Sedgefield (UK Parliament constituency)

Sedgefield is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. From 1983 to 2007, the constituency was represented by Tony Blair, who became Leader of the Labour Party in 1994, and later as Prime Minister in 1997. Blair resigned as Prime Minister, Leader of the Labour Party, and as the MP for Sedgefield in 2007, triggering a by-election which was retained for the Labour Party by Phil Wilson. In the 2019 general election, the Conservatives took the seat from Labour, ending Labour's continuous hold on the seat since 1983. Paul Howell became the new MP with a majority of 4,513. The seat's previous incarnation had elected Labour MPs since 1935.

Sedgefield
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Sedgefield in County Durham
Location of County Durham within England
County	County Durham
Electorate	67,386 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	Heighington, Low Dinsdale, Newton Aycliffe
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of Parliament	Paul Howell (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Durham, Durham North West, Easington and Bishop Auckland[2]
1918–1974
Number of members	One
Type of constituency	County constituency
Replaced by	Bishop Auckland, Durham, Easington
Created from	South East Durham, The Hartlepools and Mid Durham

Boundaries

Upon its abolition for the February 1974 general election, the constituency included: The urban district of Billingham, the rural districts of Darlington and Sedgefield, and the rural district of Stockton (excluding Norton, Elton, Preston-on-Tees, Dalton Piercy, Greatham and Seaton).[3]

1983–1997: The District of Sedgefield wards of Bishop Middleham, Broom, Chilton, Cornforth, Ferryhill, Fishburn, Low Spennymoor and Tudhoe Grange, Middlestone, New Trimdon and Trimdon Grange, Old Trimdon, Sedgefield, Spennymoor, and Tudhoe, the District of Easington wards of Deaf Hill, Hutton Henry, Thornley, Wheatley Hill, and Wingate, and the Borough of Darlington wards of Heighington, Hurworth, Middleton St George, Sadberge, and Whessoe.

1997–2010: The District of Sedgefield wards of Bishop Middleham, Broom, Chilton, Cornforth, Ferryhill, Fishburn, Middridge, Neville, New Trimdon and Trimdon Grange, Old Trimdon, Sedgefield, Shafto, Simpasture, West, and Woodham, the District of Easington wards of Deaf Hill, Hutton Henry, Thornley, Wheatley Hill, and Wingate, and the Borough of Darlington wards of Heighington, Hurworth, Middleton St George, Sadberge, and Whessoe.

2010–2015: The Borough of Sedgefield wards of Bishop Middleham and Cornforth, Broom, Chilton, Ferryhill, Fishburn and Old Trimdon, Greenfield Middridge, Neville and Simpasture, New Trimdon and Trimdon Grange, Sedgefield, Shafto St Mary's, West, and Woodham, the District of Easington wards of Thornley and Wheatley Hill, and Wingate, and the Borough of Darlington wards of Heighington and Coniscliffe, Hurworth, Middleton St George, Sadberge, and Whessoe.

2015–present: The Borough of Sedgefield wards of Bishop Middleham and Cornforth, Broom, Chilton, Ferryhill, Fishburn and Old Trimdon, Greenfield Middridge, Neville and Simpasture, New Trimdon and Trimdon Grange, Sedgefield, Shafto St Mary's, West, and Woodham, the District of Easington wards of Thornley and Wheatley Hill, and Wingate, and the Borough of Darlington wards of Heighington and Coniscliffe, Hurworth, and Sadberge and Middleton St George.

Proposed constituency changes

Under proposed constituency changes announced as part of the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies in September 2016, the constituency would have been abolished. The majority of the area of the current constituency is proposed to be included in a new "East Durham" constituency, including Newton Aycliffe, Chilton, Sedgefield, Trimdon and Wheatley Hill. The major differences between the current Sedgefield constituency and the proposed East Durham are: (1) the loss of most of the south of the constituency around Darlington to an extended Darlington constituency covering the entire Borough of Darlington (2) the loss of Ferryhill in the west of the constituency to an altered Bishop Auckland constituency (3) the gain of the area around Coxhoe from the current City of Durham constituency (4) the gain of an area containing Haswell, Shotton Colliery, Castle Eden and Blackhall Colliery from the current Easington constituency (5) the gain of an area around Hart village from the current Hartlepool constituency.[4]

History

1918–1974

This constituency was first created in time for the 1918 general election, and then abolished for the February 1974 election.

