Pontefract and Castleford (UK Parliament constituency)

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Pontefract and Castleford County constituency

Pontefract and Castleford shown within West Yorkshire, and West Yorkshire shown within England
Created:	1974
MP:	Yvette Cooper
Party:	Labour
Type:	House of Commons
County:	West Yorkshire
EP constituency:	Yorkshire and the Humber

Pontefract and Castleford is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

1 Boundaries
- 1.1 Boundary review
2 Members of Parliament
3 Election results
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Boundaries

The constituency covers the West Yorkshire towns of Pontefract and Castleford. It is a very safe Labour seat comprising of former mining towns and villages. The local MP, Yvette Cooper, is married to fellow Labour MP Ed Balls.

[edit] Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in West Yorkshire, the Boundary Commission for England has suggested the creation of a new constituency called Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford. Due to population decline, the Commission has suggested reducing the number of seats in the county to one, resulting in the "merger" of the Normanton and Pontefract constituencies.

[edit] Members of Parliament

	Member	Party
1974	Joseph Harper	Labour
1978	Geoffrey Lofthouse	Labour
1997	Yvette Cooper	Labour

[edit] Election results

[edit] 1970s

General Election February 1974: Pontefract and Castleford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joseph Harper	34,409	74.8	N/A
	Conservative	Richard Needham	10,605	23.1	N/A
	Workers' Revolutionary	B. Lavery	991	2.2	N/A
Majority			23,804	51.8	N/A
Turnout			46,005	77.1	N/A
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Pontefract and Castleford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joseph Harper	30,208	70.4	-4.4
	Conservative	I. Bloomer	6,966	16.2	-6.9
	Liberal	S. Galloway	5,259	12.3	N/A
	Workers' Revolutionary	T. Parsons	457	1.1	-1.1
Majority			23,242	54.2	+2.4
Turnout			42,890	71.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Pontefract and Castleford by-election, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey Lofthouse	19,508	65.8	-4.6
	Conservative	Hugo Page	8,080	27.3	+11.1
	Liberal	Leslie Marsh	2,054	6.9	-5.4
Majority			11,428	38.6	-15.6
Turnout			29,642
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1979: Pontefract and Castleford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey Lofthouse	30,566	68.1
	Conservative	Hugo Page	10,665	23.8
	Liberal	Leslie Marsh	3,616	8.0
Majority			19,901	44.4
Turnout				73.9
	Labour hold		Swing

[edit] 1980s

General Election 1983: Pontefract and Castleford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey Lofthouse	24,990	57.1
	Conservative	J.B. Howell	11,299	25.8
	SDP-Liberal Alliance	D. Dale	7,452	17.1
Majority			13,691	31.3
Turnout			43,741	67.4
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1987: Pontefract and Castleford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey Lofthouse	31,656	66.9
	Conservative	J.H. Mallins	10,051	21.2
	SDP-Liberal Alliance	M.F. Taylor	5,334	11.3
	Red Front	D.M. Lees	295	0.6
Majority			21,626	45.7
Turnout			47,315	73.5
	Labour hold		Swing

[edit] 1990s

General Election 1992: Pontefract and Castleford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey Lofthouse	33,546	69.9
	Conservative	A.G.M. Rockall	10,051	20.9
	Liberal Democrats	D.L. Ryan	4,410	9.2	N/A
Majority			23,495	49.0
Turnout			48,007	74.3
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1997: Pontefract and Castleford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Yvette Cooper	31,339	75.7	+5.8
	Conservative	Adrian John Flook	5,614	13.6	-7.3
	Liberal Democrats	Wesley Paxton	3,042	7.4	-1.8
	Referendum Party	R. Wood	1,401	3.4	N/A
Majority			25,725	62.1
Turnout			41,396	66.3
	Labour hold		Swing

[edit] 2000s

General Election 2001: Pontefract and Castleford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Yvette Cooper	21,890	69.7	−6.0
	Conservative	Pamela Singleton	5,512	17.6	+4.0
	Liberal Democrats	Wesley Paxton	2,315	7.4	+0.1
	UK Independence	John Burdon	739	2.4	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Trevor Bolderson	605	1.9	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	John Gill	330	1.1	N/A
Majority			16,378	52.1
Turnout			31,391	49.7	−16.7
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 2005: Pontefract and Castleford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Yvette Cooper	20,973	63.7	−6.0
	Conservative	Simon Jones	5,727	17.4	−0.2
	Liberal Democrats	Wesley Paxton	3,942	12.0	+4.6
	British National	Suzy Cass	1,835	5.6	N/A
	Alliance for Green Socialism	Bob Hague	470	1.4	N/A
Majority			15,246	46.3
Turnout			32,947	53.3	+3.6
	Labour hold		Swing

[edit] See also

List of Parliamentary constituencies in West Yorkshire

[edit] References

This page incorporates information from Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page.

Constituencies in Yorkshire and the Humber
Labour	Barnsley Central \| Barnsley East and Mexborough \| Barnsley West and Penistone \| Batley and Spen \| Bradford North \| Bradford South \| Bradford West \| Brigg and Goole \| Calder Valley \| City of York \| Cleethorpes \| Colne Valley \| Dewsbury \| Don Valley \| Doncaster Central \| Doncaster North \| Elmet \| Great Grimsby \| Halifax \| Hemsworth \| Huddersfield \| Keighley \| Hull East \| Hull North \| Hull West and Hessle \| Leeds Central \| Leeds East \| Leeds North East \| Leeds West \| Morley and Rothwell \| Normanton \| Pontefract and Castleford \| Pudsey \| Rother Valley \| Rotherham \| Scunthorpe \| Selby \| Sheffield Attercliffe \| Sheffield Brightside \| Sheffield Central \| Sheffield Heeley \| Sheffield Hillsborough \| Wakefield \| Wentworth
Conservative	Beverley and Holderness \| East Yorkshire \| Haltemprice and Howden \| Richmond (Yorks) \| Ryedale \| Scarborough and Whitby \| Shipley \| Skipton and Ripon \| Vale of York
Liberal Democrat	Harrogate and Knaresborough \| Leeds North West \| Sheffield Hallam
Yorkshire and the Humber European constituency: Labour (2) \| Conservative (2) \| Liberal Democrats (1) \| UKIP (1)