Wansbeck (UK Parliament constituency)

Wansbeck
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Wansbeck in Northumberland.
Location of Northumberland within England.
County	Northumberland
Electorate	62,395 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1983 (1983)
Member of Parliament	Ian Lavery (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Morpeth
1885 (1885)–1950 (1950)
Number of members	One
Type of constituency	County constituency
Replaced by	Morpeth
Created from	South Northumberland
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	North East England

Wansbeck is a parliamentary 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

A seat containing former mining towns and villages like Bedlington and Ashington, this is safely Labour with the Liberal Democrats being the main challengers.

Boundary review

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

• The entire former district of Wansbeck; and
• The wards of Hebron, Hepscott and Mitford, Morpeth Central, Morpeth Kirkhill, Morpeth North, Morpeth South, Morpeth Stobhill and Pegswood from the former borough of Castle Morpeth.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885-1950

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Charles Fenwick	Lib-Lab
	1918	Robert Mason	Liberal
	1918		Coalition Liberal
	1922	George Henry Warne	Labour
	1929	George William Shield	Labour
	1931	Bernard Cruddas	Conservative
	1940	Donald Scott	Conservative
	1945	Alfred Robens	Labour
	1950	Constituency abolished

MPs since 1983

Election		Member	Party
	1983	Jack Thompson	Labour
	1997	Denis Murphy	Labour
	2010	Ian Lavery	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Wansbeck
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ian Lavery	17,548	45.9	-9.3
	Liberal Democrat	Simon Reed	10,517	27.5	+1.0
	Conservative	Campbell Storey	6,714	17.5	+2.6
	BNP	Stephen Finlay	1,481	3.7	+3.7
	UKIP	Linda-Lee Stokoe	974	2.5	+2.5
	Green	Nic Best	601	1.6	-1.8
	Independent	Malcolm Reid	359	0.9	+0.9
	Christian	Michael Flynn	142	0.4	+0.4
Majority			7,031	18.4	-10.3
Turnout			38,273	60.7	+2.3
	Labour hold		Swing	-5.2

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Wansbeck
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denis Murphy	20,315	55.2	−2.6
	Liberal Democrat	Simon Reed	9,734	26.4	+3.6
	Conservative	Ginny Scrope	5,515	15.0	+2.2
	Green	Nic Best	1,245	3.4	+0.9
Majority			10,581	28.7	-6.3
Turnout			36,809	58.4	−0.9
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.1

General Election 2001: Wansbeck
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denis Murphy	21,617	57.8	-7.7
	Liberal Democrat	Alan Thompson	8,516	22.8	+6.8
	Conservative	Rachael Lake	4,774	12.8	-1.2
	Independent	Michael Kirkup	1,076	2.9	N/A
	Green	Nic Best	954	2.5	+0.4
	UKIP	Gavin Attwell	482	1.3	N/A
Majority			13,101	35.0	-14.5
Turnout			37,419	59.3	-12.3
	Labour hold		Swing	-7.3

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Wansbeck
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Denis Murphy	29,569	65.5	+5.8
	Liberal Democrat	Alan Thompson	7,202	15.9	+0.6
	Conservative	Paul Green	6,299	13.9	-9.7
	Referendum Party	P Gompertz	1,146	2.5	N/A
	Green	Nic Best	956	2.1	+0.7
Majority			22,367	49.5	+13.4
Turnout			45,172	71.7	-7.6
	Labour hold		Swing	+7.8

General Election 1992: Wansbeck
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jack Thompson	30,046	59.7	+2.2
	Conservative	Glen Sanderson	11,872	23.6	+4.2
	Liberal Democrat	Brian Priestley	7,691	15.3	-7.8
	Green	Nic Best	710	1.4	+1.4
Majority			18,174	36.1	-21.4
Turnout			50,319	79.3	+1.3
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.0

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Wansbeck
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jack Thompson	28,080	57.5	+10.5
	SDP–Liberal Alliance	S Mitchell	11,291	23.1	-7.0
	Conservative	D Walton	9,490	19.4	-3.5
Majority			16,789	34.4	+17.4
Turnout			48,861	78.0	+5.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+8.8

General Election 1983: Wansbeck
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jack Thompson	21,732	47.0	N/A
	SDP–Liberal Alliance	J A Thompson	13,901	30.1	N/A
	Conservative	C Mitchell	10,563	22.9	N/A
Majority			7,831	17.0	N/A
Turnout			46,196	72.8	N/A
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1940s

Wansbeck by-election, 1940
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Scott	unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1920s

Wansbeck by-election, 1929
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Warne	20,398	58.0	+5.1
	Conservative	I.M. Moffat-Pender	9,612	27.3	−19.8
	Liberal	H.A. Briggs	5,183	14.7	N/A
Majority			10,786	30.7	+24.9
Turnout			35,193	65.3	−14.1
	Labour hold		Swing	+14.5

Elections in the 1910s

Wansbeck by-election, 1918
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert Mason	5,814
	Labour	Ebenezer Edwards	5,267
Majority			547
	Liberal hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Northumberland
• Wansbeck by-election, 1929
• Wansbeck by-election, 1940
• Wansbeck by-election, 1918

Sources

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd edition ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.