1983–present

Sedgefield was recreated in 1983. From 1983 until 27 June 2007, the Member of Parliament was Tony Blair; who led a successful campaign for his party to win the 1997 general election in a landslide and thereafter served for ten years as the Prime Minister, leading the campaigns at two subsequent general elections. Blair was the first Prime Minister to lead the Labour Party to three consecutive victories. He resigned as the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield on the same day as he resigned as Prime Minister, which triggered a by-election.[5]

At the by-election on 19 July 2007, the official Labour Party candidate Phil Wilson was elected on a reduced majority which in national terms is safe instead of marginal. While Wilson has never came close to the enormous majorities held by Blair during his tenure as MP and only secured an absolute majority of the vote for the first time at the 2017 general election, he has consistently held majorities of over 6,000 votes at every election he has stood at.

At the 2019 election, the Conservatives' candidate Paul Howell defeated Wilson with a majority of 4,513 and a swing of 12.8%. Sedgefield was one of the 48 seats net won in England by the Conservatives as well as being considered part of the so-called red wall.

Constituency profile

Sedgefield has a long mining history (extracting coal, fluorspar and iron ore) and very strong affiliation to the Labour Party, with nearly monolithic support in parts of the constituency. The area contains a mixture of former coal country in the area around Trimdon and more industrial areas around the new town of Newton Aycliffe. The construction of a new Hitachi factory created 730 jobs in the town.[6] There are also more prosperous parts of the constituency that form the bulk of the Conservative vote - for example, the ancient market town of Sedgefield itself, with a charter dating back to 1312. The outer suburbs of Darlington are also relatively wealthy, such as Hurworth-on-Tees, where unemployment stands at just 1.0%.[7]

In statistics

The constituency consists of Census Output Areas of two local government districts with similar characteristics: a working population whose average income is lower than the national average and close to average reliance upon social housing.[8] At the end of 2012 the unemployment rate in the constituency stood as 5.0% of the population claiming jobseekers allowance, compared to the regional average of 5.5%.[9]

The local authority contributing to the bulk of the seat has a middling 27.2% of its population without a car, a high 27.5% of the population without qualifications and a medium 21.5% with level 4 qualifications or above. Darlington has 28% of its population without a car, 24.8% of the population without qualifications and a medium 23.7% with level 4 qualifications or above

In terms of tenure 65.8% of County Durham homes and 64.9% of Darlington homes are owned outright or on a mortgage as at the 2011 census.[10]

Members of Parliament

MPs 1918–present

Election		Member[11]	Party	Notes
	1918	Rowland Burdon	Conservative
	1922	John Herriotts	Labour
	1923	Leonard Ropner	Conservative
	1929	John Herriotts	Labour
	1931	Roland Jennings	Conservative
	1935	John Leslie	Labour
	1950	Joe Slater	Labour
	1970	David Reed	Labour
February 1974		constituency abolished
1983		constituency recreated
	1983	Tony Blair	Labour	Prime Minister 1997–2007
	2007 by-election	Phil Wilson	Labour
	2019	Paul Howell	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Election results in constituency

General election 2019: Sedgefield[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Paul Howell	19,609	47.2	8.4
	Labour	Phil Wilson	15,096	36.3	17.1
	Brexit Party	David Bull	3,518	8.5	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Dawn Welsh	1,955	4.7	2.8
	Green	John Furness	994	2.4	0.7
	Independent	Michael Joyce	394	0.9	N/A
Majority			4,513	10.9	N/A
Turnout			41,576	64.6	0.5
Registered electors			64,325
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+12.8

General election 2017: Sedgefield[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Phil Wilson	22,202	53.4	6.2
	Conservative	Dehenna Davison	16,143	38.8	9.3
	UKIP	John Grant	1,763	4.2	12.3
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Psallidas	797	1.9	1.6
	Green	Melissa Wilson	686	1.6	1.5
Majority			6,059	14.6	3.1
Turnout			41,591	65.1	3.5
	Labour hold		Swing	1.6

General election 2015: Sedgefield[14][15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Phil Wilson	18,275	47.2	+2.1
	Conservative	Scott Wood	11,432	29.5	+6.0
	UKIP	John Leathley	6,426	16.6	+12.9
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Glenn	1,370	3.5	−16.4
	Green	Greg Robinson	1,213	3.1	N/A
Majority			6,843	17.7	-3.9
Turnout			38,716	61.6	-0.5
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.0

General election 2010: Sedgefield[16][17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Phil Wilson	18,141	45.1	−13.9
	Conservative	Neil Mahapatra	9,445	23.5	+9.3
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Thompson	8,033	20.0	+8.2
	BNP	Mark Walker	2,075	5.2	−3.7
	UKIP	Brian Gregory	1,479	3.7	+2.1
	Independent	Paul Gittins	1,049	2.6	−4.1
Majority			8,696	21.6	-3.3
Turnout			40,222	62.1	−0.2
	Labour hold		Swing	−11.6

