Hyndburn (UK Parliament constituency)

Hyndburn
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons

Boundary of Hyndburn in Lancashire.

Location of Lancashire within England.
County Lancashire
Electorate 69,617 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements Accrington
Current constituency
Created 1983 (1983)
Member of Parliament Graham Jones (Labour)
Number of members One
Created from Accrington and Clitheroe
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency North West England

Hyndburn is a borough 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.

Contents

Boundaries

A mostly Labour-inclined seat, based around the East Lancashire town of Accrington. It also includes Clayton-le-Moors, Great Harwood, Oswaldtwistle, and Rishton.

The seat was created in 1983 from parts of the former seats of Accrington and Clitheroe. There is much terraced, owner-occupied housing here and surrounding villages that turned the constituency Conservative in 1983 (by only 21 votes) and 1987; Labour won it back in 1992 and have held on since.

Following its review of parliamentary representation in Lancashire in the 2000s, the Boundary Commission for England made minor alterations to the existing Hyndburn constituency. Two wards from Rossendale district were added to the constituency. The Commission rejected a proposal to rename the constituency "Hyndburn and Haslingden", following the Assistant Commissioner's view that;

It is obviously right that constituency names should as far as possible reflect the geography and character of the constituency but equally they should be as succinct as reasonably possible[2]

Proposed abolition

As part of the nation-wide Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which commenced in 2011, the Boundary Commission for England has recommended abolishing the Hyndburn constituency.

The central, northern and eastern parts of Hyndburn, covering Accrington, Huncoat, Altham, Clayton-le-Moors and Great Harwood, would become part of the new seat of 'Burnley South and Accrington'; the southern and western parts, covering Rishton, Oswaldtwistle and Baxenden, would be merged with the proposed 'Darwen and Haslingden' [3][4].

Members of Parliament

Election Member [5] Party
1983 Ken Hargreaves Conservative
1992 Greg Pope Labour
2010 Graham Jones Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Hyndburn [6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Graham Jones 17,531 41.1 −4.6
Conservative Karen Buckley 14,441 33.8 +1.9
Liberal Democrat Andrew Rankine 5,033 11.8 −2.6
BNP Andrew Eccles 2,137 5.0 −1.2
UKIP Granville Barker 1,481 3.5 +1.6
Christian Peoples Kevin Logan 795 1.9 +1.9
Green Kerry Gormley 463 1.1 +1.1
English Democrats Chris Reid 413 1.0 +1.0
Independent Craig Hall 378 0.9 +0.9
Majority 3,090 7.2
Turnout 42,672 63.5 +4.7
Labour hold Swing -3.3

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Hyndburn
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Greg Pope 18,136 46.0 -8.7
Conservative James Mawdsley 12,549 31.8 -1.4
Liberal Democrat Bill Greene 5,577 14.1 +4.5
BNP Christian Jackson 2,444 6.2 +6.2
UKIP John Whittaker 743 1.9 -0.7
Majority 5,587 14.2
Turnout 39,449 58.8 +1.3
Labour hold Swing -3.7
General Election 2001: Hyndburn
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Greg Pope 20,900 54.7 -0.9
Conservative Peter Britcliffe 12,681 33.2 +1.3
Liberal Democrat Bill Greene 3,680 9.6 +1.0
UKIP John Tomlin 982 2.6 N/A
Majority 8,219 21.5
Turnout 38,243 57.5 -14.6
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Hyndburn
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Greg Pope 26,831 55.6
Conservative Peter Britcliffe 15,383 31.9
Liberal Democrat Les Jones 4,141 8.6
Referendum Party Philip Congdon 1,627 2.4
Independent Anti-Corruption in Government (IAC) James Brown 290 0.4
Majority 11,548 23.7
Turnout 48,272 72.3
Labour hold Swing 10.0
General Election 1992: Hyndburn[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Greg Pope 23,042 46.9 +7.1
Conservative Ken Hargreaves 21,082 42.9 −1.5
Liberal Democrat Yvonne Stars 4,886 9.9 −5.3
Natural Law Stephen Whittle 150 0.3 N/A
Majority 1,960 4.0 −0.6
Turnout 49,160 83.9 +3.5
Labour gain from Conservative Swing +4.3

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. http://www.boundarycommissionforengland.org.uk/electoral-figures/electoral-figures.htm. Retrieved 13 March 2011. 
  2. ^ Commissioners Report, accessed 16 January 2006 Archived February 14, 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Lancashire provisional recommendations Boundary Commission for England]
  4. ^ Rossendale is set to lose its MP in boundary shake-up Rossendale Free Press
  5. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 4)
  6. ^ "Election 2010: Constituency: Hyndburn". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/election2010/results/constituency/c31.stm. Retrieved 7 May 2010. 
  7. ^ "UK General Election results April 1992". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge92/i11.htm. Retrieved 2010-12-06. 
Constituencies in North West England (75)
Labour (47)
Conservative (22)
Liberal Democrats (6)