Middlesbrough (UK Parliament constituency)

Middlesbrough is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom,[n 1] recreated in 1974, and represented since 2012 in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Andy McDonald from the Labour Party.[n 2] An earlier version of the seat existed between 1868 and 1918.

Middlesbrough
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Middlesbrough in Cleveland
Location of Cleveland within England
County	North Yorkshire
Electorate	59,744 (2018)[1]
Current constituency
Created	1974
Member of Parliament	Andy McDonald (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Middlesbrough East and Middlesbrough West
1868–1918
Number of members	One
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Replaced by	Middlesbrough East and Middlesbrough West
Created from	North Riding of Yorkshire

History

First creation

Parliament created this seat under the Representation of the People Act 1867 for the general election the next year, however the population expanded so was split into east/west areas in 1918. From 1950 until 1974, given intervening expansion of suburbs across the country, the Metropolitan Borough of Thornaby closer to Stockton on Tees was included in the Middlesbrough West constituency. Thornaby was enveloped into Teesside County Borough from 1974 and has not been part of the associated seats otherwise.[2]

Second creation – current

The seat was recreated on similar boundaries to those which existed immediately before 1918.

Results of the winning party

The 2015 result made the seat the 36-safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority.[3]

Since the constituency's re-creation in 1974, Middlesbrough has elected the Labour Party's candidate as its MP.[n 3] In areas formerly part of Middlesbrough East, the MP has been Labour since 1950.[n 4]

Middlesbrough West took in rural and semi-rural areas outside the borough to the west, and was a marginal seat passing three times between the two largest parties after the Second World War, but a Liberal stronghold from 1918 until 1945; former soldier and iron and steel merchant Trevelyan Thomson ran unopposed at the polls for re-election in 1924.

Opposition parties

The 2012 by-election and 2015 general election saw UKIP finish second.[4] The Liberal Democrats fielded second-placed candidates in 2005 and 2010. The Conservatives did in all elections between the seat's revival and 2001, and returned to second place in 2017. The Green Party outpolled the Liberal Democrats in 2015 in a field of five parties' candidates standing — the two parties failed to achieve 5% of votes cast leading them to forfeit their deposits.

Turnout

Turnout has ranged between 70.1% in 1987 and 48.8% in 2005.

Boundaries

1868–1885: The township of Linthorpe, and so much of the townships of Middlesbrough, Ormesby, and Eston as lie to the north of the road leading from Eston towards Yarm.[5]

1974–1983: The County Borough of Teesside wards of Berwick Hills, Marton, North Ormesby, St Hilda's, Thorntree, and Tollesby.

1983–1997: The Borough of Middlesbrough wards of Acklam, Beckfield, Beechwood, Berwick Hills, Gresham, Grove Hill, Kirby, Linthorpe, North Ormesby, Pallister, Park, St Hilda's, Southfield, Thorntree, and Westbourne.

1997–2010: The Borough of Middlesbrough wards of Acklam, Ayresome, Beckfield, Beechwood, Berwick Hills, Brookfield, Gresham, Grove Hill, Kader, Kirby, Linthorpe, North Ormesby, Pallister, Park, St Hilda's, Southfield, Thorntree, and Westbourne.

2010–present: The Borough of Middlesbrough wards of Acklam, Ayresome, Beckfield, Beechwood, Brookfield, Clairville, Gresham, Kader, Grove Hill, Linthorpe, Middlehaven, North Ormesby and Brambles Farm, Pallister Park, Thorntree, and University.

The boundaries of the constituency are loosely based on the pre-1968 County Borough of Middlesbrough boundaries, which is now defined as the Borough (or Town) of Middlesbrough; the exclusions are its Easterside and Park End Wards, instead in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland.

Constituency profile

The constituency is mostly the urban city itself, largely in the sunset of its once world-leading steelmaking output. It suffers high unemployment and its adult population has mostly a low income; however, with modern advanced engineering, design and tourism, the city forms with nearby Redcar a bellwether for the North East region's economy firmly in the British forefront of a determined return to increasing national output.[6] In November 2012, male and female unemployment (based on the more up-to-date claimant statistics) placed Middlesbrough topmost of 29 constituencies in the region, well ahead for example the City of Durham at the bottom of the list, with just 3.4% claimants whereas this area had 9.4% claimants.[7]

In terms of housing stock, the authority is one of few authorities to see the proportion of detached and semi-detached homes increase (to 13.6% and 39.9%), in this instance this was coupled with a similar rise in flats to 11.9%, all at a loss to the share of terraced properties, down 4.7%.[8]

