Bassetlaw (UK Parliament constituency)

Bassetlaw /ˈbæsɪtˌlɔː/ is a parliamentary constituency[n 1] in Nottinghamshire, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since the 2019 general election by Brendan Clarke-Smith, a Conservative.[n 2] Before that election, the seat had been part of the so-called "red wall", being held by the Labour Party since 1929.

Bassetlaw
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Bassetlaw in Nottinghamshire for the 2010 general election
Location of Nottinghamshire within England
CountyNottinghamshire
Population103,808 (2011 census)[1]
Electorate78,306 (December 2010)[2]
Major settlementsWorksop and Retford
Current constituency
Created1885
Member of ParliamentBrendan Clarke-Smith (Conservative)
Number of membersOne
Created fromNorth Nottinghamshire

Constituency profile

The Bassetlaw constituency is mostly rural and covers the north of Nottinghamshire, including the towns of Worksop and Retford. It shares the name with the Bassetlaw district. Parts of the constituency are former coal mining areas.

Boundaries

The constituency includes 22 electoral wards from Bassetlaw District Council:

  • Beckingham, Blyth, Carlton, Clayworth, East Retford East, East Retford North, East Retford South, East Retford West, Everton, Harworth, Langold, Misterton, Ranskill, Sturton, Sutton, Welbeck, Worksop East, Worksop North, Worksop North East, Worksop North West, Worksop South, Worksop South East.

Latest boundary changes

Following their review of parliamentary boundaries in Nottinghamshire, the Boundary Commission for England made changes to the constituency for the 2010 general election to allow for population changes, most noticeably by moving the small town of Market Warsop into Mansfield constituency.

History

The constituency was created in 1885 by the Redistribution of Seats Act.

History of boundaries

The Bassetlaw Division (named after one of the ancient Wapentakes of the county) as originally created in 1885 consisted of the municipal borough of East Retford, the petty sessional divisions of Retford and Worksop and part of Mansfield petty sessional division.

In 1918, the number of parliamentary divisions in Nottinghamshire was increased from four to five, with resulting changes in boundaries. Bassetlaw Division was now defined as containing the Municipal Borough of East Retford, the Urban Districts of Warsop and Worksop, and the Rural Districts of Blyth & Cuckney, Misterton and East Retford, with the civil parish of Sookholme from Skegby Rural District.

In 1950, the five Parliamentary Divisions of Nottinghamshire were reorganised as six County Constituencies. Local government boundary changes in the 1930s now meant that Bassetlaw County Constituency was defined as comprising the Municipal Boroughs of East Retford and Worksop, the Urban District of Warsop and the Rural Districts of East Retford and Worksop.

The constituency's boundaries then remained unchanged until 1983. In that year, the town of East Retford and the neighbouring areas were transferred to the redrawn Newark constituency. Bassetlaw constituency then comprised Worksop and surrounding areas in the Bassetlaw district as well as the town of Warsop in the Mansfield district (see list of wards during this period below). There were no boundary changes in 1997.

From 1983 to 2010, the constituency comprised the following Bassetlaw district wards:

  • Beckingham, Blyth, Carlton, Clayworth, Everton, Harworth East, Harworth West, Hodsock, Misterton, Rampton, Ranskill, Sturton, Sutton, Welbeck, Worksop East, Worksop North, Worksop North East, Worksop North West, Worksop South, Worksop South East

along with two Mansfield district wards:

  • Birklands, Meden (both in the Warsop area). These wards were transferred to Mansfield constituency in 2010.

Bassetlaw constituency boundaries, shown within the county of Nottinghamshire
  • 1885 to 1918
  • 1950 to 1983
  • 1983 to 2010
  • Since 2010

Electoral history
A graph showing the election results for Bassetlaw onward from the second Major ministry in 1992 until the second Cameron ministry in 2015.

On a historical measure, this had been a very safe seat for the Labour Party before 2019, with their own or related candidates having held it since the 1929 general election. On a size-of-majority measure, it was a low to medium safe seat. Its first Member of Parliament Malcolm MacDonald was one of the few Labour MPs to join his father Ramsay MacDonald's National Government. MacDonald held the seat as a National Labour candidate in the 1931 election, but was defeated at the next election in 1935 by Labour's Frederick Bellenger.

