Easington (UK Parliament constituency) explained

Easington
Parliament:uk
Year:1950
Type:County
Elects Howmany:One
Electorate:70,043 (2023)[1]
Region:England
Party:Labour

Easington is a constituency created in 1950 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Grahame Morris of the Labour Party.

Constituency profile

The constituency comprises the majority of the former district of the same name and takes in the coastal portion of the unitary authority of County Durham. The principal towns are Peterlee and Seaham. A seat of former mining traditions, it was until recently one of Labour's safest in Britain — Manny Shinwell was MP for 20 years.

Constituents' occupations include to a significant degree agriculture and the service sector, however the area was formerly heavily economically supported by the mining of coal, iron ore and businesses in the county still extract gangue minerals in present mining, such as fluorspar for the smelting of aluminium, to the south in the county is Darlington, which has particular strengths in international transport construction, including bridges. To the north is the large city of Sunderland which has a large service sector.

Boundaries

1950–1974

Created by the Representation of the People Act 1948 for the 1950 general election from the abolished Seaham constituency,but excluding the Urban District of Seaham Harbour, which was included in Houghton-le-Spring.

1974–1983

Gained the Rural District of Stockton from the abolished constituency of Sedgefield. Northern-most parts, including Murton, transferred to Houghton-le-Spring.

1983–2010

Seaham and Murton returned from the abolished constituency of Houghton-le-Spring. Area comprising the former Rural District of Stockton had been included in the new county of Cleveland, and its contents now distributed between Hartlepool, Stockton North and Stockton South. Southern parts of the District of Easington included in the re-established constituency of Sedgefield.

2010–2024

Following their review of parliamentary representation in County Durham for the 2010 general election, the Boundary Commission for England made only minor changes to the boundaries of Easington (on the southern part of the boundary with Sedgefield).

In the 2009 structural changes to local government in England, the local authority districts in Durham were abolished and replaced with a single unitary authority; however, this did not affect the boundaries of the constituency.

2024–present

Following to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, from the 2024 general election, the constituency has the following boundaries:

The constituency was expanded to bring the electorate within the permitted range, by adding the communities of Thornley and Wingate from the abolished constituency of Sedgefield.

Political history

Results of the winning partyThe area has been held by the Labour Party since the 1922 election (including predecessor seat), when the seat was held by the party leader and Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald. Labour's majority in the seat has never fallen below 19% (the result in the party's 2019 landslide defeat - and in the party's 2024 landslide victory) in its history, and has only been below 40% four times (in 1979, 1983, 2019 and 2024). Labour won a majority of votes in every election from the seat's creation in 1950 until 2019, when their vote share fell below 50% for the first time.
Results of other partiesThe 2015 general election saw an above-average swing to UKIP of 18.7%; the national average was 9.5% . Prior to 2019, the Conservative Party had last come second in the seat in 2001. Labour's candidate won more than three times that of UKIP in 2015, scoring 61%, although the latter polled the strongest second-place in the seat since 1983. 2017 saw the UKIP vote collapse and the Conservative vote rise, although a slight rise in the Labour vote ensured the majority remained above 40%. In 2019, the newly formed Brexit Party (later renamed Reform UK) won 19.5% of the vote, their sixth best result in the election, contributing to a dramatic collapse in Labour's vote share and majority. The 2024 election saw Labour's vote increase slightly, but Reform UK overtook the Conservatives, increasing its vote to 29.8% (11th best result), meaning that Labour's margin of victory was unchanged at just over 19%.
TurnoutTurnout has ranged from 87.7% in 1950 to 49.5% in 2024. It has been somewhat inconsistent with national averages, falling in 1992 and 2005 when national turnout increased.

Members of Parliament

ElectionMemberParty
1950Manny ShinwellLabour
1970Jack DormandLabour
1987John CummingsLabour
2010Grahame MorrisLabour

Elections

Elections in the 1950s

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition – North East . Boundary Commission for England . 3 July 2024 . dmy .
  2. Book: Craig, Fred W. S. . Boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 1885–1972; . 1972 . Political Reference Publications . 0-900178-09-4 . Chichester . 58 . 539011.
  3. Web site: The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1970 . 43.
  4. Web site: The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1983 . 23.
  5. Web site: The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1995 . In the County of Durham.
  6. Web site: The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 2007 . In Durham and Darlington.
  7. Web site: The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023 . Schedule 1 Part 4 North East region.

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