Sheffield Central (UK Parliament constituency)

Sheffield Central is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Paul Blomfield, a member of the Labour Party.[n 2]

Not to be confused with Sheffield City Centre.

Sheffield Central
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Sheffield Central in South Yorkshire
Location of South Yorkshire within England
County	South Yorkshire
Electorate	79,414 (December 2019)[1]
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of Parliament	Paul Blomfield (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Sheffield Park, Sheffield Hillsborough, Sheffield Hallam and Sheffield Attercliffe[2]
1885–1950
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Sheffield Neepsend and Sheffield Hallam
Created from	Sheffield

Boundaries

First creation

1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Sheffield wards of St Peter's and St Philip's, and part of St George's ward.

1918–1950: The County Borough of Sheffield wards of St Peter's and St Philip's, and part of Broomhall ward.

1950-1983: See other seats.

Second creation (current)

1983–1997: The City of Sheffield wards of Burngreave, Castle, Manor, Netherthorpe, and Sharrow.

1997–2010: as above plus Nether Edge

Sheffield City Council was subject to new ward boundaries from 2004, which removed Castle, Manor, Netherthorpe and Sharrow, whilst adding Central and Manor Castle wards.

2010–2015: The City of Sheffield wards of Broomhill, Central, Manor Castle, Nether Edge, and Walkley.

2015–present: The City of Sheffield wards of Broomhill & Sharrow Vale, City, Manor Castle, Nether Edge & Sharrow, and Walkley; and parts of the wards of Crookes & Crosspool, Ecclesall, Fulwood and Hillsborough.

Present boundaries

The seat covers central Sheffield and extends as far as Nether Edge and the Manor. It covers a similar area to the former Sheffield Park seat. It borders Sheffield Hallam, Sheffield Heeley, Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough and Sheffield South East.

History

1885–1950

Created under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the election that year, Sheffield Central was one of five divisions of the former Sheffield constituency. Sheffield Central was abolished in 1950 and the sitting MP, Harry Morris, stood and won in the new seat (now extinct) of Sheffield Neepsend.

1983–present

Revival

In varied form the constituency was brought back into existence for the 1983 general election.

MPs

Labour's Richard Caborn represented Sheffield Central from its recreation in 1983 until he retired in 2010 and was narrowly succeeded at the ballot box by another Labour MP, Paul Blomfield.

Winning margin

The 2015 result made the seat the 32nd-safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority.[3]

Labour majorities since 1983 in Sheffield Central have been in the top quartile save for 2010 — the Liberal Democrat share of the vote came 0.4% short of winning the seat — a highly marginal result.

Opposition parties

The Green Party took second place in 2015, gaining a +12.1% swing (compared with +2.8% nationwide). This was the main target seat of the party in Yorkshire. Its 2012-2016 Leader Natalie Bennett, chose to settle locally on stepping down from the policy-steering role in 2016 and has chosen to contest Sheffield Central at the 2017 general election. Lib Dem candidates scored variable second places in 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2010 then took fourth place in 2015.

Turnout

Turnout has ranged from 62.5% in 1987 to 49.5% in 2001.

Constituency profile

The constituency has a working population whose income is close to the national average and lower than average reliance upon social housing.[4] At the end of 2012 the unemployment rate in the constituency stood as 4.0% of the population claiming jobseekers allowance, see table.[5]

There is a large student population and in 2015, the constituency had the youngest median age of voters at 26 years, compared to 39 years for the UK.[6]

Sheffield's seats compared – worklessness[5]

Office for National Statistics November 2012	Jobseeker's Allowance claimant count
Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough	7.6%[n 3]
Sheffield Central	4.0%
Sheffield Hallam	1.5%
Sheffield Heeley	5.7%
Sheffield South East	4.4%

The district contributing to the bulk of the seat has a medium 33% of its population without a car.[n 4] A medium 24.3% of the City's population are without qualifications, a high 15.8% of the population with level 3 qualifications and a medium 25.7% with level 4 qualifications or above. In terms of tenure a relatively low 58.3% of homes are owned outright or on a mortgage by occupants as at the 2011 census across the district.[7]