2010 general election

The film ToryBoy The Movie followed the election, directed by and starring John Walsh who documented how he became a candidate for the Conservative Party in Middlesbrough, challenging the sitting MP, Stuart Bell.[9][10] In 2011, Neil Macfarlane, in a report for local newspaperTeesside Gazette, asked "Are Teessiders getting enough from Sir Stuart Bell?" when he failed to answer over one hundred telephone calls made to his constituency office over a three-month period.[11] The Gazette story was picked up by national newspapers. The Independent asked "is Sir Stuart Bell Britain's laziest MP?"[12][13] The Guardian fact-checked the "laziest MP" claims and found that was false.[14] The Labour Party said it was looking into the allegations.[13][15]

Members of Parliament

MPs 1868–1918

Year		Member[16]	Whip
	1868	Henry Bolckow	Liberal
	1878	Isaac Wilson
	1892	Havelock Wilson
	1900	Samuel Sadler	Conservative
	1906	Havelock Wilson	Liberal
	1910	Penry Williams
	1918	constituency abolished

MPs since 1974

Election		Member[16]	Party
	Feb 1974	Arthur Bottomley	Labour
	1983	Stuart Bell
	2012 by-election	Andy McDonald

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Middlesbrough[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Andy McDonald	17,207	50.5	–15.2
	Conservative	Ruth Betson	8,812	25.8	-0.9
	Independent	Antony High	4,548	13.3	New
	Brexit Party	Faye Clements	2,168	6.4	New
	Liberal Democrats	Thomas Crawford	816	2.4	+1.4
	Green	Hugh Alberti	546	1.6	+0.9
Majority			8,390	24.7	–14.3
Turnout			34,097	56.1	–2.2
	Labour hold		Swing	-7.2

General election 2017: Middlesbrough[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Andy McDonald	23,404	65.7	+8.9
	Conservative	Jacob Young	9,531	26.7	+10.2
	UKIP	David Hodgson	1,452	4.1	-14.6
	Independent	Terry Lawton	632	1.8	New
	Liberal Democrats	Dawud Islam	368	1.0	-2.7
	Green	Carl Martinez	250	0.7	-3.6
Majority			13,873	39.0	+0.9
Turnout			35,637	58.3	+5.4
	Labour hold		Swing	−0.7

General election 2015: Middlesbrough[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Andy McDonald	18,584	56.8	+10.9
	UKIP	Nigel Baker	6,107	18.7	+15.0
	Conservative	Simon Clarke	5,388	16.5	-2.3
	Green	Hannah Graham	1,407	4.3	New
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Kilpatrick	1,220	3.7	−16.2
Majority			12,477	38.1	+12.1
Turnout			32,706	52.9	+1.5
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.0

2012 Middlesbrough by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Andy McDonald	10,201	60.5	+14.6
	UKIP	Richard Elvin	1,990	11.8	+8.1
	Liberal Democrats	George Selmer	1,672	9.9	−10.0
	Conservative	Ben Houchen	1,063	6.3	−12.5
	Peace	Imdad Hussain	1,060	6.3	New
	BNP	Peter Foreman	328	1.9	−3.9
	TUSC	John Malcolm	277	1.6	New
	Independent	Mark Heslehurst	275	1.6	New
Majority			8,211	48.7	+22.7
Turnout			16,866
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 2010: Middlesbrough[20][21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stuart Bell	15,351	45.9
	Liberal Democrats	Chris Foote-Wood	6,662	19.9
	Conservative	John Walsh	6,283	18.8
	Independent	Joan McTigue	1,969	5.9
	BNP	Michael Ferguson	1,954	5.8
	UKIP	Robert Parker	1,236	3.7
Majority			8,689	26.0
Turnout			33,455	51.4
	Labour win (new boundaries)

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Middlesbrough[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stuart Bell	18,562	57.8	−9.8
	Liberal Democrats	Joe Michna	5,995	18.7	+8.3
	Conservative	Caroline Flynn-Macleod	5,263	16.4	−2.7
	BNP	Ron Armes	819	2.5	New
	UKIP	Michael Landers	768	2.4	New
	Independent	Jackie Elder	503	1.6	New
	Independent	Derrick Arnott	230	0.7	New
Majority			12,567	39.1	-9.4
Turnout			32,140	48.8	−1.0
	Labour hold		Swing	−9.0

