Washington and Sunderland West (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 54°53′28″N 1°29′56″W / 54.891°N 1.499°W / 54.891; -1.499

Washington and Sunderland West is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 2010 creation by Sharon Hodgson, a member of the Labour Party.^{[n 2]}

Members of Parliament

Constituency profile

The town of Washington has a well-preserved historic centre with a museum dedicated to the first United States president, on its outskirts, the family home of George Washington. Notwithstanding its tourism appeal, workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 higher than the national average of 3.8%, at 5.7% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian, and equal to the North East average.^[2]

Boundaries

Washington and Sunderland West has electoral wards:

• Castle, Redhill, St Anne's, Washington Central, Washington East, Washington North, Washington South, Washington West in the City of Sunderland^[3]

History

Parliament accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies to create this constituency for the General Election 2010.

Forerunners

It is composed of elements of the following predecessors: Houghton and Washington East; Gateshead East and Washington West; Sunderland North; and Sunderland South.

Selection of first MP

Following a ballot of members on 8 September 2007 Sharon Hodgson MP was selected as the Labour candidate, she represented 38% of the new seat which came from her previous seat of Gateshead East and Washington West which was abolished.

Political history

All of the predecessor seats were held with majorities exceeding 5,000 votes and 5% of the vote before the 2010 election. Electoral calculus, an academic website, gave a provisional ranking as the 28th-safest Labour seat in the United Kingdom, and the 11th-safest Labour seat in England based on the results of 2005.^[4]

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2017: Washington and Sunderland West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Sharon Hodgson	24,639	60.7	5.8
	Conservative	Jonathan Gullis	11,699	28.8	10.0
	UKIP	Bryan Foster	2,761	6.8	12.8
	Liberal Democrat	Thomas Appleby	961	2.4	0.3
	Green	Michal Chantkowski	514	1.3	1.7
Majority			12,940	31.9	3.4
Turnout			40,574	60.3	5.7
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.1

General Election 2015: Washington and Sunderland West^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Sharon Hodgson	20,478	55.0	2.5
	UKIP	Aileen Casey	7,321	19.6	16.3
	Conservative	Bob Dhillon	7,033	18.9	3.0
	Green	Anthony Murphy	1,091	2.9	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Dominic Haney	993	2.7	14.4
	TUSC	Gary Duncan	341	0.9	N/A
Majority			13,157	35.3
Turnout			37,257	54.6
	Labour hold		Swing

For 2015, the British National Party announced Pauline Renwick as a candidate,^[6] but she failed to stand.^[7]

General Election 2010: Washington and Sunderland West^[8][9][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Sharon Hodgson*	19,615	52.5	16.2
	Conservative	Ian Cuthbert	8,157	21.8	6.9
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Andras	6,382	17.1	0.9
	BNP	Ian McDonald	1,913	5.1	5.1
	UKIP	Linda Hudson	1,267	3.3	3.3
Majority			11,458	30.7
Turnout			37,334	53.2	6.8
	Labour hold		Swing	11.6

* Served as an MP for Gateshead East and Washington West in the 2005–2010 Parliament

2010 vote share changes and swing are based on notional results (a calculation of how the seat would have voted if it had existed at the previous election).

Notes and references

Notes

References

See also

• List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Tyne and Wear
• Houghton and Sunderland South
• Sunderland Central