BBC Profile:
This new constituency on the eastern outcrop of West Yorkshire consists of parts of the abolished seat of Normanton and the old Pontefract and Castleford seat. Pontefract and Castleford was dominated in the twentieth century by Labour, electing a succession of local miners to Parliament.
Last in this line of former miners was Geoffrey Lofthouse, who won the nomination for the by-election of 1978. He stood down in 1997 and made way for Yvette Cooper.
At the election there was a 6.6% swing to Labour, giving Yvette Cooper 75% of the vote. Small swings to the Tories in 2001 and 2005 left Ms Cooper with a majority of 15,246.
Normanton was formerly within a separate constituency of the same name. It was held by Ms Cooper's husband, Ed Balls, in 2005 and had been in Labour hands for over a century when abolished.
This new constituency on the eastern outcrop of West Yorkshire consists of parts of the abolished seat of Normanton and the old Pontefract and Castleford seat. The wards, taken from the Wakefield council area are: Airedale and Ferry Fryston, Altofts and Whitwood, Castleford Central and Glasshoughton, Knottingley, Normanton, Pontefract North, and Pontefract South.
Pontefract is the best known and more historic of the three towns in the title, but Castleford is the largest. Together with the third, Normanton, they form an area based on coal and criss-crossed by motorways.
The traditional coal mining industry has now vanished but one remaining p
[More...]BBC Profile:
This new constituency on the eastern outcrop of West Yorkshire consists of parts of the abolished seat of Normanton and the old Pontefract and Castleford seat. Pontefract and Castleford was dominated in the twentieth century by Labour, electing a succession of local miners to Parliament.
Last in this line of former miners was Geoffrey Lofthouse, who won the nomination for the by-election of 1978. He stood down in 1997 and made way for Yvette Cooper.
At the election there was a 6.6% swing to Labour, giving Yvette Cooper 75% of the vote. Small swings to the Tories in 2001 and 2005 left Ms Cooper with a majority of 15,246.
Normanton was formerly within a separate constituency of the same name. It was held by Ms Cooper's husband, Ed Balls, in 2005 and had been in Labour hands for over a century when abolished.
This new constituency on the eastern outcrop of West Yorkshire consists of parts of the abolished seat of Normanton and the old Pontefract and Castleford seat. The wards, taken from the Wakefield council area are: Airedale and Ferry Fryston, Altofts and Whitwood, Castleford Central and Glasshoughton, Knottingley, Normanton, Pontefract North, and Pontefract South.
Pontefract is the best known and more historic of the three towns in the title, but Castleford is the largest. Together with the third, Normanton, they form an area based on coal and criss-crossed by motorways.
The traditional coal mining industry has now vanished but one remaining pit, Kellingley Colliery, keeps the industry alive. The major employers nowadays are the great power stations at Ferrybridge, in the constituency, and Drax and Eggborough, just outside. Knottingley has always been rather different, with a history of shipbuilding, glass-making, lime-burning and pottery among its industries.
Despite the rise of the energy industry in this area, many workers are only partly skilled and correspondingly low paid but unemployment is below the national average, having nearly halved since 1997. The area has low levels of owner-occupancy with many living in social housing.
Rallings & Thrasher Notional:
Lab 27,630 (65.34%)
C 7,022 (16.61%)
LD 4,704 (11.12%)
Others 2,931 (6.93%)
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