Bellenger held the seat until he died in 1968. A by-election followed. The seat was retained for the Labour Party by Joe Ashton with a slender 1.72% majority, the narrowest since the 1920s. He held the seat until retirement at the 2001 general election. He was succeeded at that year's election by fellow Labour politician John Mann, who retained the seat at the next four elections. In 2019, Mann resigned being having been appointed to head a government inquiry on tackling anti-Semitism and to take a seat in the House of Lords.[3] The Labour candidate initially chosen to replace Mann, Sally Gimson, was deselected before the election by the party's National Executive Committee over what were described as "very serious allegations".[4] Gimson referred to the process as a "kangaroo court", and Mann called the decision a stitch-up;[4] Gimson started legal action against the party, but dropped the case several days later.[5] Keir Morrison, a councillor in the Ashfield District, replaced Gimson as the Labour candidate.[6]

In the December 2019 general election, the Conservatives won the seat with a swing from Labour of 18.4%, the largest recorded in the election.[7] The fall in the Labour vote share of 24.9% was the greatest experienced by the party in any constituency at that election.[8]

Members of Parliament
ElectionMember[9] Party
1885 William Beckett-Denison Conservative
1890 Frederick Milner Conservative
1906 Frank Newnes Liberal
1910 Ellis Hume-Williams Conservative
1929 Malcolm MacDonald Labour
1931 National Labour
1935 Frederick Bellenger Labour
1968 Joe Ashton Labour
2001 John Mann Labour
2019 Brendan Clarke-Smith Conservative

Elections
Election results for Bassetlaw (1892 - 2017)

Elections in the 2010s
General election 2019: Bassetlaw[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Brendan Clarke-Smith 28,078 55.2 11.9
Labour Keir Morrison 14,065 27.7 24.9
Brexit Party Debbie Soloman 5,366 10.6
Liberal Democrats Helen Tamblyn-Saville 3,332 6.6 4.3
Majority 14,013 27.5
Turnout 50,841 63.5 3.0
Conservative gain from Labour Swing 18.4
General election 2017: Bassetlaw[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour John Mann 27,467 52.6 +3.9
Conservative Annette Simpson 22,615 43.3 +12.6
Liberal Democrats Leon Duveen 1,154 2.2 −0.5
Independent Nigel Turner 1,014 1.9 N/A
Majority 4,852 9.3 −8.6
Turnout 52,250 66.5 +2.9
Labour hold Swing −4.3
General election 2015: Bassetlaw[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour John Mann 23,965 48.6 −1.8
Conservative Sarah Downes 15,122 30.7 −3.2
UKIP Dave Scott 7,865 16.0 +12.4
Liberal Democrats Leon Duveen 1,331 2.7 −8.5
Green Kristopher Wragg 1,006 2.0 N/A
Majority 8,843 17.9 +1.3
Turnout 49,289 63.6 −1.2
Labour hold Swing +0.7
General election 2010: Bassetlaw[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour John Mann 25,018 50.5 −2.5
Conservative Keith Girling 16,803 33.9 −1.2
Liberal Democrats David Dobbie 5,570 11.2 −2.4
UKIP Andrea Hamilton 1,779 3.6 N/A
Independent Graham Whitehurst 407 0.8 N/A
Majority 8,215 16.6 −10.3
Turnout 49,577 64.8 +6.7
Labour hold Swing −5.1

Elections in the 2000s
General election 2005: Bassetlaw[14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour John Mann 22,847 56.6 +1.3
Conservative Jonathan Sheppard 12,010 29.8 −0.4
Liberal Democrats David Dobbie 5,485 13.6 +0.9
Majority 10,837 26.8 +1.7
Turnout 40,342 58.1 +1.3
Labour hold Swing +0.9
General election 2001: Bassetlaw[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour John Mann 21,506 55.3 −5.7
Conservative Alison Holley 11,758 30.2 +5.3
Liberal Democrats Neil Taylor 4,942 12.7 +2.5
Socialist Labour Kevin Meloy 689 1.8 N/A
Majority 9,748 25.1 −11.3
Turnout 38,895 56.8 −13.6
Labour hold Swing −5.5

Elections in the 1990s
General election 1997: Bassetlaw[16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Joe Ashton 29,298 61.1 +7.7
Conservative Martyn Cleasby 11,838 24.7 −10.3
Liberal Democrats Mike Kerringan 4,950 10.3 −1.3
Referendum Roy Graham 1,838 3.8 N/A
Majority 17,460 36.4 +18.0
Turnout 47,924 70.4 −8.1
Labour hold Swing +9.0
General election 1992: Bassetlaw[17][18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Joe Ashton 29,061 53.4 +5.3
Conservative Caroline Spelman 19,064 35.0 −2.5
Liberal Democrats Mike J. Reynolds 6,340 11.6 −2.8
Majority 9,997 18.4 +7.7
Turnout 54,465 79.4 +1.9
Labour hold Swing +3.9

