Post by warofdreams on Apr 14, 2020 13:59:09 GMT
Rotherham lies in the centre of South Yorkshire. It includes most of the town, although the borough of the same name stretches further north, south, and east, and includes the Rother Valley seat and part of Wentworth and Dearne.
Lying on a Roman road, Rotherham had grown into a market town by the Saxon period, and by the late Medieval period was thriving, the parish church, and town bridge with its chapel being the principal relics from the era. In the early Tudor period, it hosted a college, designed to rival Oxford and Cambridge, but after it was dissolved in 1547, the town struggled. The Industrial Revolution saw its renaissance, with first coal mining, then iron- and steel-making, employing thousands. Flour milling was also a significant industry, and the reason the local football club are nicknamed "the Millers".
A Rotherham constituency was first created in 1885. A safe Liberal seat until 1918, the transition to local Labour Party dominance saw the Conservatives come through the middle that year, and in 1922, and also narrowly win the seat in their landslide of 1931. In 1933, Labour won it back decisively in a by-election, and didn't look back. In each election until 2010, the party took at least half the vote, and on occasion more than 70%. However, the seat was not as monolithically Labour as some of the nearby mining areas, with the Conservatives generally taking one quarter to one third of the poll.
With the seat generally safe, several of its incumbents have died in office, and it has seen eight by-elections. The 1994 by-election saw the best performance ever by a Loony, Screaming Lord Sutch coming close to holding his deposit. It also saw the peak performance of the Liberal Democrats, with a second place and 29.7% of the vote. Their candidate, David Wildgoose, stood for the English Democrats in the 2012 by-election, taking sixth place and still beating the Lib Dems, who fell to eighth. That election was caused when Denis MacShane resigned, following an expenses scandal. UKIP heavily targeted the seat and came second with 21.7%, at the time, their best share in a Parliamentary election. This briefly became one of the BNP's targets, the party topping 10% in 2010, and in 2008 winning a council seat in Brinsworth and Catcliffe, the councillor later defecting to the National Front.
In recent years, Rotherham has featured in the media most often due to the terrible child sexual exploitation, much of it perpetrated by British Pakistani men. Local MP Sarah Champion has been outspoken on the topic, and UKIP has also campaigned heavily on the issue. While fluctations in Champion's vote are in line with those for Labour MPs in other local seats, the story at the council level is different. In 2015, it was disbanded and replaced by commissioners. All out elections were then held in 2016, and proved to be a close fight between Labour and UKIP in almost every ward, many seeing split representation. Ultimately, Labour ended up with 48 seats to UKIP's 14. The disintegration of UKIP has led to the majority of the 14 moving through the Brexit Party to form the Rotherham Democratic Party, while a few have gone independent. Meanwhile, in 2017, the Lib Dems won a seat on the council, in Brinsworth and Catcliffe, with a huge swing from Labour. Labour continue to hold the Parliamentary seat, although in 2019, the Conservatives reduced their majority to just 8.7%, and that without holding a single council seat in the constituency.
The seat has high levels of deprivation, particularly in the older housing around the town centre and to its east - also the most ethnically diverse areas - and on the council estates of Canklow and Kimberworth. There are some pleasant suburban areas, mostly on the fringes of the constituency. The Sheffield commuter villages of Brinsworth and Catcliffe are closer to the national average, with the village of Thorpe Hesley one of the wealthiest in the borough. In general, the less deprived areas are more likely to vote UKIP, and in the past have sometimes voted Conservative, but whether the collapse of UKIP will see the Tories regain a hold on the council remains to be seen.
Lying on a Roman road, Rotherham had grown into a market town by the Saxon period, and by the late Medieval period was thriving, the parish church, and town bridge with its chapel being the principal relics from the era. In the early Tudor period, it hosted a college, designed to rival Oxford and Cambridge, but after it was dissolved in 1547, the town struggled. The Industrial Revolution saw its renaissance, with first coal mining, then iron- and steel-making, employing thousands. Flour milling was also a significant industry, and the reason the local football club are nicknamed "the Millers".
A Rotherham constituency was first created in 1885. A safe Liberal seat until 1918, the transition to local Labour Party dominance saw the Conservatives come through the middle that year, and in 1922, and also narrowly win the seat in their landslide of 1931. In 1933, Labour won it back decisively in a by-election, and didn't look back. In each election until 2010, the party took at least half the vote, and on occasion more than 70%. However, the seat was not as monolithically Labour as some of the nearby mining areas, with the Conservatives generally taking one quarter to one third of the poll.
With the seat generally safe, several of its incumbents have died in office, and it has seen eight by-elections. The 1994 by-election saw the best performance ever by a Loony, Screaming Lord Sutch coming close to holding his deposit. It also saw the peak performance of the Liberal Democrats, with a second place and 29.7% of the vote. Their candidate, David Wildgoose, stood for the English Democrats in the 2012 by-election, taking sixth place and still beating the Lib Dems, who fell to eighth. That election was caused when Denis MacShane resigned, following an expenses scandal. UKIP heavily targeted the seat and came second with 21.7%, at the time, their best share in a Parliamentary election. This briefly became one of the BNP's targets, the party topping 10% in 2010, and in 2008 winning a council seat in Brinsworth and Catcliffe, the councillor later defecting to the National Front.
In recent years, Rotherham has featured in the media most often due to the terrible child sexual exploitation, much of it perpetrated by British Pakistani men. Local MP Sarah Champion has been outspoken on the topic, and UKIP has also campaigned heavily on the issue. While fluctations in Champion's vote are in line with those for Labour MPs in other local seats, the story at the council level is different. In 2015, it was disbanded and replaced by commissioners. All out elections were then held in 2016, and proved to be a close fight between Labour and UKIP in almost every ward, many seeing split representation. Ultimately, Labour ended up with 48 seats to UKIP's 14. The disintegration of UKIP has led to the majority of the 14 moving through the Brexit Party to form the Rotherham Democratic Party, while a few have gone independent. Meanwhile, in 2017, the Lib Dems won a seat on the council, in Brinsworth and Catcliffe, with a huge swing from Labour. Labour continue to hold the Parliamentary seat, although in 2019, the Conservatives reduced their majority to just 8.7%, and that without holding a single council seat in the constituency.
The seat has high levels of deprivation, particularly in the older housing around the town centre and to its east - also the most ethnically diverse areas - and on the council estates of Canklow and Kimberworth. There are some pleasant suburban areas, mostly on the fringes of the constituency. The Sheffield commuter villages of Brinsworth and Catcliffe are closer to the national average, with the village of Thorpe Hesley one of the wealthiest in the borough. In general, the less deprived areas are more likely to vote UKIP, and in the past have sometimes voted Conservative, but whether the collapse of UKIP will see the Tories regain a hold on the council remains to be seen.