Penistone and Stocksbridge (UK Parliament constituency)

Summary

Penistone and Stocksbridge is a constituency[n 1] in South Yorkshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Miriam Cates, a Conservative. As with all Westminster constituencies, adults qualifying to vote in the seat elect one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system at least every five years.

Penistone and Stocksbridge
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Outline map
Boundary of Penistone and Stocksbridge in South Yorkshire
Outline map
Location of South Yorkshire within England
CountySouth Yorkshire
Electorate70,311 (December 2019)[1]
Major settlementsStocksbridge, Penistone
Current constituency
Created2010
Member of ParliamentMiriam Cates (Conservative)
SeatsOne
Created fromSheffield Hillsborough (part) (still extant)
Barnsley West and Penistone (part)

Boundaries edit

 
Map of current boundaries

The Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley wards of Dodworth, Penistone East, and Penistone West, and the Sheffield wards of Stocksbridge and Upper Don, East Ecclesfield and West Ecclesfield.

Proposed edit

Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, the composition of the constituency from the next general election, due by January 2025, will be unchanged.[2]

History edit

The seat largely resembles the old Penistone constituency, which, following the election of a Conservative in the Conservative landslide in 1931, returned MPs representing the Labour Party through to its abolition in 1983.

In 1983, two new constituencies were formed, Sheffield Hillsborough and Barnsley West and Penistone, both of which returned Labour MPs at every election they were fought.

The 2010 result was that of a marginal Labour majority. In 2015, the Labour majority increased, partly due to a split right-wing vote between the Conservatives and UKIP, while the Liberal Democrats' vote decline largely benefited Labour in the seat.

When the UKIP vote declined in 2017, with a large amount of those voters going to the Conservatives causing a swing of almost 6% against Labour, the seat became extremely marginal.

Elected as a member of the Labour Party, MP Angela Smith quit the party in February 2019 and joined Change UK. She left this party in June 2019 and joined The Independents. She departed the parliamentary group in September 2019 and joined the Liberal Democrats. Smith chose not to defend her seat at the 2019 election; she instead contested Altrincham and Sale West for the Liberal Democrats, failing to gain the seat. At that election, Penistone and Stocksbridge was one of three seats gained by the Conservatives in South Yorkshire, the party's first seats there since before the 1997 general election.

Constituency profile edit

The seat is most heavily populated on its eastern fringe, with communities built largely on the coal and steel industries, such as the ex-mining village of Dodworth and the steelworking town of Stocksbridge. Penistone too has a history of steelworking at the David Brown and high-tech foundries, although many local people are or have been employed at the Hepworth pipeworks (formerly Hepworth Iron Co./Hepworth Building Products) which specialises in the manufacture of pipes, mains and domestic, and whose fortunes vary with demand in construction. To the south lie the densely populated northern Sheffield suburbs of Chapeltown with its rich industrial history, Ecclesfield, Grenoside and High Green. Between these urban areas are rural villages including Oxspring, Wortley, Green Moor and Thurgoland occupied mostly by commuters to Sheffield (as well as those for Leeds and Manchester). The western area of the constituency is in the Peak District National Park.

The seat contains three significant stately homes: Cannon Hall (home of the Spencer-Stanhope family of Pre-Raphaelites) is open to the public as the 13th/18th Royal Hussars Museum, while Wortley Hall (ancestral home of the Wortley-Montagu family) is largely used by trade unions and their families; the third is Wentworth Castle, where an adult educational establishment, Northern College, is based.[n 2]

Members of Parliament edit

Election Member[3] Party
2010 Angela Smith Labour
2019 Change UK
Independent
The Independents
Liberal Democrats
2019 Miriam Cates Conservative

Elections edit

Elections in the 2020s edit

Next general election: Penistone and Stocksbridge
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Robert Reiss[4]
Labour Marie Tidball[5]
Majority
Turnout

Elections in the 2010s edit

General election 2019: Penistone and Stocksbridge[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Miriam Cates 23,688 47.8   4.6
Labour Francyne Johnson 16,478 33.3   12.5
Liberal Democrats Hannah Kitching 5,054 10.2   6.1
Brexit Party John Booker 4,300 8.7  
Majority 7,210 14.5   11.9
Turnout 49,520 69.8  
Conservative gain from Labour Swing   8.6
General election 2017: Penistone and Stocksbridge[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Angela Smith 22,807 45.8   3.8
Conservative Nicola Wilson 21,485 43.2   15.5
UKIP John Booker 3,453 6.9   16.0
Liberal Democrats Penny Baker 2,042 4.1   2.2
Majority 1,322 2.6   11.7
Turnout 49,787 69.8   3.9
Labour hold Swing   5.8
General election 2015: Penistone and Stocksbridge[8][9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Angela Smith 19,691 42.0   4.2
Conservative Steven Jackson 12,968 27.7   3.5
UKIP Graeme Waddicar 10,738 22.9   18.7
Liberal Democrats Rosalyn Gordon 2,957 6.3   14.8
English Democrat Colin Porter 500 1.1  
Majority 6,723 14.3   7.7
Turnout 46,854 65.9   2.0
Labour hold Swing
General election 2010: Penistone and Stocksbridge[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Angela Smith* 17,565 37.8   7.4
Conservative Spencer Pitfield 14,516 31.2   7.5
Liberal Democrats Ian Cuthbertson 9,800 21.1   3.7
BNP Paul James 2,207 4.7 New
UKIP Grant French 1,936 4.2   2.5
English Democrat Paul McEnhill 492 1.1 New
Majority 3,049 6.6
Turnout 46,516 67.9   5.8
Labour win (new seat)
* Served as an MP in the 2005–2010 Parliament

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer).
  2. ^ These are open for most of the year, the former as a regimental museum and the latter for special events, thus providing recreational and tourism income alongside the Peak District.

References edit

  1. ^ "Constituency data: electorates – House of Commons Library". Parliament UK. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  2. ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 1 Part 9 Yorkshire and the Humber region.
  3. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "P" (part 1)
  4. ^ "Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidates". Mark Pack. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  5. ^ "Labour selections: parliamentary candidates selected so far for the general election". LabourList. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  6. ^ "Penistone & Stocksbridge Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  7. ^ "Penistone and Stocksbridge". Sheffield City Council. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  8. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  9. ^ "Penistone & Stocksbridge". BBC News. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  10. ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.

Sources edit

  • Sheffield Recommendations of the Boundary Commission for England.
  • Summary of the Sheffield Parliamentary Boundary Review.

53°30′29″N 1°36′25″W / 53.508°N 1.607°W / 53.508; -1.607