Barnsley Central
May 10, 2020 18:02:48 GMT
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Post by BossMan on May 10, 2020 18:02:48 GMT
BARNSLEY CENTRAL
The Barnsley Central constituency was created in 1983, although it is largely the successor seat to the old Barnsley constituency, which has elected Labour MPs continuously since 1935.
The town of Barnsley itself takes up the south of the current constituency. Smaller settlements, such as Darton, Staincross, Kexbrough, Royston, Carlton and Monk Bretton are to its north and east.
This is former coal mining country, and the headquarters of the once powerful Yorkshire NUM, whose president was Arthur Scargill, founder and leader of the Socialist Labour Party.
Barnsley Central is thoroughly white working class. There are no leafy suburbs anywhere, and no Conservative wards. In fact the Tories struggle to achieve second place in any of the eight wards in local elections, let alone win. Most of the local opposition here to Labour is in the current wards has come from dissident former old Labour councillors, in the form of the Barnsley Independent Group (BIG). Even their influence has declined in recent years, and they haven’t won a ward since 2014. The Liberal Democrats did spring a surprise in May 2019 by seizing Darton East, in so doing winning their first councillor in the constituency for 15 years.
In 1953, Labour MP Sidney Schofield resigned just over a year after being elected, “because he did not like Westminster.” However, since then, there have only been four MPs, all Labour. Their only serious opposition has come within their own party. Roy Mason (MP from 1953 until 1987), a former miner, had very different views from Scargill, was staunchly on the right of the party and saw off a series of threats to his candidacy from the left. He eventually retired in 1987, and was replaced by Eric Illsley, the chief administration officer of the Yorkshire area NUM. Just after the 2010 election Illsley was charged with false accounting as part of the parliamentary expenses scandal and was deprived of the Labour whip. In 2011 he resigned after pleading guilty before being handed a prison sentence.
The by-election was won by Dan Jarvis, a man with an unusual background for a Labour MP, being a former Army officer and having served in the Parachute Regiment.
This seat has a relatively high proportion of unemployment and people in poor health. The number of young voters is relatively low.
Barnsley Central was estimated to have voted 68% in favour of leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum. In 2019, the Brexit Party secured their best result anywhere in Britain, with 30.4% of the vote for their candidate Victoria Felton. The Tories declined by 3% here while they gained many other northern working class seats they had not won for generations, if ever. Barnsley Central was one of the few seats in which the Brexit Party came second, just 3,571 votes behind Labour, whose vote share declined by a huge 24%.
In all probability by 2024, when Brexit will have faded from public consciousness, one would have thought Labour should surely be able to restore their majority to the usual five figures.
The Barnsley Central constituency was created in 1983, although it is largely the successor seat to the old Barnsley constituency, which has elected Labour MPs continuously since 1935.
The town of Barnsley itself takes up the south of the current constituency. Smaller settlements, such as Darton, Staincross, Kexbrough, Royston, Carlton and Monk Bretton are to its north and east.
This is former coal mining country, and the headquarters of the once powerful Yorkshire NUM, whose president was Arthur Scargill, founder and leader of the Socialist Labour Party.
Barnsley Central is thoroughly white working class. There are no leafy suburbs anywhere, and no Conservative wards. In fact the Tories struggle to achieve second place in any of the eight wards in local elections, let alone win. Most of the local opposition here to Labour is in the current wards has come from dissident former old Labour councillors, in the form of the Barnsley Independent Group (BIG). Even their influence has declined in recent years, and they haven’t won a ward since 2014. The Liberal Democrats did spring a surprise in May 2019 by seizing Darton East, in so doing winning their first councillor in the constituency for 15 years.
In 1953, Labour MP Sidney Schofield resigned just over a year after being elected, “because he did not like Westminster.” However, since then, there have only been four MPs, all Labour. Their only serious opposition has come within their own party. Roy Mason (MP from 1953 until 1987), a former miner, had very different views from Scargill, was staunchly on the right of the party and saw off a series of threats to his candidacy from the left. He eventually retired in 1987, and was replaced by Eric Illsley, the chief administration officer of the Yorkshire area NUM. Just after the 2010 election Illsley was charged with false accounting as part of the parliamentary expenses scandal and was deprived of the Labour whip. In 2011 he resigned after pleading guilty before being handed a prison sentence.
The by-election was won by Dan Jarvis, a man with an unusual background for a Labour MP, being a former Army officer and having served in the Parachute Regiment.
This seat has a relatively high proportion of unemployment and people in poor health. The number of young voters is relatively low.
Barnsley Central was estimated to have voted 68% in favour of leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum. In 2019, the Brexit Party secured their best result anywhere in Britain, with 30.4% of the vote for their candidate Victoria Felton. The Tories declined by 3% here while they gained many other northern working class seats they had not won for generations, if ever. Barnsley Central was one of the few seats in which the Brexit Party came second, just 3,571 votes behind Labour, whose vote share declined by a huge 24%.
In all probability by 2024, when Brexit will have faded from public consciousness, one would have thought Labour should surely be able to restore their majority to the usual five figures.
