Post by warofdreams on Apr 25, 2020 18:46:10 GMT
Wentworth is not the one in Surrey, but rather a small village near Rotherham, centre of the formerly vast Wentworth Woodhouse estate. If slightly obscure, the name is historic, and a Wentworth seat was first created in 191. It was split up in 1950, with the core of the seat becoming Dearne Valley. Wentworth was recreated in 1983, covering the northern part of the borough of Rotherham. In 2010, it was expanded to once more take in the Dearne Valley area of Barnsley, and renamed "Wentworth and Dearne".
Throughout its history, the seat has been solidly Labour, the party taking well over 50% of the vote even in the poor years of 1918, 1931 and 1983, and over 80% in several elections. The first three MPs for Wentworth and then Dearne Valley were all sponsored by the miners' union, and between them served until 1983. The incumbent, John Healey, has held various shadow cabinet posts under Miliband, Corbyn and Starmer.
The seat stretches from the very deprived Dearne Valley, covering the villages of Thurnscoe, Goldthorpe, and Bolton-on-Dearne, into the fairly deprived towns of Wath and Swinton, then down to Rawmarsh, effectively a northern suburb of Rotherham, and then around the eastern side of Rotherham to take in the tacked-on suburb of Wickersley. What unites the seat is its coal mining heritage, memories of which are slowly fading. Now, the main industries are distribution and food and material processing, along with some call centres. The seat is also heavily White British and in general fairly deprived, although there are small areas which are wealthier.
In terms of local election results, Labour are strongest in the Barnsley wards, though in 2019 they lost Dearne South to an independent who later joined the Barnsley Independent Group. Other than independents, the English Democrats provided the main opposition in those wards, but are a fading force. In Rotherham, the last local elections were in 2016, when Labour came out on top, but UKIP won several seats and came close everywhere except Swinton, this relative success coming after campaigning hard around the Rotherham child abuse scandal. The Conservatives and Lib Dems have no target areas in this constituency, yet at the 2019 general election, the Tories managed 35.1% of the vote, running Labour close for the first time ever. Third place went to the Brexit Party, on 16.9%, and it is hard to know where those votes would have gone if they had not stood - there are certainly a core of voters here who supported Brexit but would not vote Conservative.
Throughout its history, the seat has been solidly Labour, the party taking well over 50% of the vote even in the poor years of 1918, 1931 and 1983, and over 80% in several elections. The first three MPs for Wentworth and then Dearne Valley were all sponsored by the miners' union, and between them served until 1983. The incumbent, John Healey, has held various shadow cabinet posts under Miliband, Corbyn and Starmer.
The seat stretches from the very deprived Dearne Valley, covering the villages of Thurnscoe, Goldthorpe, and Bolton-on-Dearne, into the fairly deprived towns of Wath and Swinton, then down to Rawmarsh, effectively a northern suburb of Rotherham, and then around the eastern side of Rotherham to take in the tacked-on suburb of Wickersley. What unites the seat is its coal mining heritage, memories of which are slowly fading. Now, the main industries are distribution and food and material processing, along with some call centres. The seat is also heavily White British and in general fairly deprived, although there are small areas which are wealthier.
In terms of local election results, Labour are strongest in the Barnsley wards, though in 2019 they lost Dearne South to an independent who later joined the Barnsley Independent Group. Other than independents, the English Democrats provided the main opposition in those wards, but are a fading force. In Rotherham, the last local elections were in 2016, when Labour came out on top, but UKIP won several seats and came close everywhere except Swinton, this relative success coming after campaigning hard around the Rotherham child abuse scandal. The Conservatives and Lib Dems have no target areas in this constituency, yet at the 2019 general election, the Tories managed 35.1% of the vote, running Labour close for the first time ever. Third place went to the Brexit Party, on 16.9%, and it is hard to know where those votes would have gone if they had not stood - there are certainly a core of voters here who supported Brexit but would not vote Conservative.