General election 2001: Middlesbrough[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stuart Bell	22,783	67.6	−3.9
	Conservative	Alex Finn	6,453	19.1	+2.1
	Liberal Democrats	Keith Miller	3,512	10.4	+1.9
	Socialist Alliance	Geoffrey Kerr-Morgan	577	1.7	New
	Socialist Labour	Kai Andersen	392	1.2	New
Majority			16,330	48.5	-5.7
Turnout			33,717	49.8	−15.2
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Middlesbrough[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stuart Bell	32,925	71.4
	Conservative	Liam Benham	7,907	17.2
	Liberal Democrats	Alison Charlesworth	3,934	8.5
	Referendum	Robert Edwards	1,331	2.9
Majority			25,018	54.2
Turnout			46,097	65.0
	Labour win (new boundaries)

General election 1992: Middlesbrough[25][26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stuart Bell	26,343	64.1	+4.4
	Conservative	Paul R. Rayner	10,559	25.7	+0.7
	Liberal Democrats	Rosamund Jordan	4,201	10.2	−5.1
Majority			15,784	38.4	+3.7
Turnout			41,103	69.8	−1.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.9

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Middlesbrough[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stuart Bell	25,747	59.7	+9.0
	Conservative	Robert Orr-Ewing	10,789	25.0	-2.6
	Liberal	Philip Hawley	6,594	15.3	-5.9
Majority			14,958	34.7	+11.6
Turnout			43,130	71.0	+4.6
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1983: Middlesbrough[28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stuart Bell	21,220	50.7
	Conservative	L.H. Campey	11,551	27.6
	Liberal	A.D. Sanders	8,871	21.2
	Workers Revolutionary	M.A. Simpson	207	0.5
Majority			9,669	23.1
Turnout			41,849	66.4
	Labour win (new boundaries)

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1979: Middlesbrough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur Bottomley	24,872	56.2	-5.6
	Conservative	C Fenwick	13,463	30.4	+6.0
	Liberal	Peter Freitag	4,023	9.1	-4.7
	Workers Revolutionary	M Simpson	1,018	2.3	New
	Independent Labour	J Wilcox	861	2.0	New
Majority			11,409	25.8	-11.6
Turnout			44,237	67.9	+6.7
	Labour hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Middlesbrough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur Bottomley	22,791	61.8	-4.5
	Conservative	Edward Leigh	8,984	24.4	-9.3
	Liberal	Chris Foote Wood	5,080	13.8	New
Majority			13,807	37.4	+4.8
Turnout			36,855	61.2	-8.2
	Labour hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Middlesbrough

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur Bottomley	27,324	66.3
	Conservative	Geoffrey Dickens	13,915	33.7
Majority			13,409	32.6
Turnout			41,239	69.4
	Labour win (new seat)

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1914/15:

A General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal:Penry Williams
• Unionist:

General election December 1910: Middlesbrough [29][30]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Penry Williams	10,313	61.1	+10.6
	Conservative	Thomas Gibson Poole	6,568	38.9	+3.6
Majority			3,745	22.2	+7.0
Turnout			16,881	77.6	−10.4
Registered electors			21,756
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.5

Walls

General election January 1910: Middlesbrough [29][30]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Penry Williams	9,670	50.5	-2.1
	Conservative	Arthur Charles Dorman	6,756	35.3	-3.7
	Labour	Patrick Walls	2,710	14.2	New
Majority			2,914	15.2	+1.6
Turnout			19,136	88.0	+1.3
Registered electors			21,756
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.8

Elections in the 1900s

Wilson

General election 1906: Middlesbrough [29][31]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Lib-Lab	Havelock Wilson	9,271	52.6	+2.8
	Conservative	Samuel Sadler	6,864	39.0	-11.2
	Independent Labour	George Lansbury	1,484	8.4	New
Majority			2,407	13.6	N/A
Turnout			17,619	86.7	+8.9
Registered electors			20,322
	Lib-Lab gain from Conservative		Swing	+7.0

Sadler

General election 1900: Middlesbrough [29][31][32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Samuel Sadler	6,760	50.2	+9.0
	Lib-Lab	Havelock Wilson	6,705	49.8	−9.0
Majority			55	0.4	N/A
Turnout			13,465	77.8	+1.6
Registered electors			17,307
	Conservative gain from Lib-Lab		Swing	+9.0

Elections in the 1890s

Wilson

General election 1895: Middlesbrough [29][31][32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Lib-Lab	Havelock Wilson	6,755	58.8	+25.2
	Conservative	Samuel Sadler	4,735	41.2	+13.6
Majority			2,020	17.6	N/A
Turnout			11,490	76.2	-3.4
Registered electors			15,077
	Lib-Lab gain from Independent Labour		Swing	N/A

Robson

General election 1892: Middlesbrough [29][31]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Labour	Havelock Wilson	4,691	38.8	New
	Liberal	William Robson	4,062	33.6	N/A
	Liberal Unionist	Hugh Bell	3,333	27.6	New
Majority			629	5.2	N/A
Turnout			12,086	79.6	N/A
Registered electors			15,192
	Independent Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1886: Middlesbrough [29][31]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Isaac Wilson	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

