Barnsley West and Penistone (UK Parliament constituency)

Barnsley West and Penistone
Barnsley West and Penistone
Former County constituency; for the House of Commons
	Boundary of Barnsley West and Penistone in South Yorkshire in 2005.
	Location of South Yorkshire within England.
County	South Yorkshire
Major settlements	Penistone
1983–2010
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Barnsley Central, Penistone & Stocksbridge
Created from	Barnsley and Penistone

Coordinates: 53°33′22″N 1°35′28″W / 53.556°N 1.591°W / 53.556; -1.591

Barnsley West and Penistone was a parliamentary constituency in South Yorkshire which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system.

History[]

It was considered a safe seat for the Labour Party.

Boundaries[]

The Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley wards of Darton, Dodworth, Hoyland East, Hoyland West, Park, Penistone East, Penistone West, and Worsbrough.

Barnsley West and Penistone constituency was created in 1983 when the former Barnsley constituency was split into three divisions. This seat also contained parts of the former Penistone constituency, which was abolished in the same boundary review: in total it covered the western part of the Borough of Barnsley and included the town of Penistone. It bordered the constituencies of Sheffield Hillsborough, Wentworth, Barnsley East and Mexborough, Barnsley Central, Hemsworth, Wakefield, Colne Valley, and High Peak. Penistone itself provides the highest Conservative vote in the Borough of Barnsley (although not always a majority - see for instance 1998 Barnsley Council election and 2008 Barnsley Council election), but the other small towns and villages, mostly former mining areas, are safely Labour.

Boundary review[]

Following the Boundary Commission for England's report on South Yorkshire's Parliamentary constituencies in 2004 and the subsequent inquiry in 2005 it was announced that the constituency of Barnsley West and Penistone would be abolished for future elections. The revisions split the constituency in two: the easternmost wards were to become part of a revised Barnsley Central constituency, while the westernmost wards, around Penistone, would be combined with the northern wards from the Sheffield Hillsborough constituency. This new constituency was to be named Penistone and Stocksbridge, and covers a similar area to the historic Penistone constituency.

Members of Parliament[]

The constituency had two Members of Parliament, both of which were from the Labour Party or Labour Co-operative.

	Member^[1]	Party
1983	Allen McKay	Labour
1992	Michael Clapham	Labour Co-operative
2010	constituency abolished: see Barnsley Central & Penistone and Stocksbridge

Elections[]

General election results since 1983

Elections in the 2000s[]

General election 2005: Barnsley West & Penistone^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Clapham	20,372	55.3	−3.3
	Conservative	Clive Watkinson	9,058	24.6	+1.8
	Liberal Democrats	Alison Brelsford	7,422	20.1	+1.5
Majority			11,314	30.7	-5.1
Turnout			36,842	55.0	+2.1
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.5

General election 2001: Barnsley West & Penistone^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Clapham	20,244	58.6	−0.7
	Conservative	William Rowe	7,892	22.8	+4.4
	Liberal Democrats	Miles Crompton	6,428	18.6	+0.6
Majority			12,352	35.8	-5.1
Turnout			34,564	52.9	−12.1
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.6

Elections in the 1990s[]

General election 1997: Barnsley West & Penistone^[4]^[5]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour_Co-operative	Michael Clapham	25,017	59.3	+1.0
	Conservative	Paul Watkins	7,750	18.4	−9.6
	Liberal Democrats	Winifred Knight	7,613	18.0	+6.3
	Referendum	Joyce Miles	1,828	4.3	New
Majority			17,267	40.9	+10.6
Turnout			42,208	65.0	−10.7
	Labour_Co-operative hold		Swing	+5.3

General election 1992: Barnsley West and Penistone^[7]^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour_Co-operative	Michael Clapham	27,965	58.3	+0.9
	Conservative	Graham Sawyer	13,461	28.0	+1.4
	Liberal Democrats	Hugh Nicolson	5,610	11.7	−4.3
	Green	Derek Jones	970	2.0	New
Majority			14,504	30.3	−0.5
Turnout			48,006	75.7	0.0
	Labour_Co-operative gain from Labour		Swing	−0.2

Elections in the 1980s[]

General election 1987: Barnsley West & Penistone^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Allen McKay	26,498	57.4	+6.6
	Conservative	Alan Duncan	12,307	26.6	−0.9
	SDP	Richard Hall	7,409	16.0	−5.7
Majority			14,191	30.8	+7.5
Turnout			46,214	75.7	+2.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.7

The first general election in this constituency was won by Allen McKay, who had been the MP for the abolished Penistone constituency since 1978.

General election 1983: Barnsley West & Penistone^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Allen McKay	22,560	50.8
	Conservative	Timothy Hartley	12,218	27.5
	SDP	John Evans	9,624	21.7
Majority			10,342	23.3
Turnout			44,402	73.2
	Labour win (new seat)

Notes and references[]

^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 1)
^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^ "Politics Resources". Election 1997. Politics Resources. 1 May 1997. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 25 December 2010.
^ C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, p.120 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995)
^ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
^ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

Sources[]

BBC Election 2005
BBC Vote 2001
Guardian Unlimited Politics (Election results from 1992 to the present)
Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources (1983 and 1987 results)

[1] Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 1)

[electoralcalculus2005-2] "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

[electoralcalculus2001-3] "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

[electoralcalculus1997-4] "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

[5] "Politics Resources". Election 1997. Politics Resources. 1 May 1997. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 25 December 2010.

[6] C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, p.120 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995)

[electoralcalculus1992-7] "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

[8] "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.

[electoralcalculus1987-9] "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

[electoralcalculus1983-10] "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

v t Constituencies in Yorkshire and the Humber (54)
Labour (28)	Barnsley Central Barnsley East Batley and Spen Bradford East Bradford South Bradford West Doncaster Central Doncaster North Halifax Hemsworth Huddersfield Kingston upon Hull East Kingston upon Hull North Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle Leeds Central Leeds East Leeds North East Leeds North West Leeds West Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford Rotherham Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough Sheffield Central Sheffield Hallam Sheffield Heeley Sheffield South East Wentworth and Dearne York Central
Conservative (25)	Beverley and Holderness Brigg and Goole Calder Valley Cleethorpes Colne Valley Dewsbury Don Valley East Yorkshire Elmet and Rothwell Great Grimsby Haltemprice and Howden Harrogate and Knaresborough Keighley Morley and Outwood Penistone and Stocksbridge Pudsey Richmond (Yorks) Rother Valley Scarborough and Whitby Scunthorpe Selby and Ainsty Shipley Skipton and Ripon Thirsk and Malton York Outer
Independent (1)	Wakefield
East Midlands East of England London North East England North West England Northern Ireland Scotland South East England South West England Wales West Midlands Yorkshire and the Humber