Washington and Sunderland West (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 54°53′28″N 1°29′56″W / 54.891°N 1.499°W / 54.891; -1.499

Washington and Sunderland West
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons

Outline map

Boundary of Washington and Sunderland West in Tyne and Wear for the 2010 general election.

Outline map

Location of Tyne and Wear within England.
County Tyne and Wear
Electorate 70,177 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created 2010
Member of parliament Sharon Hodgson (Labour)
Created from Houghton and Washington East, Gateshead East and Washington West, Sunderland North, Sunderland South
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency North East England

Washington and Sunderland West is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 2010 creation by Sharon Hodgson, a member of the Labour Party.[n 2]

Boundaries

Washington and Sunderland West has electoral wards:

History

Parliament accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies to create this constituency for the General Election 2010.

Forerunners

It is composed of elements of the following predecessors: Houghton and Washington East; Gateshead East and Washington West; Sunderland North; and Sunderland South.

Selection of first MP

Following a ballot of members on 8 September 2007 Sharon Hodgson MP was selected as the Labour candidate, she represented 38% of the new seat which came from her previous seat of Gateshead East and Washington West which was abolished.

Political history

All of the predecessor seats were held with majorities exceeding 5,000 votes and 5% of the vote before the 2010 election. Electoral calculus, an academic website, gave a provisional ranking as the 28th safest Labour seat in the United Kingdom, and the 11th safest Labour seat in England based on the results of 2005.[2]

Constituency profile

The town of Washington has a well-preserved historic centre with a museum dedicated to the first United States president, on its outskirts, the family home of George Washington. Notwithstanding its tourism appeal, workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 higher than the national average of 3.8%, at 5.7% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian, and equal to the North East average.[3]

Members of Parliament

ElectionMember[4] Party
2010 Sharon Hodgson Labour

Election results

General Election 2015: Washington and Sunderland West[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Sharon Hodgson 20,478 55.0 +2.5
UKIP Aileen Casey 7,321 19.6 +16.3
Conservative Bob Dhillon 7,033 18.9 3.0
Green Anthony Murphy[6] 1,091 2.9 N/A
Liberal Democrat Dominic John Haney 993 2.7 14.4
TUSC Gary Stephen Duncan 341 0.9 N/A
Majority 13,157 35.3
Turnout 37,257 54.6
Labour hold Swing

For 2015, the British National Party announced Pauline Renwick as a candidate,[7] but she failed to stand.[8]

General Election 2010: Washington and Sunderland West[9][10][11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Sharon Hodgson* 19,615 52.5 -16.2
Conservative Ian Cuthbert 8,157 21.8 +6.9
Liberal Democrat Peter Andras 6,382 17.1 +0.9
BNP Ian McDonald 1,913 5.1 +5.1
UKIP Linda Hudson 1,267 3.3 +3.3
Majority 11,458 30.7
Turnout 37,334 53.2 +6.8
Labour hold Swing -11.6
* Served as an MP for Gateshead East and Washington West in the 2005–2010 Parliament

2010 vote share changes and swing are based on notional results (a calculation of how the seat would have voted if it had existed at the previous election).

General Election 2005: Washington and Sunderland West (Notional Result)
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour {{{candidate}}} 68.7
Liberal Democrat {{{candidate}}} 16.2
Conservative {{{candidate}}} 14.9
BNP {{{candidate}}} 0.0
UKIP {{{candidate}}} 0.0
Majority {{{votes}}} 52.5 {{{change}}}
Labour hold Swing {{{swing}}}

Notes and references

Notes
  1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
  2. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
References

See also

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