Elections in the 1980s
General election 1987: Bassetlaw[19]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Joe Ashton 25,385 48.10 +2.50
Conservative David Selves 19,772 37.47 −0.27
Alliance William Smith 7,616 14.43 −2.23
Majority 5,613 10.64 +2.78
Turnout 52,773 77.56
Labour hold Swing +1.39
General election 1983: Bassetlaw[20]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Joe Ashton 22,231 45.60
Conservative M Cleasby 18,400 37.74
Alliance B Withnall 8,124 16.66
Majority 3,831 7.86
Turnout 48,755 74.18
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1970s
General election 1979: Bassetlaw
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Joe Ashton 29,426 50.23
Conservative DK Harris 22,247 37.97
Liberal A Wilkinson 6,913 11.80
Majority 7,179 12.25
Turnout 58,586 79.42
Labour hold Swing
General election October 1974: Bassetlaw
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Joe Ashton 28,663 53.69
Conservative DK Harris 16,494 30.90
Liberal A Wilkinson 7,821 14.65
The Christian Party A Storkey 408 0.76
Majority 12,169 22.79
Turnout 53,386 74.43
Labour hold Swing
General election February 1974: Bassetlaw
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Joe Ashton 33,724 59.99
Conservative RC Heading 22,490 40.01
Majority 11,234 19.98
Turnout 56,214 79.05
Labour hold Swing
General election 1970: Bassetlaw
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Joe Ashton 28,959 54.87
Conservative Jim Lester 20,698 39.21
Liberal Malcolm Anthony Haydon-Baillie 3,125 5.92
Majority 8,261 15.65
Turnout 52,782 76.44
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s
1968 Bassetlaw by-election
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Joe Ashton 21,394 49.64 −11.99
Conservative Jim Lester 20,654 47.92 +9.55
Independent Thomas Lynch 1,053 2.44 n/a
Majority 740 1.72 −21.55
Turnout 43,101
Labour hold Swing
General election 1966: Bassetlaw
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Frederick Bellenger 27,623 61.63
Conservative Robert William Martin Orme 17,195 38.37
Majority 10,428 23.27
Turnout 73.29
Labour hold Swing
General election 1964: Bassetlaw
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Frederick Bellenger 27,612 59.03
Conservative Robert William Martin Orme 19,167 40.97
Majority 8,445 18.05
Turnout 77.00
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1950s
General election 1959: Bassetlaw
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Frederick Bellenger 27,875 58.03
Conservative Maurice Cowling 20,162 41.97
Majority 7,713 16.06
Turnout 80.19
Labour hold Swing
General election 1955: Bassetlaw
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Frederick Bellenger 26,873 58.11
Conservative Kathleen Voilet Maiden 19,375 41.89
Majority 7,498 16.21
Turnout 79.46
Labour hold Swing
General election 1951: Bassetlaw
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Frederick Bellenger 32,850 60.71
Conservative William Sime 21,257 39.29
Majority 11,593 21.43
Turnout 84.36
Labour hold Swing
General election 1950: Bassetlaw
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Frederick Bellenger 31,589 57.64
Conservative John James Cawdell Irving 17,622 32.16
Liberal William GE Dyer 5,590 10.20
Majority 13,967 25.49
Turnout 87.15
Labour hold Swing

Election in the 1940s
General election 1945: Bassetlaw
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Frederick Bellenger 30,382 62.79
Conservative Robert Laycock 18,005 37.21
Majority 12,377 25.58
Turnout 76.75
Labour hold Swing

Election in the 1930s
General election 1935: Bassetlaw
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Frederick Bellenger 21,903 51.33
National Labour Malcolm MacDonald 20,764 48.67
Majority 1,139 2.67
Turnout 79.87
Labour gain from National Labour Swing
General election 1931: Bassetlaw
Party Candidate Votes % ±
National Labour Malcolm MacDonald 27,136 66.64
Labour Harold Mostyn Watkins 13,582 33.36
Majority 13,554 33.29
Turnout 79.55
National Labour gain from Labour Swing

Election in the 1920s
General election 1929: Bassetlaw[21]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Malcolm MacDonald 23,681 58.7 +17.7
Unionist Ellis Hume-Williams 16,670 41.3 −5.0
Majority 7,011 17.4 N/A
Turnout 40,351 82.0 +0.8
Labour gain from Unionist Swing +11.3
General election 1924: Bassetlaw[21]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist Ellis Hume-Williams 12,732 46.3 +4.0
Labour Malcolm MacDonald 11,283 41.0 +12.7
Liberal Arthur Neal 3,505 12.7 −16.7
Majority 1,449 5.3 −7.6
Turnout 81.8 +5.2
Unionist hold Swing −4.3
Neal
General election 1923: Bassetlaw[21]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist Ellis Hume-Williams 10,419 42.3 −12.9
Liberal Arthur Neal 7,247 29.4 n/a
Labour Malcolm MacDonald 6,973 28.3 −16.5
Majority 3,172 12.9 +2.5
Turnout 76.6 +2.2
Unionist hold Swing n/a
General election 1922: Bassetlaw[21]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist Ellis Hume-Williams 12,944 55.2 n/a
Labour Henry Joseph Odell 10,502 44.8 n/a
Majority 2,442 10.4 n/a
Turnout 74.4 n/a
Unionist hold Swing n/a

