas	5,097	12.4	+1.2
	Green	Sarah Greenwood	1,075	2.6	N/A
	UKIP	Janice Cannon	677	1.6	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Abdul Aziz	634	1.5	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	Mick Griffiths	541	1.3	N/A
Majority			7,954	19.3	−9.6
Turnout			41,254	54.5	−14.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Wakefield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Hinchliffe	28,977	57.4	+6.8
	Conservative	Jonathan Peacock	14,373	28.5	−9.8
	Liberal Democrat	Douglas Dale	5,656	11.2	+0.1
	Referendum Party	Simon Shires	1,480	2.9	N/A
Majority			14,604	28.9	+16.6
Turnout			50,486	68.9	−7.3
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1992: Wakefield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Hinchliffe	26,964	50.6	+4.0
	Conservative	DP Fanthorpe	20,374	38.3	−3.0
	Liberal Democrat	TJ Wright	5,900	11.1	−1.0
Majority			6,590	12.4	+7.1
Turnout			53,238	76.2	+0.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.5

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in West Yorkshire