Dixon

General election 1885: Middlesbrough [29][31][33]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Isaac Wilson	6,961	63.3	+1.6
	Conservative	Raylton Dixon	4,035	36.7	+14.5
Majority			2,926	26.6	−12.9
Turnout			10,996	79.3	+10.6
Registered electors			13,864
	Liberal hold		Swing	-6.5

General election 1880: Middlesbrough[34]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Isaac Wilson	4,515	61.7	+2.3
	Conservative	Samuel Sadler	1,626	22.2	+6.3
	Lib-Lab	Edward Dillon Lewis[35]	1,171	16.0	−8.6
Majority			2,889	39.5	+4.7
Turnout			7,312	68.7	-1.9
Registered electors			10,641
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.4

Elections in the 1870s

By-election 5 July 1878: Middlesbrough[34]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Isaac Wilson	5,307	68.7	+9.3
	Conservative	Samuel Sadler	2,415	31.3	+6.7
Majority			2,892	37.4	+2.6
Turnout			7,722	65.3	-5.3
Registered electors			11,824
	Liberal hold		Swing	+1.4

• Caused by Bolckow's death.

General election 1874: Middlesbrough[34]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Henry Bolckow	3,719	59.4	N/A
	Lib-Lab	John Kane	1,541	24.6	New
	Conservative	William Randolph Innes Hopkins[36]	996	15.9	New
Majority			2,178	34.8	N/A
Turnout			6,256	70.6	N/A
Registered electors			8,862
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1868: Middlesbrough[34]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Henry Bolckow	Unopposed
Registered electors			5,196
	Liberal win (new seat)

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Cleveland

Notes and references

Notes

1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
2. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
3. Middlesbrough was revived for the February 1974 general election
4. Middlesbrough East contributed more than half of its former area to the modern boundaries (as variously drawn after 1974)

References

1. "England Parliamentary electorates 2010–2018". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
2. Thornaby MB – units covering this place A Vision of Britain history website; University of Portsmouth and others. Retrieved 17 April 2017
3. List of Labour MPs elected in 2015 by % majority UK Political.info. Retrieved 29 January 2017
4. "General Election Results from the Electoral Commission".
5. "Representation of the People Act 1867" (PDF). Retrieved 23 May 2020.
6. Constituency Profile The Guardian
7. Unemployment statistics The Guardian
8. "2011 census interactive maps". Archived from the original on 29 January 2016.
9. "No surgeries for 14 years - is Sir Stuart Bell Britain's laziest MP?". 8 September 2011.
10. "Are Teessiders getting enough from Sir Stuart Bell?". 6 September 2011.
11. gazettelive Administrator (6 September 2011). "Are Teessiders getting enough from Sir Stuart Bell?". gazettelive.
12. Jonathan Brown No surgeries for 14 years – is Sir Stuart Bell Britain's laziest MP?, Independent, 7 September 2011
13. Richard Moss Middlesbrough MP Sir Stuart Bell fights laziest MP tag, BBC, 9 September 2011
14. Polly Curtis (8 September 2011). "Reality check: Who are Britain's laziest parliamentarians?". The Guardian.: "Bell has been an MP for nearly 30 years and has had a distinguished career in parliament as a frontbench spokesman on trade and industry in opposition and the spokesman for the Church of England in the House of Commons and member of the House of Commons commission until last year. He's part of a breed of politicians – also including the Tory Edward Leigh and Labour's Gerald Kaufman – who have been extremely active parliamentarians but not always maintained an office in their constituency. One measure of their parliamentary work is the proportion of votes they turn up to."
15. gazettelive Administrator (8 September 2011). "Labour launches probe into Middlesbrough MP". gazettelive.
16. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 2)
17. "Election of a Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough" (PDF). Middlesbrough Council. 15 November 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
18. "Election 2017: Middlesbrough". BBC. 17 May 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
19. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
20. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
21. "UK > England > North East > Middlesbrough". Election 2010. BBC. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
22. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
23. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
24. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
25. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
26. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
27. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
28. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
29. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918, FWS Craig
30. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
31. The Liberal Year Book, 1907
32. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
33. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1886
34. Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
35. "Middlesbrough". Darlington & Stockton Times, Ripon & Richmond Chronicle. 20 March 1880. p. 5. Retrieved 4 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
36. "Latest Market News". Newcastle Courant. 9 February 1874. p. 8. Retrieved 6 January 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.

Sources

• Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.
• Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.