Elections in the 2000s

By-election 2007: Sedgefield

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Phil Wilson	12,528	44.8	−14.1
	Liberal Democrats	Gregory Stone	5,572	19.9	+8.0
	Conservative	Graham Robb	4,082	14.6	+0.2
	BNP	Andrew Spence	2,494	8.9	N/A
	Independent	Paul Gittins	1,885	6.7	N/A
	UKIP	Gavin Horton	536	1.9	+0.3
	Green	Christopher Haine	348	1.2	N/A
	English Democrat	Stephen Gash	177	0.6	N/A
	Christian Vote	Tim Grainger	177	0.6	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Alan Hope	129	0.5	+0.1
	Anti Crime	Norman Scarth	34	0.1	N/A
Majority			6,956	24.9	−19.6
Turnout			27,962	43.0	−19.2
	Labour hold		Swing	−11.0

General election 2005: Sedgefield[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Tony Blair	24,421	58.9	−6.0
	Conservative	Al Lockwood	5,972	14.4	−6.5
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Woodthorpe Browne	4,935	11.9	+2.9
	Independent	Reg Keys	4,252	10.3	N/A
	UKIP	William Brown	646	1.6	−0.8
	National Front	Mark Farrell	253	0.6	N/A
	Veritas	Fiona Luckhurst-Matthews	218	0.5	N/A
	Independent	Berony Abraham	205	0.5	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Melodie Staniforth	157	0.4	N/A
	Blair Must Go Party	Jonathan Cockburn	103	0.2	N/A
	Senior Citizens	Terence Pattinson	97	0.2	N/A
	UK Pensioners Party	Cherri Gilham	82	0.2	N/A
	Independent	Helen John	68	0.2	−0.4
	Independent	John Barker	45	0.1	N/A
	Independent	Julian Brennan	17	0.0	N/A
Majority			18,449	44.5	+0.5
Turnout			41,475	62.2	+0.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+6.3

General election 2001: Sedgefield[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Tony Blair	26,110	64.9	−6.3
	Conservative	Douglas Carswell	8,397	20.9	+3.1
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Duffield	3,624	9.0	+2.5
	UKIP	Andrew Spence	974	2.4	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Brian Gibson	518	1.3	+0.3
	Rock 'n' Roll Loony	Christopher Driver	375	0.9	N/A
	Independent	Helen John	260	0.6	N/A
Majority			17,713	44.0	-9.4
Turnout			40,258	62.0	−10.4
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.7

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Sedgefield[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Tony Blair	33,526	71.2	+10.8
	Conservative	Elizabeth Pitman	8,383	17.8	−11.1
	Liberal Democrats	Ronald Beadle	3,050	6.5	−4.1
	Referendum	Miriam Hall	1,683	3.6	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Brian Gibson	474	1.0	N/A
Majority			25,143	53.4	+21.8
Turnout			47,116	72.6	−4.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+11.0

General election 1992: Sedgefield[21][22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Tony Blair	28,453	60.5	+4.5
	Conservative	Nicholas Jopling	13,594	28.9	+1.0
	Liberal Democrats	Gary Huntington	4,982	10.6	−5.5
Majority			14,859	31.6	+3.5
Turnout			47,029	77.1	+0.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.8

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Sedgefield[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Tony Blair	25,965	56.0	+8.4
	Conservative	Nigel Hawkins	12,907	27.9	−1.3
	SDP	Ralph Andrew	7,477	16.1	−6.5
Majority			13,058	28.1	+9.7
Turnout			46,349	76.2	+3.3
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.9

General election 1983: Sedgefield[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Tony Blair	21,401	47.6	N/A
	Conservative	Gavin Horton	13,120	29.2	N/A
	SDP	David Shand	10,183	22.6	N/A
	Independent	Maurice Logan-Salton	298	0.7	N/A
Majority			8,281	18.4	N/A
Turnout			45,002	72.9	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Sedgefield

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	David Reed	36,867	60.5	-4.2
	Conservative	Arthur Albert Beck	24,036	39.5	+4.1
Majority			12,831	21.0	-8.3
Turnout				72.7	-3.3
	Labour hold		Swing	-4.2

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1966: Sedgefield

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Joseph Slater	34,058	64.7	+4.0
	Conservative	Cyril Frank Thring	18,620	35.4	-4.1
Majority			15,438	29.3	+8.0
Turnout				76.0	-3.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.1

General election 1964: Sedgefield

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Joseph Slater	32,273	60.7	+2.2
	Conservative	Cyril Frank Thring	20,931	39.3	-2.2
Majority			11,342	21.4	+4.5
Turnout				79.5	-3.0
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.2