Members of Parliament

Year	Member[8]	Party		Subsequent roles
1885	Howard Vincent		Conservative
1908	James Hope		Conservative	Lord Rankeillour
1929	Philip Hoffman		Labour
1931	William Boulton		Conservative
1945	Harry Morris		Labour	Lord Morris
1950	Constituency abolished
1983	Constituency created
	Richard Caborn		Labour
2010	Paul Blomfield		Labour

Elections

Election results for Sheffield Central, 1885–1950 and 1983–2005

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Sheffield Central[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Paul Blomfield	33,968	66.7	-4.2
	Conservative	Janice Silvester-Hall	6,695	13.1	+0.2
	Green	Alison Teal	4,570	9.0	+0.9
	Liberal Democrats	Colin Ross	3,237	6.4	+1.2
	Brexit Party	Paul Ward	1,969	3.9	N/A
	Yorkshire Party	Jack Carrington	416	0.8	+0.4
	Independent	Barry James	30	0.1	N/A
	Socialist Equality	Chris Marsden	28	0.1	N/A
Majority			27,273	53.6	-4.3
Turnout			50,912	56.7	-5.1
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 2017: Sheffield Central[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Paul Blomfield	33,963	70.9	+15.9
	Conservative	Stephanie Roe	6,215	13.0	+1.8
	Green	Natalie Bennett	3,848	8.0	-7.8
	Liberal Democrats	Shaffaq Mohammed	2,465	5.1	-4.5
	UKIP	Dominic Cook	1,060	2.2	-5.2
	Yorkshire Party	Jack Carrington	197	0.4	N/A
	Pirate	Rob Moran	91	0.2	N/A
	SDP	Joe Westnidge	38	0.1	N/A
Majority			27,748	57.9	+15.7
Turnout			47,877	62.0	+4.6
	Labour hold		Swing	+7.0

General election 2015: Sheffield Central[11][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Paul Blomfield	24,308	55.0	+13.7
	Green	Jillian Creasy	6,999	15.8	+12.1
	Conservative	Stephanie Roe	4,917	11.1	+1.0
	Liberal Democrats	Joe Otten	4,278	9.7	-31.2
	UKIP	Dominic Cook	3,296	7.5	+5.9
	Communist	Steve Andrew	119	0.3	+0.3
	Pirate	Andy Halsall	113	0.3	N/A
	English Democrat	Elizabeth Breed	68	0.2	+0.2
	Above and Beyond Party	Thom Brown	42	0.1	+0.1
	Workers Revolutionary	Michael Driver	33	0.1	+0.1
Majority			17,309	39.2	+38.8
Turnout			44,173	57.4	-2.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.8

General election 2010: Sheffield Central[13][14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Paul Blomfield	17,138	41.3	-5.2
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Scriven	16,973	40.9	+9.5
	Conservative	Andrew Lee	4,206	10.1	+1.0
	Green	Jillian Creasy	1,556	3.8	-2.0
	BNP	Tracey Smith	903	2.2	+0.6
	UKIP	Jeffrey Shaw	652	1.6	-0.1
	Independent	Rod Rodgers	40	0.1	+0.1
Majority			165	0.4	-23.1
Turnout			41,468	59.6	+4.6
	Labour hold		Swing	-7.4

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Sheffield Central[15][16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Richard Caborn	14,950	49.9	-11.5
	Liberal Democrats	Ali Qadar	7,895	26.3	+6.6
	Conservative	Samantha George	3,094	10.3	-0.6
	Green	Bernard Little	1,808	6.0	+2.6
	Respect	Maxine Bowler	1,284	4.3	N/A
	BNP	Mark Payne	539	1.8	N/A
	UKIP	Charlotte Arnott	415	1.4	+0.5
Majority			7,055	23.5	−18.2
Turnout			29,985	50.1	+0.6
	Labour hold		Swing	-9.1

General election 2001: Sheffield Central[17][18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Richard Caborn	18,477	61.4	-2.2
	Liberal Democrats	Ali Qadar	5,933	19.7	+2.5
	Conservative	Noelle Brelsford	3,289	10.9	-1.0
	Green	Bernard Little	1,008	3.4	+0.7
	Socialist Alliance	Nick Riley	754	2.5	N/A
	Socialist Labour	David Hadfield	289	1.0	N/A
	UKIP	Elizabeth Schofield	257	0.9	N/A
	Workers Revolutionary	Robert Driver	62	0.2	-0.0
Majority			12,544	41.7	−4.7
Turnout			30,069	49.5	-3.6
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.36

