Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley
Jan 5, 2024 16:28:22 GMT
Robert Waller, bungle, and 5 more like this
Post by YL on Jan 5, 2024 16:28:22 GMT
Although both the name and territory have changed several times, it could be argued that this is the constituency in the general area with the longest heritage, as Pontefract was the only place in the whole of the modern metropolitan counties of South and West Yorkshire to be a Parliamentary Borough before the 1832 Great Reform Act. The name became Pontefract & Castleford in 1974; when the Normanton constituency was abolished in 2010 the town of that name was transferred here and the name changed to reflect this. The resulting Normanton, Pontefract & Castleford constituency was always oversized, and Normanton now departs again, taking its name with it, but the residents of Knottingley have persuaded the Boundary Commission to add it to the name, so we now have Pontefract, Castleford & Knottingley. Under whatever name, the constituency has been held by the Labour Party since 1935, but like many coalfield constituencies Labour's position has slipped in the 21st century and it was only narrowly held in 2019, with the boundary changes likely to make little difference. Since 1997 it has been represented by the prominent Labour figure Yvette Cooper, a leadership candidate in 2015 and currently Shadow Home Secretary.
Pontefract itself, with its curious name derived from the Latin for "broken bridge", is a historically important settlement, as reflected in that Parliamentary Borough status. Its castle was the place of imprisonment and presumed death of Richard II after his deposition in 1399. Historically (and in Shakespeare) the name sometimes appears as "Pomfret", but the common shortening today is simply Ponte, or jocularly Ponte Carlo. Coal mining was important in the area, but the town is also known for liquorice, particularly the liquorice sweets known as Pontefract cakes. It was merged into the greatly expanded City of Wakefield in 1974, as were all the other areas in this constituency; today it is covered by two Wakefield wards, Pontefract North and Pontefract South, the latter of which also includes some rural areas to the south.
If Pontefract is Ponte Carlo, then Castleford is Cas Vegas. Castleford was also a mining town, but perhaps is best known for its rugby league team, now known as Castleford Tigers but often shortened to simply "Cas". Three wards cover Castleford: Airedale & Ferry Fryston ward covers the east of the town, Castleford Central & Glasshoughton the central parts, and Altofts & Whitwood covers the western end; the latter ward also includes the separate settlement of Altofts, forming a western peninsula of the constituency.
Knottingley is the other side of the A1(M) from Pontefract and Castleford. It adjoins Ferrybridge, previously the site of a large coal-fired power station which was something of a landmark, but the cooling towers have now gone. It was also a mining town, and is also associated with glassworks.
The demographics are not unusual for former mining areas. It is very working class, with the proportion in professional and managerial jobs being low and that in routine jobs being high; the proportion of jobs which are classified as "Lower supervisory and technical" is also very high. Education levels are low, with the constituency in the top 40 in England and Wales for the proportion with no qualifications. There are some more middle class pockets, especially in Altofts, western Castleford and in north-western and southern Pontefract, while the most deprived parts of the constituency are in southern Knottingley, central Pontefract and parts of Castleford, especially the Ferry Fryston area.
Local politics is, with one exception, also not unusual for former mining areas. Most of the wards usually vote Labour, with occasional exceptions. Pontefract South can vote Conservative in the party's better years, and Pontefract North did so once, in 2008, while an Independent won Airedale & Ferry Fryston in 2019, though he later disgraced himself and Labour recovered the seat. The BNP and UKIP had some quite high vote shares as well, and some of the Yorkshire Party's best performances have been here, nearly winning Pontefract North in 2019. Knottingley, however, had shown a similar safe Labour pattern until 2019 when the Lib Dems' Tom Gordon won with 63% of the vote; the party had not even contested the ward since before the 2004 ward boundary changes. His mother then won a second seat for the party in 2021 and the third followed in 2022. Gordon has now departed local politics here to try to win the Harrogate & Knaresborough parliamentary seat, but the Lib Dems held his seat comfortably enough in 2023. However, they are unlikely to be a factor here at Parliamentary level.
2019 notional result (Rallings & Thrasher):
Lab 15759 (38.2%)
Con 14677 (35.6%)
Brexit Party 6518 (15.8%)
Lib Dem 2799 (6.8%)
Other 1515 (3.7%)
Lab majority 1082 (2.6%)
Pontefract itself, with its curious name derived from the Latin for "broken bridge", is a historically important settlement, as reflected in that Parliamentary Borough status. Its castle was the place of imprisonment and presumed death of Richard II after his deposition in 1399. Historically (and in Shakespeare) the name sometimes appears as "Pomfret", but the common shortening today is simply Ponte, or jocularly Ponte Carlo. Coal mining was important in the area, but the town is also known for liquorice, particularly the liquorice sweets known as Pontefract cakes. It was merged into the greatly expanded City of Wakefield in 1974, as were all the other areas in this constituency; today it is covered by two Wakefield wards, Pontefract North and Pontefract South, the latter of which also includes some rural areas to the south.
If Pontefract is Ponte Carlo, then Castleford is Cas Vegas. Castleford was also a mining town, but perhaps is best known for its rugby league team, now known as Castleford Tigers but often shortened to simply "Cas". Three wards cover Castleford: Airedale & Ferry Fryston ward covers the east of the town, Castleford Central & Glasshoughton the central parts, and Altofts & Whitwood covers the western end; the latter ward also includes the separate settlement of Altofts, forming a western peninsula of the constituency.
Knottingley is the other side of the A1(M) from Pontefract and Castleford. It adjoins Ferrybridge, previously the site of a large coal-fired power station which was something of a landmark, but the cooling towers have now gone. It was also a mining town, and is also associated with glassworks.
The demographics are not unusual for former mining areas. It is very working class, with the proportion in professional and managerial jobs being low and that in routine jobs being high; the proportion of jobs which are classified as "Lower supervisory and technical" is also very high. Education levels are low, with the constituency in the top 40 in England and Wales for the proportion with no qualifications. There are some more middle class pockets, especially in Altofts, western Castleford and in north-western and southern Pontefract, while the most deprived parts of the constituency are in southern Knottingley, central Pontefract and parts of Castleford, especially the Ferry Fryston area.
Local politics is, with one exception, also not unusual for former mining areas. Most of the wards usually vote Labour, with occasional exceptions. Pontefract South can vote Conservative in the party's better years, and Pontefract North did so once, in 2008, while an Independent won Airedale & Ferry Fryston in 2019, though he later disgraced himself and Labour recovered the seat. The BNP and UKIP had some quite high vote shares as well, and some of the Yorkshire Party's best performances have been here, nearly winning Pontefract North in 2019. Knottingley, however, had shown a similar safe Labour pattern until 2019 when the Lib Dems' Tom Gordon won with 63% of the vote; the party had not even contested the ward since before the 2004 ward boundary changes. His mother then won a second seat for the party in 2021 and the third followed in 2022. Gordon has now departed local politics here to try to win the Harrogate & Knaresborough parliamentary seat, but the Lib Dems held his seat comfortably enough in 2023. However, they are unlikely to be a factor here at Parliamentary level.
2019 notional result (Rallings & Thrasher):
Lab 15759 (38.2%)
Con 14677 (35.6%)
Brexit Party 6518 (15.8%)
Lib Dem 2799 (6.8%)
Other 1515 (3.7%)
Lab majority 1082 (2.6%)
