| North Durham | |
| Parliament: | uk |
| Year: | 1983 |
| Type: | County |
| Elects Howmany: | One |
| Electorate: | 73,226 (2024) |
| Year2: | 1832 |
| Abolished2: | 1885 |
| Type2: | County |
| Elects Howmany2: | Two |
| Region: | England |
| Party: | Labour |
North Durham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Luke Akehurst of the Labour Party.
A constituency formally named the Northern Division of Durham was created by the Great Reform Act for the 1832 general election, when the former Durham constituency was split into the northern and southern divisions, each electing two members using the bloc vote system.
This seat was abolished by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 when the two divisions were replaced by eight single-member divisions.[1] These were Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland, Chester-le-Street, Houghton-le-Spring, Jarrow, Mid Durham, North West Durham and South East Durham.[2] In addition, there were seven County Durham borough constituencies.
The seat was re-created as a single-seat constituency for the 1983 general election as a result of the redistribution following the changes to local authority boundaries under the Local Government Act 1972. The new constituency comprised those parts of the abolished Chester-le-Street constituency retained within the reconstituted county of Durham, together with those parts of the abolished Consett constituency which had comprised the urban district of Stanley.
See map on Vision of Britain website.[4]
Included non-resident 40 shilling freeholders in the parliamentary boroughs of Durham, Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland.
Burnopfield and Dipton wards were transferred to the redrawn North West Durham.
The 1997 boundaries were retained despite the official description of the constituency changing slightly in terms of the names of the local authority wards.
Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, from the 2024 United Kingdom general election, the constituency is composed of the following electoral divisions of the County of Durham (as they existed on 1 December 2020):
The constituency was expanded to bring the electorate within the permitted range, by adding the Lanchester ward from the abolished constituency of North West Durham.
The constituency spans the north of County Durham in North East England. It includes the whole of the former Chester-le-Street district and the eastern part of the former Derwentside district. The main population centres (large settlements) are Chester-le-Street, Stanley and Sacriston. The constituency includes the North of England Open Air Museum at Beamish.[9]
| Election | 1st Member | 1st Party | 2nd Member | 2nd Party | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1832 | Hedworth Lambton | Whig[10] [11] | Sir Hedworth Williamson, Bt | Whig[12] [13] [14] [15] | |||
| 1837 | Hon. Henry Liddell | Conservative | |||||
| 1847 | Robert Duncombe Shafto | Whig[16] [17] | George Vane-Tempest | Conservative | |||
| 1854 by-election | Lord Adolphus Vane-Tempest | Conservative | |||||
| 1859 | Liberal | ||||||
| 1864 by-election | Sir Hedworth Williamson, Bt | Liberal | |||||
| 1868 | George Elliot | Conservative | |||||
| 1874 | Sir Lowthian Bell | Liberal | Charles Palmer | Liberal | |||
| 1874 by-election | Sir George Elliot, Bt | Conservative | |||||
| 1880 | John Joicey | Liberal | |||||
| 1881 by-election | Sir George Elliot, Bt | Conservative | |||||
| 1885 | Redistribution of Seats Act constituency abolished | ||||||
| Election | Member | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Giles Radice | Labour | ||
| 2001 | Kevan Jones | Labour | ||
| 2024 | Luke Akehurst | Labour | ||