Election in the 1910s
General election 1918: Bassetlaw[21]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
C Unionist Ellis Hume-Williams Unopposed
Unionist hold
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

General Election 1914/15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

General election December 1910: Bassetlaw[22][23]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Ellis Hume-Williams 5,436 51.0 −0.6
Liberal Stopford Brooke 5,221 49.0 +0.6
Majority 215 2.0 −1.2
Turnout 88.7 −2.1
Conservative hold Swing −0.6
General election January 1910: Bassetlaw[22][23]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Ellis Hume-Williams 5,631 51.6 +4.2
Liberal Frank Newnes 5,290 48.4 −4.2
Majority 341 3.2 8.4
Turnout 90.9 +0.8
Conservative gain from Liberal Swing +4.2

Elections in the 1900s
Newnes
General election 1906: Bassetlaw[24][23]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Frank Newnes 5,365 52.6 N/A
Conservative Frederick Milner 4,834 47.4 N/A
Majority 531 5.2 N/A
Turnout 10,199 90.1 N/A
Registered electors 11,320
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing N/A
General election 1900: Bassetlaw[24][25][23]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Frederick Milner Unopposed
Conservative hold

Elections in the 1890s
General election 1895: Bassetlaw[24][25][23]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Frederick Milner 4,874 57.4 +5.0
Liberal Robert Eadon Leader 3,621 42.6 −5.0
Majority 1,253 14.8 +10.0
Turnout 8,495 85.0 −3.4
Registered electors 9,990
Conservative hold Swing +5.0
Yoxall
General election 1892: Bassetlaw[24][23]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Frederick Milner 4,446 52.4 N/A
Liberal James Yoxall 4,044 47.6 N/A
Majority 402 4.8 N/A
Turnout 8,490 88.4 N/A
Registered electors 9,606
Conservative hold Swing N/A
Mellor
1890 Bassetlaw by-election[26][27][24][23]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Frederick Milner 4,381 54.5 N/A
Liberal John William Mellor 3,653 45.5 N/A
Majority 728 9.0 N/A
Turnout 8,034 78.2 N/A
Registered electors 10,268
Conservative hold Swing N/A

Elections in the 1880s
General election 1886: Bassetlaw[24][23]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative William Beckett-Denison Unopposed
Conservative hold
General election 1885: Bassetlaw[24][28][23]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative William Beckett-Denison 4,367 51.7 N/A
Liberal Francis Foljambe 4,072 48.3 N/A
Majority 295 3.4 N/A
Turnout 8,439 89.0 N/A
Registered electors 9,479
Conservative win (new seat)
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gollark: What if I use my cognitohazard (which is actually generated via specifically seeded simplex noise) which causes perception of arbitrary images as Perlin noise?
gollark: It was only years ago as of last Tuesday.
gollark: I sabotaged it as part of the UNTRANSLATABLE CONGAS initiative.
gollark: Nope. ABR totally doesn't log all messages.

See also

Notes and references
Notes
  1. A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
  2. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
References
  1. "Usual Resident Population, 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  2. "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.
  3. "Labour's John Mann quits as MP to join House of Lords". BBC News. 28 October 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  4. "Sally Gimson: Bassetlaw Labour candidate deselected by NEC". BBC News. 6 November 2019. Archived from the original on 8 February 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  5. "Deselected Bassetlaw candidate Sally Gimson drops legal fight". BBC News. 9 November 2019. Archived from the original on 8 February 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  6. McAllister, Richard (13 November 2019). "New Labour MP candidate announced after selection row". Lincolnshire Echo. Archived from the original on 8 February 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  7. Wright, Mike (13 December 2019). "Conservatives take Bassetlaw with biggest swing of night - ending 90 years of Labour dominance". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 8 February 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  8. The Times Guide to the House of Commons 2019. Glasgow: Times Books. 2020. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1.
  9. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 1)
  10. "Bassetlaw Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  11. "STATEMENT OF PERSONS NOMINATED" (PDF). Bassetlaw District Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 February 2018. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  12. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  13. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  14. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  15. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  16. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  17. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  18. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
  19. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  20. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  21. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
  22. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
  23. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
  24. The Liberal Year Book, 1907
  25. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
  26. "Election Intelligence, Nottinghamshire (Bassetlaw Division): Result of the Poll". The Times. 17 December 1890.
  27. The Constitutional Year Book, 1904, published by Conservative Central Office, page 151 (175 in web page)
  28. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1886

Sources

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