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1959: Sedgefield

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Joseph Slater	30,642	58.5	-1.2
	Conservative	Dudley Fitz Mowbray Appleby	21,771	41.5	+1.2
Majority			8,871	17.0	-2.6
Turnout				82.5	+2.6
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.2

General election 1955: Sedgefield

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Joseph Slater	27,221	59.7	-2.6
	Conservative	Dudley Fitz Mowbray Appleby	18,368	40.3	+2.6
Majority			8,853	19.4	-5.2
Turnout				79.9	-6.5
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.6

General election 1951: Sedgefield

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Joseph Slater	28,219	62.3	-0.2
	Conservative	Eric H Harrison	17,095	37.7	+0.2
Majority			11,124	24.6	-0.4
Turnout				86.4	-0.6
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.2

General election 1950: Sedgefield

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Joseph Slater	27,946	62.5	- 1.3
	Conservative	John Walford	16,782	37.5	+ 1.3
Majority			11,164	25.0	- 2.6
Turnout				87.0	+ 9.5
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.3

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Sedgefield[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	John Leslie	27,051	63.8	+11.5
	Conservative	John Walford	15,360	36.2	-11.5
Majority			11,691	27.6	+23.0
Turnout			42,411	77.5	-3.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+11.5

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1935: Sedgefield[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	John Leslie	20,375	52.3	+11.1
	Conservative	Roland Jennings	18,604	47.7	-11.1
Majority			1,771	4.6	-13.0
Turnout				81.4	-3.0
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+11.1

General election 1931: Sedgefield[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Roland Jennings	21,956	58.8	+19.3
	Labour	John Herriotts	15,404	41.2	-6.5
Majority			6,552	17.6	25.8
Turnout				84.4	+1.4
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+12.9

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1929: Sedgefield[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	John Herriotts	15,749	47.7	+0.4
	Unionist	Leonard Ropner	13,043	39.5	-13.2
	Liberal	William Leeson	4,236	12.8	N/A
Majority			2,706	8.2	13.6
Turnout				83.0	-2.4
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+6.8

General election 1924: Sedgefield[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Leonard Ropner	13,968	52.7	+2.7
	Labour	John Herriotts	12,552	47.3	-2.7
Majority			1,416	5.4	+5.4
Turnout				85.4	+10.9
	Unionist hold		Swing	+2.7

General election 1923: Sedgefield[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Leonard Ropner	11,093	50.0	+9.5
	Labour	John Herriotts	11,087	50.0	+6.4
Majority			6	0.0	-3.1
Turnout				74.5	-1.6
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing	+1.6

General election 1922: Sedgefield[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	John Herriotts	9,756	43.6	+6.8
	Unionist	Eli Waddington	9,067	40.5	-1.6
	Liberal	Charles Henry Brown	3,561	15.9	-5.2
Majority			689	3.1	8.4
Turnout				76.1	+12.7
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+4.2

Elections in the 1910s

Starmer

General election 1918: Sedgefield[25][26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
C	Unionist	Rowland Burdon	6,627	42.1	N/A
	Labour	John Herriotts	5,801	36.8	N/A
	Liberal	Charles Starmer	3,333	21.1	N/A
Majority			826	5.3	N/A
Turnout				63.4	N/A
	Unionist win
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in County Durham

Notes and references

Notes

References

1. "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.
2. "'Sedgefield', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
3. Statutory Instrument 1970 No. 1674 The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1970 (Coming into force 25 November 1970)
4. "(36) Proposed East Durham seat". Initial proposals for new Parliamentary constituency boundaries in the North East (Report). Boundary Commission for England. September 2016. p. 14. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
5. Blair resigns as prime minister, BBC News, 27 June 2007
6. "Hitachi's £82m train factory opens". September 3, 2015 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
7. "Tees Valley Ward Statistics".
8. "Local statistics - Office for National Statistics". www.ons.gov.uk.
9. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
10. "2011 census interactive maps". Archived from the original on January 29, 2016.
11. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 2)
12. "Sedgefield parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
13. "Sedgefield constituency General Election 2017 - parties, candidates and the history of the seat". BBC News. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
14. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
15. "Sedgefield". BBC News. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
16. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
17. "BBC NEWS – Election 2010 – Sedgefield". BBC News.
18. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
19. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
20. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
21. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
22. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
23. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
24. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
25. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig (1983). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
26. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Derby South	Constituency represented by the Leader of the Opposition 1994–1997	Succeeded by Huntingdon
Preceded by Huntingdon	Constituency represented by the Prime Minister 1997–2007	Succeeded by Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath