Sedgefield (UK Parliament constituency)

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Sedgefield County constituency

Sedgefield shown within County Durham, and County Durham shown within England
Created:	1918, 1983
MP:	Tony Blair
Party:	Labour
Type:	House of Commons
County:	County Durham
EP constituency:	North East England

Sedgefield is a constituency represented on 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. Sedgefield is situated in County Durham, an area renowned for its mining history and very strong affiliation to the Labour Party.

1 Boundaries
- 1.1 Boundary review
2 History
3 Members of Parliament
4 Elections
- 4.1 Elections in the 2000s
- 4.2 Elections in the 1990s
5 See also

[edit] Boundaries

The seat, in County Durham in the North East region of England, comprises:

most of the Borough of Sedgefield, including Sedgefield town, Newton Aycliffe, Ferryhill and parts of Trimdon
most of the area (but not the electorate) of the Borough of Darlington, surrounding the actual town of Darlington on 3 sides
in the south of Easington district, Wingate, Thornley, Wheatley Hill and the rest of Trimdon.

[edit] Boundary review

Following the review of parliamentary representation in County Durham, the Boundary Commission for England has made only minor changes to the Sedgefield constituency. It will be fought on the new boundaries at the 2009 or 2010 UK general election.

The electoral wards used in the modified seat are;

Bishop Middleham and Cornforth, Broom, Chilton, Ferryhill, Fishburn and Old Trimdon, Greenfield Middridge, Neville and Simpasture, New Trimdon and Trimdon Grange, Sedgefield, Shafto St Marys, West and Woodham from Sedgefield.
Thornley and Wheatley Hill, and Wingate from Easington
Heighington and Coniscliffe, Hurworth, Middleton St George, and Sadberge and Whessoe from Darlington

[edit] History

The constituency has been in use for two separate periods. It was first created in time for the 1918 general election, and then abolished in 1974. It was recreated in 1983 and has existed ever since.

[edit] Members of Parliament

Sedgefield attracts much attention as the current MP is Tony Blair, leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister. Tony Blair has been the constituency's only MP since its re-creation in 1983.

Constituency created (1918)
1918 — 1922: Rowland Burdon, Conservative
1922 — 1923: John Herriotts, Labour
1923 — 1929: Leonard Ropner, Conservative
1929 — 1931: John Herriotts, Labour
1931 — 1935: Roland Jennings, Conservative
1935 — 1950: John Leslie, Labour
1950 — 1970: Joseph Slater, Labour
1970 — 1974: David Reed, Labour
Constituency abolished (1974)
Constituency recreated (1983)
1983 - present: Tony Blair, Labour

[edit] Elections

[edit] Elections in the 2000s

General election of 2005

In the 2005 election Tony Blair was returned as MP for Sedgefield. Sedgefield also had more candidates standing, 15, than any other constituency in the UK. One candidate, Reg Keys, was the father of a military policeman killed while serving in Iraq and a founder member of Military Families Against the War. He stood on a platform of opposition to the Iraq War.

General Election 2005: Sedgefield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Blair	24,421	58.9	-6.0
	Conservative	Gp Capt Al Lockwood	5,972	14.4	-6.5
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Browne	4,935	11.9	+2.9
	Independent (politician)	Reg Keys	4,252	10.3
	UK Independence	William Brown	646	1.6	-0.8
	National Front	Mark Farrell	253	0.6
	Veritas	Fiona Luckhurst-Matthews	218	0.5
	Independent (politician)	Berony Abraham	205	0.5
	Monster Raving Loony	Melodie Staniforth	157	0.4
	Blair Must Go Party	Jonathan Cockburn	103	0.2
	Senior Citizens Party	Terry Pattinson	97	0.2
	UK Pensioners Party	Cherri Gilham	82	0.2
	Independent (politician)	Helen John	68	0.2	-0.4
	Independent (politician)	John Barker	45	0.1
	Independent (politician)	Julian Brennan	17	0.0
Majority			18,449	44.5
Turnout			41,475	77.8	+15.8
	Labour hold		Swing	0.2

General election of 2001

General Election 2001: Sedgefield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Blair	26,110	64.9	-6.3
	Conservative	Douglas Carswell	8,397	20.9	+3.1
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Duffield	3,624	9.0	+2.5
	UK Independence	Andrew Spence	974	2.4
	Socialist Labour	Brian Gibson	518	1.3	+0.3
	Rock 'n' Roll Loony	Christopher Driver	375	0.9
	Independent (politician)	Helen John	260	0.6
Majority			17,713	44.0
Turnout			40,258	62.0	-10.3
	Labour hold		Swing

[edit] Elections in the 1990s

General election of 1997

General Election 1997: Sedgefield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Blair	33,526	71.2	+10.8
	Conservative	Elizabeth Pitman	8,383	17.8	-11.1
	Liberal Democrats	Ronald Beadle	3,050	6.5	-4.1
	Referendum Party	Ms M Hall	1,683	3.6
	Socialist Labour	Brian Gibson	474	1.0
Majority			25,143	53.4	+21.8
Turnout			47,116

General election of 1992

General Election 1992: Sedgefield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Blair	28,453	60.5
	Conservative	Nicholas Jopling	13,594	28.9
	Liberal Democrats	Gary Huntington	4,982	10.6
Majority			14,859	31.6
Turnout			47,029

[edit] See also

List of Parliamentary constituencies in County Durham

Constituencies in North East England
Labour	Bishop Auckland \| Blaydon \| Blyth Valley \| City of Durham \| Darlington \| Easington \| Gateshead East and Washington West \| Hartlepool \| Houghton and Washington East \| Jarrow \| Middlesbrough \| Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland \| Newcastle upon Tyne Central \| Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend \| Newcastle upon Tyne North \| North Durham \| North Tyneside \| North West Durham \| Redcar \| Sedgefield \| South Shields \| Stockton North \| Stockton South \| Sunderland North \| Sunderland South \| Tyne Bridge \| Tynemouth \| Wansbeck
Liberal Democrat	Berwick-upon-Tweed
Conservative	Hexham
North East European constituency: Labour (1) \| Conservative (1) \| Liberal Democrats (1)