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Sheffield Central[19][20][21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Richard Caborn	23,179	63.6	−5.1
	Liberal Democrats	Ali Qadar	6,273	17.2	+5.6
	Conservative	Martin Hess	4,341	11.9	−4.6
	Green	Andy D'Agorne	954	2.6	+0.3
	Referendum	Anthony Brownlow	863	2.4	N/A
	Socialist Alternative	Ken Douglas	466	1.3	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	Maureen Aitken	280	0.8	N/A
	Workers Revolutionary	Michael Driver	63	0.2	N/A
Majority			16,906	46.4	−5.8
Turnout			36,419	53.0	−3.1
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1992: Sheffield Central[22][20][21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Richard Caborn	22,764	68.7	+1.0
	Conservative	Vernon Davies	5,470	16.5	−0.6
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Sangar	3,856	11.6	−2.3
	Green	Graham Wroe	750	2.3	N/A
	End Unemployment Vote Justice for Jobless	Martin Clarke	212	0.6	N/A
	Communist League	Josephine O'Brien	92	0.3	N/A
Majority			17,294	52.2	+1.5
Turnout			33,144	56.1	−5.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Sheffield Central[23][21][24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Richard Caborn	25,872	67.7	+7.5
	Conservative	Brian Oxley	6,530	17.1	−2.1
	SDP	Fiona Hornby	5,314	13.9	−5.5
	Red Front	Ceri T. Dingle	278	0.7	N/A
	Communist	Keith Petts	203	0.5	−0.2
Majority			19,342	50.7	+9.9
Turnout			38,197	62.5	+0.9
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1983: Sheffield Central[25][21][24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Richard Caborn	24,759	60.2	N/A
	SDP	Patricia Major	7,969	19.4	N/A
	Conservative	Patricia Rawlings	7,908	19.2	N/A
	Communist	Vi Gill	296	0.7	N/A
	Revolutionary Communist	C. Barrett	222	0.5	N/A
Majority			16,790	40.8	N/A
Turnout			41154	61.6	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Sheffield Central[21][26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Harry Morris	7,954	59.2	+10.0
	Conservative	George Vivian Hunt	5,481	40.8	−10.0
Majority			2,473	18.4	+16.8
Turnout				72.0	-2.2
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1935: Sheffield Central[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William Boulton	13,821	50.8	−11.2
	Labour	Philip Hoffman	13,408	49.2	+11.2
Majority			420	1.6	-22.4
Turnout				74.2	-6.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1931: Sheffield Central[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	William Boulton	21,589	62.0
	Labour	Philip Hoffman	13,212	38.0
Majority			8,377	24.0
Turnout				80.2
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1929: Sheffield Central [26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Philip Hoffman	19,183	59.1	+8.5
	Unionist	John Ralph Patientins Warde-Aldam	13,284	40.9	-8.5
Majority			5,899	18.2	17.0
Turnout				74.1	-0.4
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+8.5

General election 1924: Sheffield Central[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	James Hope	13,302	50.6
	Labour	Tom Snowden	12,995	49.4
Majority			307	1.2
Turnout				74.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1923: Sheffield Central[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	James Hope	9,727	45.7	n/a
	Labour	Tom Snowden	8,762	41.1	n/a
	Liberal	John Henry Freeborough	2,810	13.2	n/a
Majority			965	4.6	n/a
Turnout				61.3	n/a
	Unionist hold		Swing	n/a

General election 1922: Sheffield Central[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	James Hope	Unopposed
	Unionist hold

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Sheffield Central[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
C	Unionist	James Hope	9,361	58.7	+7.3
	Independent Labour	Alfred James Bailey	5,959	37.3	−11.3
	British Socialist Party	Robert George Murray	643	4.0	N/A
Majority			3,402	21.4	+18.6
Turnout			15,963	43.1	−34.4
	Unionist hold		Swing	+9.3
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Bailey was sponsored by the National Amalgamated Union of Labour

Bailey

General election December 1910: Sheffield Central[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	James Hope	3,455	51.4	−1.3
	Lib-Lab	Alfred James Bailey	3,271	48.6	+1.3
Majority			184	2.8	−2.6
Turnout			6,726	77.5	−6.2
Registered electors			8,684
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.3

General election January 1910: Sheffield Central[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	James Hope	3,829	52.7	−3.5
	Lib-Lab	Alfred James Bailey	3,440	47.3	+3.5
Majority			389	5.4	−7.0
Turnout			7,269	83.7	+1.6
Registered electors			8,684
	Conservative hold		Swing	−3.5

Elections in the 1900s

By-election, 1908: Sheffield Central[28][29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	James Hope	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Howard Vincent

General election 1906: Sheffield Central[28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Howard Vincent	4,217	56.2	N/A
	Liberal	Stanley Udale	3,290	43.8	N/A
Majority			927	12.4	N/A
Turnout			7,507	82.1	N/A
Registered electors			9,142
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

1900 general election: Sheffield Central[28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Howard Vincent	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1895: Sheffield Central[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Howard Vincent	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

Robert Cameron

General election 1892: Sheffield Central[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Howard Vincent	4,474	55.3	−2.3
	Liberal	Robert Cameron	3,618	44.7	+2.3
Majority			856	10.6	−4.6
Turnout			8,092	83.2	+4.1
Registered electors			9,728
	Conservative hold		Swing	−2.3

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1886: Sheffield Central[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Howard Vincent	4,522	57.6	+1.5
	Liberal	Joshua Hawkins	3,326	42.4	+0.2
Majority			1,196	15.2	+1.3
Turnout			7,848	79.1	−4.1
Registered electors			9,923
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.7

Samuel Plimsoll

General election 1885: Sheffield Central[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Howard Vincent	4,633	56.1	N/A
	Lib-Lab	Samuel Plimsoll	3,484	42.2	N/A
	Independent Liberal	Mervyn Lanark Hawkes[30]	140	1.7	N/A
Majority			1,149	13.9	N/A
Turnout			8,257	83.2	N/A
Registered electors			9,923
	Conservative win (new seat)

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in South Yorkshire

Notes and references

Notes

1. A borough 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.
3. This seat also saw the widest gender disparity with 10.5% of men were claimants, vs. 4.8% of women
4. This falls within the centrally coloured banding for metropolitan areas

References

1. "Constituency data: electorates – House of Commons Library". Parliament UK. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
2. "'Sheffield Central', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
3. List of Labour MPs elected in 2015 by % majority UK Political.info. Retrieved 2017-01-29
4. "Local statistics - Office for National Statistics". www.ons.gov.uk.
5. Rogers, Simon; Evans, Lisa (17 November 2010). "Unemployment: the key UK data and benefit claimants for every constituency". The Guardian.
6. Chalabi, Mona (May 1, 2015). "The U.K.'s Youngest Constituency".
7. "2011 census interactive maps". Archived from the original on January 29, 2016.
8. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 3)
9. "Sheffield Central Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
10. "Sheffield Central". Sheffield City Council. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
11. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
12. "Sheffield Central Parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
13. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
14. "UK > England > Yorkshire & the Humber > Sheffield Central". Election 2010. BBC. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
15. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
16. "BBC NEWS | Election 2005 | Results | Sheffield Central". news.bbc.co.uk.
17. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
18. "BBC NEWS | VOTE 2001 | RESULTS & CONSTITUENCIES | Sheffield Central". news.bbc.co.uk.
19. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
20. "Sheffield Central". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2010-04-29.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
21. Sheffield General Election Results 1945 - 2001, Sheffield City Council
22. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
23. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
24. "Politicsresources.net - Official Web Site ✔". Politics Science Resources.
25. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
26. Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
27. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, F. W. S. Craig
28. Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
29. Whittaker's Almanack (1910), p.159
30. "Mr Mervyn Lanark Hawkes and the Sheffield Central Division". Sheffield Telegraph. 25 July 1885. p. 6. Retrieved 10 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.