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UK Parliament - Hemsworth

RACE DETAILS

Parents

> United Kingdom > England > Yorkshire & the Humber > Yorkshire & the Humber > Hemsworth

Office

Parliament

Type

General Election

Filing Deadline

April 20, 2010 - 06:00pm

Polls Open

May 06, 2010 - 01:00am

Polls Close

May 06, 2010 - 04:00pm

Term Start

May 17, 2010 - 12:00pm

Term End

May 17, 2015 - 12:00pm

Contributor

Ralphie

Last Modified

Imperator May 08, 2010 01:31pm

Data Sources

[Link]

Description

BBC Profile:
The West Yorkshire seat of Hemsworth has regularly seen large Labour majorities. In 1987, George Buckley won by a margin of more than 20,000 votes. After his death in 1991, the seat was held by Derek Enright. Mr Enright himself died in 1995, and was succeeded by Jon Trickett, who won the by-election with nearly 72% of the vote.

In 1997, despite a big drop in turnout, Mr Trickett's majority was nearly 24,000. There was a slight swing to the Conservatives in 2001, and again in 2005, but the Labour majority was still 13,481.

Boundary changes in this part of Yorkshire mean that Hemsworth gains two part-wards while two part-wards have been lost to the new seat of Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford. To find out what might have happened had these changes been in force at the last election, see a notional - or estimated - result below.

A former coal mining area between Wakefield and Pontefract, this constituency includes much of the semi-rural land to the south and east of Wakefield that is within the city council boundaries.

At one time it had 40 pits - the biggest concentration of mines in the country after Bolsover in Derbyshire. Now, they have all shut down.

The closure of the mines in the 1980s and early 1990s created high levels of unemployment and deprivation. Regeneration has been slow, although there is now some warehousing and distribution.

Reclamation schemes on several of the former colliery sites have led to the development of industrial estates such as Green Lane in Featherstone and a significant development opportunity at South Kirkby.

Rallings & Thrasher Notional:
Lab 22,542 (58.67%)
C 8,516 (22.16%)
LD 6,034 (15.70%)
Others 1,329 (3.46%)