Post by YL on Jul 9, 2023 21:12:10 GMT
This is a new name, but it is essentially a continuation of the Barnsley East constituency. For the most part it consists of a number of areas which have been part of the borough of Barnsley since 1974 but which were previously administered separately. These include Worsbrough, which is the most integrated into the town of Barnsley, and the towns of Hoyland, Wombwell and Darfield, which are to the south and east of Barnsley itself; Elsecar, essentially the southern part of Hoyland, is known for its Heritage Centre. Further to the east it includes the former Dearne Urban District, consisting of the three towns of Bolton upon Dearne, Goldthorpe and Thurnscoe. In addition the constituency does contain some southern areas of Barnsley proper, in the Stairfoot and Kingstone wards.
This is very much a coalfield constituency, with all the communities in the constituency having mining connections, and it includes the birthplace of Arthur Scargill, while Goldthorpe's 15 minutes of political fame came in 2013 when it was the scene of a mock funeral party celebrating the death of Margaret Thatcher. Unsurprisingly it is a deprived working class constituency. All of the communities in the constituency have census areas with very high deprivation, and although they do mostly have some less deprived areas "less deprived" here is still usually more deprived than the English median. Parts of Thurnscoe, Goldthorpe and Worsbrough are particularly deprived, with Hoyland and adjoining Birdwell perhaps being a little bit better off than most of the rest of the constituency. Another less deprived area is the Ardsley area in the east of Stairfoot ward.
Numbers in professional or managerial employment are low, as are numbers with higher education qualifications, while numbers with no qualifications are very high, reaching over 50% in a couple of census areas in Goldthorpe and Thurnscoe. Again there are some areas which are closer to the median for these statistics, for example in Hemingfield, east of Hoyland, and parts of Kingstone ward, but except for very small pockets there is nowhere where the demographics can really be described as middle class. There is very little ethnic diversity, with the constituency being 97% white in 2021.
Barnsley East was created in 1983, and at that point did not include Hoyland or Worsbrough; previously Darfield and Wombwell had been in Dearne Valley, and it also included Cudworth and the area around Grimethorpe, which had been in Hemsworth. In 1997 it gained parts of Doncaster borough and was renamed Barnsley East & Mexborough, but it lost these again in 2010, and also lost Goldthorpe, Thurnscoe and Bolton upon Dearne, which went to Wentworth & Dearne, but gained Hoyland and Worsbrough from the dismembered Barnsley West & Penistone. Now it regains Goldthorpe, Thurnscoe and Bolton upon Dearne and also gains Kingstone, but loses Cudworth and Grimethorpe, which were the northern part of the constituency, explaining the name change.
All its predecessors of this constituency have been consistently represented by Labour MPs since 1935, but in recent times Labour has had some trouble from the populist right. In 2010 the Labour vote in Barnsley East fell sharply to below 50%, with the British National Party receiving over 8% of the vote. Labour recovered in 2015 and 2017, although UKIP received large shares, but in 2019 the Labour vote fell sharply again, with the Brexit Party receiving nearly 30% of the vote and reducing Stephanie Peacock's majority to just over 3000. The results in this new constituency would not have been very different.
At local level Labour are usually dominant, but as elsewhere in Barnsley the Barnsley Independent Group (BIG) have won various wards from time to time, and in a poor 2019 election for Barnsley Labour, they were defeated in Stairfoot ward by BIG, in Worsbrough by a non-BIG independent and in Darfield by Democrats and Veterans, a UKIP splinter party, and having close shaves in a number of other wards. In 2021 a Conservative only lost Rockingham ward (the west side of Hoyland and Birdwell) on the toss of a coin, and then they won it in 2022, their first ever win in Barnsley Met Borough outside the Penistone wards, though the councillor has now defected to Reform UK. In 2023, Labour won Dearne North (Thurnscoe and north Goldthorpe), Dearne South (Bolton on Dearne and south Goldthorpe), Darfield, Wombwell, Stairfoot and Hoyland Milton, Independents won Rockingham and Worsbrough, while the Lib Dems broke through in Kingstone.
