Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (UK Parliament constituency)

Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Yvette Cooper of the Labour Party since its 2010 creation. Cooper has served under the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown alongside her husband Ed Balls, and served as Shadow Home Secretary under the leadership of Ed Miliband. She is now the Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee.[n 2]

Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford in West Yorkshire
Location of West Yorkshire within England
County	West Yorkshire
Electorate	84,874 (December 2019)[1]
Major settlements	Normanton, Castleford and Pontefract
Current constituency
Created	2010
Member of Parliament	Yvette Cooper (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Pontefract and Castleford, Normanton

History

Parliament accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which recommended this constituency for the 2010 general election in the district of the city of Wakefield. Due to less increase in population than elsewhere the Commission had to reduce constituencies in the county by one, resulting in the "merger" of Normanton and Pontefract/Castleford seats, however some wards of both went to other neighbouring seats to give the correct size electorate.

The Commission had great difficulty in naming the constituency, with "Normanton and Pontefract" and "Pontefract and Castleford" both suggested. On 24 May 2006 the modified name was chosen following further public consultation. The only other three-place constituency in England in terms of name is Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner in London.

Boundaries

The constituency first contested at the 2010 general election has electoral wards of the City of Wakefield:

• Airedale and Ferry Fryston, Altofts and Whitwood, Castleford Central and Glasshoughton, Knottingley, Normanton, Pontefract North, and Pontefract South.

Constituency profile

The area has the three retail towns, Pontefract being the most touristic — producing liquorice as well as Pontefract cakes — the wider economy includes self-employed trades, work in local manufacturing and jobs in creative industry, retail, public sector and corporate headquarters including in Leeds and Wakefield.

The last working deep coal mine in the United Kingdom, Kellingley Colliery, was a significant employer until it closed in December 2015.[2]

Well recovered from economic decline from the loss of most local mines, the rate of jobseeking benefits claimed is lower than the Yorkshire and Humber average (4.6%) at 4.4% however this slightly exceeds the national average and is over twice that of six constituencies in the region.[n 3][3]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[4]	Party	Notes
	2010	Yvette Cooper	Labour	Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2009–2010) Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee (2016–present)

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Yvette Cooper	18,297	37.9	21.6
	Conservative	Andrew Lee	17,021	35.3	5.3
	Brexit Party	Deneice Florence-Jukes	8,032	16.6	New
	Liberal Democrats	Tom Gordon	3,147	6.5	5.1
	Yorkshire	Laura Walker	1,762	3.7	0.8
Majority			1,276	2.6	26.9
Turnout			48,419	57.3	3.0
	Labour hold		Swing	13.4

General election 2017: Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford[6][7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Yvette Cooper	29,268	59.5	4.6
	Conservative	Andrew Lee	14,769	30.0	9.2
	UKIP	Lewis Thompson	3,030	6.2	15.1
	Yorkshire	Daniel Gascoigne	1,431	2.9	New
	Liberal Democrats	Clarke Roberts	693	1.4	1.5
Majority			14,499	29.5	4.1
Turnout			49,191	60.3	4.7
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 2015: Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford[6][7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Yvette Cooper	25,213	54.9	+6.8
	UKIP	Nathan Garbutt	9,785	21.3	New
	Conservative	Beth Prescott	9,569	20.8	−3.6
	Liberal Democrats	Edward McMillan-Scott	1,330	2.9	−13.5
Majority			15,428	33.6	+9.9
Turnout			45,897	55.6	-0.6
	Labour hold		Swing	-7.3

General election 2010: Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Yvette Cooper	22,293	48.1
	Conservative	Nick Pickles	11,314	24.4
	Liberal Democrats	Chris Rush	7,585	16.4
	BNP	Graham Thewlis-Hardy	3,846	8.3
	Independent	Gareth Allen	1,183	2.6
Majority			10,979	23.7
Turnout			46,239	56.2
	Labour win (new seat)

2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum

The results for the referendum were not returned by individual parliamentary constituencies (instead using a counting area within a region), but the Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford area is estimated to have voted by a 69.3% – 30.7% margin to leave the European Union.[9]

Neighbouring constituencies

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in West Yorkshire

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.
3. York Outer, Elmet and Rothwell, Sheffield Hallam, Harrogate and Knaresborough, Skipton and Ripon and, Thirsk and Malton

References

1. "Constituency data: electorates – House of Commons Library". 2019 Electorate Figures. Parliament UK. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
2. "UK's last deep coal mine Kellingley Colliery capped off". BBC News Online. 14 March 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2016. Kellingley Colliery in North Yorkshire closed in December, bringing to an end centuries of deep coal mining in Britain.
3. Unemployment statistics The Guardian
4. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "N" (part 2)
5. "Normanton, Pontefract & Castleford Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
6. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
7. "Normanton, Pontefract & Castleford". BBC News. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
8. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
9. "Election 2017 dashboard". Democratic Dashboard.