Barnsley West and Penistone (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 53°33′22″N 1°35′28″W / 53.556°N 1.591°W

Barnsley West and Penistone
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons

Outline map

Boundary of Barnsley West and Penistone in South Yorkshire in 2005.

Outline map

Location of South Yorkshire within England.
County South Yorkshire
Major settlements Penistone
1983–2010
Number of members One
Replaced by Barnsley Central, Penistone & Stocksbridge
Created from Barnsley and Penistone

Barnsley West and Penistone was a parliamentary constituency in South Yorkshire which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system.

History

It was considered a safe seat for the Labour Party.

Boundaries

The Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley wards of Darton, Dodworth, Hoyland East, Hoyland West, Park, Penistone East, Penistone West, and Worsbrough.

Barnsley West and Penistone constituency was created in 1983 when the former Barnsley constituency was split into three divisions. This seat also contained parts of the former Penistone constituency, which was abolished in the same boundary review: in total it covered the western part of the Borough of Barnsley and included the town of Penistone. It bordered the constituencies of Sheffield Hillsborough, Wentworth, Barnsley East and Mexborough, Barnsley Central, Hemsworth, Wakefield, Colne Valley, and High Peak. Penistone itself provides the highest Tory vote in the Borough of Barnsley (although not always a majority - see for instance Barnsley Council election, 1998 and Barnsley Council election, 2008), but the other small towns and villages, mostly former mining areas, are safely Labour.

Boundary review

Following the Boundary Commission for England's report on South Yorkshire's Parliamentary constituencies in 2004 and the subsequent inquiry in 2005 it was announced that the constituency of Barnsley West and Penistone would be abolished for future elections. The revisions split the constituency in two: the easternmost wards were to become part of a revised Barnsley Central constituency, while the western most wards, around Penistone, would be combined with the northern wards from the Sheffield Hillsborough constituency. This new constituency was to be named Penistone and Stocksbridge, and covers a similar area to the historic Penistone constituency.

Members of Parliament

The constituency has had two Members of Parliament since its creation in 1983, both of which were from the Labour Party.

ElectionMember[1]Party
1983 Allen McKay Labour
1992 Michael Clapham Labour
2010 constituency abolished: see Barnsley Central and Penistone and Stocksbridge

Elections

General election results since 1983

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Barnsley West & Penistone
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Michael Clapham 20,372 55.3 -3.3
Conservative Clive Watkinson 9,058 24.6 +1.8
Liberal Democrat Alison Brelsford 7,422 20.1 +1.5
Majority 11,314 30.7
Turnout 36,842 55.0 +2.1
Labour hold Swing -2.5
General Election 2001: Barnsley West & Penistone
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Michael Clapham 20,244 58.6 -0.7
Conservative William Rowe 7,892 22.8 +4.5
Liberal Democrat Miles Crompton 6,428 18.6 +0.6
Majority 12,352 35.8
Turnout 34,564 52.9 -12.1
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Barnsley West & Penistone[2][3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Michael Clapham 25,017 59.3 +1.0
Conservative Paul Watkins 7,750 18.4 −9.6
Liberal Democrat Winifred Knight 7,613 18.0 +6.3
Referendum Party Joyce Miles 1,828 4.3 N/A
Majority 17,267 40.9 +10.7
Turnout 42,208 65.0 −10.7
Labour hold Swing +5.3
General Election 1992: Barnsley West and Penistone[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Michael Clapham 27,965 58.3 +0.9
Conservative Graham Sawyer 13,461 28.0 +1.4
Liberal Democrat Hugh Nicolson 5,610 11.7 −4.3
Green D Jones 970 2.0 N/A
Majority 14,504 30.2 −0.5
Turnout 48,006 75.7 +0.1
Labour Co-op hold Swing −0.2

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Barnsley West & Penistone
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Allen McKay 26,498 57.4
Conservative Alan Duncan 12,307 26.6
Social Democratic Richard Hall 7,409 16.0
Majority 14,191 30.7
Turnout 75.7
Labour hold Swing

The first general election in this constituency was won by Allen McKay, who had been the MP for the abolished Penistone constituency since 1978.

General Election 1983: Barnsley West & Penistone
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Allen McKay 22,560 50.8
Conservative G. Sawyer 12,218 27.5
SDP–Liberal Alliance J. Evans 9,624 21.7
Majority 10,342 23.3
Turnout 73.2
New creation: Labour gain. Swing N/A

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 1)
  2. ↑ "Politics Resources". Election 1997. Politics Resources. 1 May 1997. Retrieved 2010-12-25.
  3. ↑ C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, p.120 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995)
  4. ↑ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 Dec 2010.

Sources