2019 notional result (Rallings & Thrasher):
Lab 15864 (41.8%)
Brexit Party 10964 (29.2%)
Con 8497 (22.7%)
Lib Dem 1311 (3.5%)
Green 773 (2.1%)
Other 279 (0.7%)
Lab majority 4720 (12.6%)
This is very much a coalfield constituency, with all the communities in the constituency having mining connections, and it includes the birthplace of Arthur Scargill, while Goldthorpe's 15 minutes of political fame came in 2013 when it was the scene of a mock funeral party celebrating the death of Margaret Thatcher. Unsurprisingly it is a deprived working class constituency. All of the communities in the constituency have census areas with very high deprivation, and although they do mostly have some less deprived areas "less deprived" here is still usually more deprived than the English median. Parts of Thurnscoe, Goldthorpe and Worsbrough are particularly deprived, with Hoyland and adjoining Birdwell perhaps being a little bit better off than most of the rest of the constituency. Another less deprived area is the Ardsley area in the east of Stairfoot ward.
Numbers in professional or managerial employment are low, as are numbers with higher education qualifications, while numbers with no qualifications are very high, reaching over 50% in a couple of census areas in Goldthorpe and Thurnscoe. Again there are some areas which are closer to the median for these statistics, for example in Hemingfield, east of Hoyland, and parts of Kingstone ward, but except for very small pockets there is nowhere where the demographics can really be described as middle class. There is very little ethnic diversity, with the constituency being 97% white in 2021.
Barnsley East was created in 1983, and at that point did not include Hoyland or Worsbrough; previously Darfield and Wombwell had been in Dearne Valley, and it also included Cudworth and the area around Grimethorpe, which had been in Hemsworth. In 1997 it gained parts of Doncaster borough and was renamed Barnsley East & Mexborough, but it lost these again in 2010, and also lost Goldthorpe, Thurnscoe and Bolton upon Dearne, which went to Wentworth & Dearne, but gained Hoyland and Worsbrough from the dismembered Barnsley West & Penistone. Now it regains Goldthorpe, Thurnscoe and Bolton upon Dearne and also gains Kingstone, but loses Cudworth and Grimethorpe, which were the northern part of the constituency, explaining the name change.
All its predecessors of this constituency have been consistently represented by Labour MPs since 1935, but in recent times Labour has had some trouble from the populist right. In 2010 the Labour vote in Barnsley East fell sharply to below 50%, with the British National Party receiving over 8% of the vote. Labour recovered in 2015 and 2017, although UKIP received large shares, but in 2019 the Labour vote fell sharply again, with the Brexit Party receiving nearly 30% of the vote and reducing Stephanie Peacock's majority to just over 3000. The results in this new constituency would not have been very different.
At local level Labour are usually dominant, but as elsewhere in Barnsley the Barnsley Independent Group (BIG) have won various wards from time to time, and in a poor 2019 election for Barnsley Labour, they were defeated in Stairfoot ward by BIG, in Worsbrough by a non-BIG independent and in Darfield by Democrats and Veterans, a UKIP splinter party, and having close shaves in a number of other wards. In 2021 a Conservative only lost Rockingham ward (the west side of Hoyland and Birdwell) on the toss of a coin, and then they won it in 2022, their first ever win in Barnsley Met Borough outside the Penistone wards, though the councillor has now defected to Reform UK. In 2023, Labour won Dearne North (Thurnscoe and north Goldthorpe), Dearne South (Bolton on Dearne and south Goldthorpe), Darfield, Wombwell, Stairfoot and Hoyland Milton, Independents won Rockingham and Worsbrough, while the Lib Dems broke through in Kingstone.
2019 notional result (Rallings & Thrasher):
Lab 15864 (41.8%)
Brexit Party 10964 (29.2%)
Con 8497 (22.7%)
Lib Dem 1311 (3.5%)
Green 773 (2.1%)
Other 279 (0.7%)
Lab majority 4720 (12.6%)
