Staffordshire Moorlands (UK Parliament constituency)

Staffordshire Moorlands is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Karen Bradley, a Conservative who has served as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport since 14 July 2016.^{[n 2]}

Members of Parliament

Constituency profile

The constituency covers a substantial rural area of north-east Staffordshire, northeast of Stoke-on-Trent, and borders Derbyshire. The largest towns are Leek in the Churnet valley and Biddulph. The area also includes the wooded, hillside village of Rudyard with its long man-made lake and miniature railway, and about 30% is in a sparsely populated part of the Peak District of small villages, including Wetton, site of Old Hannah's Cave. The southern part of Dove Dale on the border features rock climbing as well as Jacob's Ladder and Bertram's cave and well.

Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.1% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.^[3]

History

The forerunner seat, Leek, existed for nearly a century until 1983, and in its more recent history alternated between the Labour and Conservative parties three times after a Liberal had held the seat from 1910 until 1918. Despite this alternation, it was far from a bellwether (that is, a reflection of the national result), as Leek leaned more towards one party more than the other in two phases:

In the first, longer part of this period the seat was held mainly by William Bromfield (Lab), secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Textile Workers and Kindred Trades (ASTWKT), whose membership covered Staffordshire and South Cheshire, and then by the future Lord Davies of Leek, who as the main aide to the Prime Minister, was tasked with secret talks with Ho Chi Minh which failed due to a leak.

In the second part of this period David Knox (Con), a pro-European, toward the left of his party, and a supporter of Ted Heath when he faced Margaret Thatcher's leadership challenge, helped to establish the Tory Reform Group. During his long tenure as MP until 1997 he held the seat even during the Wilson-Callaghan government.

However since Charlotte Atkins' win in 1997 the seat has indeed been a bellwether for the national result.

Boundaries

2010–present: The District of Staffordshire Moorlands wards of Alton, Bagnall and Stanley, Biddulph East, Biddulph Moor, Biddulph North, Biddulph South, Biddulph West, Brown Edge and Endon, Caverswall, Cellarhead, Cheddleton, Churnet, Dane, Hamps Valley, Horton, Ipstones, Leek East, Leek North, Leek South, Leek West, Manifold, and Werrington, and the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme ward of Newchapel.

1997–2010: The District of Staffordshire Moorlands wards of Biddulph East, Biddulph Moor, Biddulph North, Biddulph South, Biddulph West, Caverswall, Cheddleton, Horton, Ipstones, Leek North East, Leek North West, Leek South East, Leek South West, Leekfrith, Longnor, Warslow, Waterhouses, Werrington, and Wetley Rocks, and the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme wards of Butt Lane, Kidsgrove, Newchapel, and Talke. 1983–1997: The District of Staffordshire Moorlands.

History of boundaries

The constituency succeeded the former constituency of Leek at the 1983 general election. The boundary changes which took effect at the 1997 general election proved to be among the most controversial of all those proposed by the Boundary Commission.^[4] Initially only minor changes were to be made: two rural wards to transfer to Stone (newly created).^[4] However, in the same proposed boundary changes, the neighbouring community of Kidsgrove had been split between two constituencies, with two wards remaining in the constituency of Stoke-on-Trent North and two wards transferring to Newcastle-under-Lyme. At the local enquiry into the changes, it was argued that this division of Kidsgrove was unacceptable and the assistant commissioner consequently recommended that all four Kidsgrove wards be transferred instead to Staffordshire Moorlands.^[4] To make way for the 19,000 voters in Kidsgrove (to that date shown to be heavily Labour-supporting,^[4] two wards, Endon & Stanley and Brown Edge, were transferred to Stoke-on-Trent North, while two more rural wards were transferred to the Stone constituency. It was estimated that if the constituency had been fought on the pre-1997 Charlotte Atkins would have gained the seat by a majority of about 1,500 votes.^[5]

The boundary changes, which took effect at the 2010 general election, effectively reversed these changes: four of the five Kidsgrove wards transferred to Stoke-on-Trent North, with only one mainly rural ward, Newchapel, remaining in Staffordshire Moorlands. Brown Edge and Endon & Stanley returned to Staffordshire Moorlands. It was estimated that if the constituency had been fought at the 2005 election, Labour would have lost the seat by 1,035 votes as opposed to the 2,438 votes that Charlotte Atkins won on that occasion.^[6][7]

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2017: Staffordshire Moorlands

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Karen Bradley	25,963	58.1	7.0
	Labour	Dave Jones	15,133	33.9	6.7
	Liberal Democrat	Henry Jebb	1,494	3.3	1.7
	Independent	Nicholas Sheldon	1,524	3.4	3.4
	Green	Mike Shone	541	1.2	1.7
Majority			10,830	24.2	0.3
Turnout			42,713	67.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 2015: Staffordshire Moorlands^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Karen Bradley	21,770	51.1	5.9
	Labour	Trudie McGuinness[9]	11,596	27.2	2.7
	UKIP	George Langley-Poole	6,236	14.6	6.5
	Liberal Democrat	John Redfern[10]	1,759	4.1	12.6
	Green	Brian Smith[11]	1,226	2.9	2.9
Majority			10,174	23.9	9.2
Turnout			42,587
	Conservative hold		Swing	4.3

General Election 2010: Staffordshire Moorlands^[12][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Karen Bradley	19,793	45.2	5.4
	Labour	Charlotte Atkins	13,104	29.9	6.0
	Liberal Democrat	Henry Jebb	7,338	16.7	0.8
	UKIP	Steve Povey	3,580	8.2	1.4
Majority			6,689	15.3
Turnout			43,815	70.6	2.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	5.7

The vote share change and hold status in 2010 comes from the notional, not actual, 2005 results because of boundary changes. Calculations of notional results (an estimate of how the seat would have voted in 2005 if it had existed then on the 2010 boundaries) suggested that the Conservatives would have won the seat, so the result in 2010 was classed as a Conservative "hold" by most sources.^[14][15]

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Staffordshire Moorlands^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Charlotte Atkins	18,126	41.0	8.0
	Conservative	Marcus Hayes	15,688	35.5	0.2
	Liberal Democrat	John Fisher	6,927	15.7	1.8
	UKIP	Stephen Povey	3,512	7.9	6.1
Majority			2,438	5.5	8.2
Turnout			44,253	64.0	0.1
	Labour hold		Swing	4.1

General Election 2001: Staffordshire Moorlands^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Charlotte Atkins	20,904	49.0	3.2
	Conservative	Marcus Hayes	15,066	35.3	2.8
	Liberal Democrat	John Redfern	5,928	13.9	1.8
	UKIP	Paul Gilbert	760	1.8	N/A
Majority			5,838	13.7	6.0
Turnout			42,658	63.9	13.9
	Labour hold		Swing	3.0

Source:^[18]

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1992: Staffordshire Moorlands^[20][21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	David Knox	29,240	46.6	6.3
	Labour	JE Siddelley	21,830	34.8	6.0
	Liberal Democrat	CR Jebb	9,326	14.9	3.5
	Anti-Federalist League	MC Howson	2,121	3.4	N/A
	Natural Law	P Davies	261	0.4	N/A
Majority			7,410	11.8	12.3
Turnout			62,778	83.7	3.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	6.2

Elections in the 1980s

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Staffordshire

Notes and references

Notes

References

Coordinates: 53°4′N 1°59′W / 53.067°N 1.983°W / 53.067; -1.983