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Middlesbrough
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Middlesbrough in Cleveland.
Location of Cleveland within England.
County	Cleveland
Electorate	65,851 (December 2010)[1]
Current constituency
Created	1974 (1974)
Member of parliament	Andy McDonald (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Middlesbrough East and Middlesbrough West
1868–1918
Number of members	One
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Replaced by	Middlesbrough East and Middlesbrough West
Created from	North Riding of Yorkshire
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	North East England

Middlesbrough is a constituency^{[n 1]} recreated in 1974 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Andy McDonald from the Labour Party.^{[n 2]} An earlier version of the seat existed between 1868-1918.

History

First creation

Parliament created this seat under the Representation of the People Act 1867 for the general election the next year, however the population expanded so was split into east/west areas in 1918. From 1950 until 1974, given intervening expansion of suburbs across the country, the Metropolitan Borough of Thornaby closer to Stockton on Tees was included in the Middlesbrough West constituency. Thornaby was enveloped into Teesside County Borough from 1974 and has not been part of the associated seats otherwise.^[2]

Second creation – current

The seat was recreated on similar boundaries to those which existed immediately before 1918.

Results of the winning party

The 2015 result made the seat the 36-safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority.^[3]

Since its revival in 1974 Middlesbrough has elected the Labour Party's candidate as its MP.^{[n 3]} In areas formerly in the Middlesbrough East contributor the MP has been Labour since 1950.^{[n 4]}

Middlesbrough West took in rural and semi-rural areas outside the borough to the west and was a marginal seat passing three times between the two largest parties after World War II but a Liberal stronghold from 1918 until 1945; former soldier and iron and steel merchant Trevelyan Thomson ran unopposed at the polls for re-election in 1924.

Opposition parties

The 2012 by-election and 2015 general election saw UKIP finish second.^[4] The Liberal Democrats fielded second-placed candidates in 2005 and 2010. The Conservatives did in all elections between the seat's revival and 2001, and returned to second place in 2017. The Green Party outpolled the Liberal Democrats in 2015 in a field of five parties' candidates standing — the two parties failed to achieve 5% of votes cast leading them to forfeit their deposits.

Turnout

Turnout has ranged between 70.1% in 1987 and 48.8% in 2005.

Boundaries

1974–1983: The County Borough of Teesside wards of Berwick Hills, Marton, North Ormesby, St Hilda's, Thorntree, and Tollesby.

1983–1997: The Borough of Middlesbrough wards of Acklam, Beckfield, Beechwood, Berwick Hills, Gresham, Grove Hill, Kirby, Linthorpe, North Ormesby, Pallister, Park, St Hilda's, Southfield, Thorntree, and Westbourne.

1997–2010: The Borough of Middlesbrough wards of Acklam, Ayresome, Beckfield, Beechwood, Berwick Hills, Brookfield, Gresham, Grove Hill, Kader, Kirby, Linthorpe, North Ormesby, Pallister, Park, St Hilda's, Southfield, Thorntree, and Westbourne.

2010–present: The Borough of Middlesbrough wards of Acklam, Ayresome, Beckfield, Beechwood, Brookfield, Clairville, Gresham, Kader, Grove Hill, Linthorpe, Middlehaven, North Ormesby and Brambles Farm, Pallister, Park, Thorntree, and University.

The boundaries of the constituency are loosely based on the pre 1968 County Borough of Middlesbrough boundaries, which is now defined as the Borough (or Town) of Middlesbrough; the exclusions are its Easterside and Park End Wards, instead in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland.

Constituency profile

The constituency is mostly the urban city itself, largely in the sunset of its once world-leading steel-making output, its adult population has mostly a low income with high unemployment, however with modern advanced engineering, design and tourism the city forms with nearby Redcar a bellwether for the North East region's economy firmly in the British forefront of a determined return to increasing national output.^[5] In November 2012 male and female unemployment (based on the more up-to-date claimant statistics) placed Middlesbrough topmost of 29 constituencies in the region, well ahead for example the City of Durham at the bottom of the list, with just 3.4% claimants whereas this area had 9.4% claimants.^[6]

In terms of housing stock, the authority is one of few authorities to see the proportion of detached and semi-detached homes increase (to 13.6% and 39.9%), in this instance this was coupled with a similar rise in flats to 11.9%, all at a loss to the share of terraced properties, down 4.7%.^[7]

2010 general election

The film ToryBoy The Movie followed the election, directed by and starring John Walsh who documented how he became a candidate for the Conservative Party in Middlesbrough, challenging the sitting MP, Stuart Bell.^[8][9] The following year, the Daily Mail claimed that long-term sitting MP Bell had not held a constituency surgery since 1997.^[10] Later in 2011, Neil Macfarlane, in a report for local newspaperTeesside Gazette, asked "Are Teessiders getting enough from Sir Stuart Bell?" when he failed to answer over one hundred telephone calls made to his constituency office over a three-month period.^[11] The Gazette story was picked up by national newspapers. The Independent asked "is Sir Stuart Bell Britain's laziest MP?"^[12][13] The Guardian fact-checked the "laziest MP" claims and found that was false.^[14] The Labour Party said it was looking into the allegations.^[13][15] Bell later said that he had stopped surgeries after being assaulted, and was willing to meet constituents "by appointment". He stated that he would discuss the matter with Labour Chief Whip Rosie Winterton, and would be writing to Labour Party leader Ed Miliband to explain his circumstances.^[16]

Members of Parliament

MPs 1868–1918

MPs since 1974

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2017: Middlesbrough^{[18][additional citation(s) needed]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Andy McDonald	23,404	65.7	8.9
	Conservative	Jacob Young	9,531	26.7	10.3
	UKIP	David Hodgson	1,452	4.1	14.6
	Independent	Terry Lawton	632	1.8	1.8
	Liberal Democrat	Dawud Islam	368	1.0	2.7
	Green	Carl Martinez	250	0.7	3.6
Majority			13,873	39.0	0.9
Turnout			35,367	58.3	+5.4
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.7

General Election 2015: Middlesbrough^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Andy McDonald	18,584	56.8	+10.9
	UKIP	Nigel Baker	6,107	18.7	+15.0
	Conservative	Simon Clarke	5,388	16.5	-2.3
	Green	Hannah Graham	1,407	4.3	+4.3
	Liberal Democrat	Richard Kilpatrick	1,220	3.7	-16.2
Majority			12,477	38.1	12.1
Turnout			32,706	52.9	+1.5
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.0

General Election 2010: Middlesbrough^[20][21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Stuart Bell	15,351	45.9	−11.7
	Liberal Democrat	Chris Foote-Wood	6,662	19.9	+1.2
	Conservative	John Walsh	6,283	18.8	+2.3
	Independent	Joan McTigue	1,969	5.9	+5.9
	BNP	Michael Ferguson	1,954	5.8	+3.3
	UKIP	Robert Parker	1,236	3.7	+1.3
Majority			8,689	26.0	13.1
Turnout			33,455	51.4	+2.7
	Labour hold		Swing	−6.4

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Middlesbrough^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Stuart Bell	18,562	57.8	−9.8
	Liberal Democrat	Joe Michna	5,995	18.7	+8.3
	Conservative	Caroline Flynn-Macleod	5,263	16.4	−2.7
	BNP	Ron Armes	819	2.5	N/A
	UKIP	Michael Landers	768	2.4	N/A
	Independent	Jackie Elder	503	1.6	N/A
	Independent	Derrick Arnott	230	0.7	N/A
Majority			12,567	39.1	9.4
Turnout			32,140	48.8	−1.0
	Labour hold		Swing	−9.0

General Election 2001: Middlesbrough^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Stuart Bell	22,783	67.6	−3.9
	Conservative	Alex Finn	6,453	19.1	+2.0
	Liberal Democrat	Keith Miller	3,512	10.4	+1.9
	Socialist Alliance	Geoffrey Kerr-Morgan	577	1.7	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Kai Andersen	392	1.2	N/A
Majority			16,330	48.5	5.4
Turnout			33,717	49.8	−15.2
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1914/15:

A General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• 
  Liberal:Penry Williams
  


• 
  Unionist:

Walls

Elections in the 1900s

Wilson

Sadler

Elections in the 1890s

Wilson

Robson

Elections in the 1880s

Dixon

Elections in the 1870s

• Caused by Bolckow's death.

Elections in the 1860s

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Cleveland

Notes and references

Notes

References

Sources

• 
  Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.
  


• 
  Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.