Hemsworth (UK Parliament constituency)

Template:UK constituency infobox Hemsworth 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.

The constituency has consistently elected Labour MPs with large majorities.

History

At the February 1974 general election, Hemsworth was the safest seat for any party, anywhere in the UK: the Labour vote peaked in 1966 at 85.39%, and consistently exceeded 80% from 1935 until the Liberal Party contested the seat in October 1974, for he first time since 1923.

Boundaries

This constituency covers the towns of Hemsworth, Featherstone, South Kirkby & Moorthorpe and South Elmsall plus the southern part of Wakefield (Sandal, Agbrigg, Belle Vue) and the villages of Ackworth, Crofton, Notton and Walton. These settlements are all in the City of Wakefield district in West Yorkshire.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1918	John Guest	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1931	Gabriel Price	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1934 by-election	George Griffiths	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1946 by-election	Horace Holmes	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1959	Alan Beaney	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	February 1974	Alec Woodall	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1987	George Buckley	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1991 by-election	Derek Enright	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1996 by-election	Jon Trickett	Labour

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: Hemsworth

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Guest	8,102	55.5
	Coalition Conservative	J. Scholefield	6,490	44.5
Majority			1,612	11.0
Turnout			14,592	58.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1922: Hemsworth

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Guest	14,295	63.2	+7.7
	National Liberal Party (UK)	Dr F. W. Crossley-Holland	8,317	36.8	N/A
Majority			5,978	26.4	+15.4
Turnout			22.612	76.3	+18.3
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1923: Hemsworth

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Guest	13,159	70.1	+6.9
	Liberal	H. Conway-Jones	5,624	29.9	N/A
Majority			7,535	40.2	+13.8
Turnout			18,683	61.3	−15.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

Hemsworth by-election, 1991

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Derek Enright	15,895	66.3
	Liberal Democrats	V. Megson	4,808	20.1
	Conservative	G. Harrison	2,512	10.5
	Independent Labour	P. Ablett	648	2.7
	Corrective Party	T. Smith	108	0.45
Majority			11,097	46.3
Turnout			23,971
	Labour hold		Swing

Hemsworth by-election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jon Trickett	15,817	71.9	+1.1
	Conservative	N. Hazell	1,942	8.8	-9.8
	Liberal Democrats	J. Ridgeway	1,516	6.9	-3.7
	Socialist Labour	B. Nixon	1,193	5.4
	Monster Raving Loony	David Sutch	652	3.0
	UKIP	P. Davis	455	2.1
	Green	P. Alexander	157	0.7
	Independent	Mark Thomas	122	0.6
	National Democrats	M. Cooper	111	0.5
	Natural Law	D. Leighton	28	0.1
Majority			13,875	63.1
Turnout				39.5
	Labour hold		Swing	-5.43

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2001: Hemsworth

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jon Trickett	23,036	65.4	−5.2
	Conservative	Elizabeth Truss	7,400	21.0	+3.2
	Liberal Democrats	Ed Waller	3,990	11.3	+2.5
	Socialist Labour	Paul Turek	801	2.3	N/A
Majority			15,636	44.4
Turnout			35,227	51.8	−16.1
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 2005: Hemsworth

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jon Trickett	21,630	58.8	−6.6
	Conservative	Jonathan Mortimer	8,149	22.1	+1.1
	Liberal Democrats	David Hall-Matthews	5,766	15.7	+4.4
	Veritas	John Burdon	1,247	3.4	N/A
Majority			13,481	36.6
Turnout			36,792	54.6	+2.8
	Labour hold		Swing

See also

• Hemsworth by-election, 1934
• Hemsworth by-election, 1946
• Hemsworth by-election, 1991
• Hemsworth by-election, 1996
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in West Yorkshire

References

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd edition ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |origdate= (help)
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages