Dudley North (UK Parliament constituency)
Dudley North | |
---|---|
Borough constituency for the House of Commons | |
Boundary of Dudley North in the West Midlands. | |
Location of the West Midlands within England. | |
County | West Midlands |
Electorate | 61,714 (December 2010)[1] |
Major settlements | Dudley |
Current constituency | |
Created | 1997 |
Member of parliament | Ian Austin (Labour) |
Number of members | One |
Created from |
Dudley East Dudley West |
Overlaps | |
European Parliament constituency | West Midlands |
Dudley North is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Ian Austin of the Labour Party. At the 2017 General Election, just twenty-two votes separated Labour and the Conservatives who finished in second place.
Members of Parliament
Election | Member[2] | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
1997 | Ross Cranston | Labour | |
2005 | Ian Austin | Labour |
Boundaries
Dudley North is one of four constituencies presently covering the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, encompassing the northern part of the borough, including the town centre.
2010–present: The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley wards of Castle and Priory, Gornal, St James's, St Thomas's, Sedgley, and Upper Gornal and Woodsetton.
1997–2010: The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley wards of Castle and Priory, Coseley East, Coseley West, Gornal, St James's, St Thomas's, and Sedgley.
History
Before the 1997 election, Dudley was divided into East and West constituencies, rather than the current North and Dudley South. Dudley North covers much of the area previously covered by Dudley East, which included Netherton but excluded the western part of Sedgley, which was part of Dudley West.
The earlier Dudley constituency, consisting of central Dudley, Netherton, and Stourbridge, was more prominent before 1974. Colonel George Wigg (later Lord Wigg), Prime Minister Harold Wilson's adviser on security matters and later a Minister of State, held the seat for many years until elevated to the peerage in 1968. At the Dudley by-election in March of that year, Donald Williams, the Conservative candidate, gained the seat with a swing of 20%. In 1970, however, the seat was regained by Labour with the election of Dr John Gilbert, who subsequently represented Dudley East from February 1974 until its abolition at the 1997 general election. Gilbert served as a Minister of State under both James Callaghan and (as a peer) Tony Blair. Dudley West meanwhile was represented, until his death in 1994, by Conservative MP Dr John Blackburn. At the subsequent Dudley West by election the seat was a Labour gain with Ian Pearson elected. After boundary changes, Pearson became the MP for the newly created Dudley South seat at the 1997 election
Ross Cranston (Labour) was the first MP for the new Dudley North seat after winning it at the 1997 election; he remained the constituencies MP until the 2005 general election, when it was retained by his successor Ian Austin.
In 2010, Austin held onto his seat with 38.7% of the vote, a narrow 1.7% ahead of Conservative candidate Graeme Brown, at the first general election in 36 years which resulted in a hung parliament. Despite increasing his majority to 11% at the 2015 election, in 2017 it was reduced to a mere 22 votes, the fourth smallest majority at that election.
Elections
Elections in the 2010s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Ian Austin | 18,090 | 46.5 | ||
Conservative | Les Jones | 18,068 | 46.4 | ||
UKIP | Bill Etheridge | 2,144 | 5.5 | ||
Liberal Democrat | Ben France | 368 | 0.9 | ||
Green | Andrew Nixon | 240 | 0.6 | ||
Majority | 22 | 0.09 | -10.9 | ||
Turnout | 38,910 | 62.7 | |||
Labour hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Ian Austin | 15,885 | 41.8 | ||
Conservative | Les Jones[5] | 11,704 | 30.8 | ||
UKIP | Bill Etheridge[6] | 9,113 | 24.0 | ||
Green | Will Duckworth[7] | 517 | 1.4 | ||
Liberal Democrat | Mike Collins[8] | 478 | 1.3 | ||
Apni | Rehan Afzal | 156 | 0.4 | ||
TUSC | David Pitt[9] | 139 | 0.4 | ||
Majority | 4,181 | 11.0 | |||
Turnout | 37,992 | 62.6 | |||
Labour hold | Swing |
The original Conservative candidate for the 2015 election Afzal Amin was suspended after allegations he persuaded the English Defence League to announce a march against a mosque in the constituency.[10]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Ian Austin | 14,923 | 38.7 | ||
Conservative | Graeme Brown | 14,274 | 37.0 | ||
Liberal Democrat | Mike Beckett | 4,066 | 10.5 | ||
UKIP | Malcolm Davies | 3,267 | 8.5 | ||
BNP | Ken Griffiths | 1,899 | 4.9 | ||
National Front | Kevin Inman | 173 | 0.4 | N/A | |
Majority | 649 | 1.7 | |||
Turnout | 38,602 | 63.5 | |||
Labour hold | Swing |
Elections in the 2000s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Ian Austin | 18,306 | 44.2 | ||
Conservative | Ian Hillas | 12,874 | 31.1 | ||
Liberal Democrat | Gerry Lewis | 4,257 | 10.3 | ||
BNP | Simon Darby | 4,022 | 9.7 | ||
UKIP | Malcolm Davis | 1,949 | 4.7 | N/A | |
Majority | 5,432 | 13.1 | |||
Turnout | 41,408 | 60.2 | |||
Labour hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Ross Cranston | 20,095 | 52.1 | ||
Conservative | Andrew Griffiths | 13,295 | 34.5 | ||
Liberal Democrat | Richard Burt | 3,352 | 8.7 | ||
BNP | Simon Darby | 1,822 | 4.7 | N/A | |
Majority | 6,800 | 17.6 | |||
Turnout | 38,564 | 55.9 | |||
Labour hold | Swing |
Elections in the 1990s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Ross Cranston | 24,471 | 51.2 | N/A | |
Conservative | Charles MacNamara | 15,014 | 31.4 | N/A | |
Liberal Democrat | Gerry Lewis | 3,939 | 8.2 | N/A | |
Socialist Labour | Mark Atherton | 2,155 | 4.5 | N/A | |
Referendum | Stuart Bavester | 1,201 | 4.7 | N/A | |
National Front | George Cartwright | 559 | 1.2 | N/A | |
National Democrats | Simon Darby | 469 | 1.0 | N/A | |
Majority | 9,457 | 19.8 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 47,808 | 69.5 | N/A | ||
Labour win (new seat) |
See also
Notes and references
- Notes
- ↑ A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
- References
- ↑ "Electorate Figures – Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
- ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 3)
- ↑ "Nominations are now closed and all Dudley General Election candidates are now confirmed". 12 May 2017. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
- ↑ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ↑ "Les Jones confirmed as the new Tory candidate for Dudley North". Dudley News.
- ↑ "Dudley News".
- ↑ "General Election". westmidlands.greenparty.org.uk.
- ↑ "List of selected candidates". Liberal Democrats. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- ↑ http://www.tusc.org.uk/txt/320.pdf
- ↑ "Tory candidate suspended over vote-winning allegations". 22 March 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
- ↑ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ↑ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ↑ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ↑ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.