Post by Clark on Aug 24, 2022 19:17:01 GMT
Up until the 1997 General Election the seat of Aberdeen North was represented in parliament for over half a century by a 'Mr Hughes'. Hector Hughes, a women's activist and an anti abortionist who also wrote the national anthem for Ghana when they gained independence, held the seat from 1945 until his retirement just prior to the 1970 General Election. His successor, Bob Hughes (no relation), held the seat for another 27 years. During these times, Aberdeen North was a very safe Labour seat, particularly pre 1970 when they would regularly obtain between 60% and 70% of the vote. Through the Labour government years after the Hughes' hegemony, Malcolm Savidge and Frank Doran also represented the seat for Labour up until the SNP tidal wave of 2015, when on a 26% swing, Kirsty Blackman became the first SNP member to represent the seat which she still holds today and it now looks like a safe SNP seat.
As the title suggests, Aberdeen North covers the north part of Aberdeen city, which on the whole, is the more working-class side of the city although the geographical boundary sprawls westwards to take in the middle-class suburb of Kingswells which is a bit of an outlier within the seat. The SNP continue to dominate, topping the poll in all but 1 of the wards that make up the seat in first preference votes in the 2022 Local Elections except in the mixed ward of Kingswells / Sheddocklsey / Summerhill where the Lib Dems came first with 37% aided by their strong support in the aforementioned Kingswells. The Dyce / Bucksburn / Danestone ward gave the SNP 41% as did the other ward in the far north of the seat, Bridge of Don. These areas are quite mixed and a little more secluded from the more inner Aberdeen wards where it becomes more working class such as the ward of Northfield / Mastrick North which is now the SNP's strongest area within the constituency and where they polled 53% to Labour's 26%. Here the housing is generally all council or ex council housing with few granite buildings for which the city is famed. To the east is the ward of Hilton / Woodside / Stockethill - there are some middle-class streets in the Hilton section of this ward but again, this is a predominately less well off area just like the next ward to the east - Tillydrone / Seaton / Old Aberdeen where the University of Aberdeen is located and dates back to the late 13th century. Historically, these 3 wards voted massively for Labour - between 70% and 80% of the vote on several occasions but just like most other demographically similar areas in Scotland, these traditions have been abandoned in favour of the SNP. The central / west ward of Midstocket / Rosemount is certainly more upmarket, especially the Midstocket section where the Tories would most likely have a majority of votes but the Rosemount section ensured the SNP carried this ward 38% to the Tories 25%. Finally, we have the rather absurd named ward of George Street / Harbour which takes in the central / east portion of the seat. Here we have Pittodrie, home of Aberdeen Football Club and the only Scottish side to have won 2 major European Trophies. In 1983 they defeated Real Madrid and Hamburg to win the Cup Winners Cup and Super Cup respectively.
Kirsty Blackman secured 54% of the vote in 2019 and a majority of over 12,500. Initial proposals for the new Aberdeen North appear to be relatively minor with a slight geographical shift northwards and only losing the George Street / Harbour ward to Aberdeen South. Electorally, this should have little impact, perhaps hurting the SNP only slightly and Mrs Blackman, the current Work & Pensions spokesperson for the party seems as solid as granite to continue her parliamentary career for many years to come.
As the title suggests, Aberdeen North covers the north part of Aberdeen city, which on the whole, is the more working-class side of the city although the geographical boundary sprawls westwards to take in the middle-class suburb of Kingswells which is a bit of an outlier within the seat. The SNP continue to dominate, topping the poll in all but 1 of the wards that make up the seat in first preference votes in the 2022 Local Elections except in the mixed ward of Kingswells / Sheddocklsey / Summerhill where the Lib Dems came first with 37% aided by their strong support in the aforementioned Kingswells. The Dyce / Bucksburn / Danestone ward gave the SNP 41% as did the other ward in the far north of the seat, Bridge of Don. These areas are quite mixed and a little more secluded from the more inner Aberdeen wards where it becomes more working class such as the ward of Northfield / Mastrick North which is now the SNP's strongest area within the constituency and where they polled 53% to Labour's 26%. Here the housing is generally all council or ex council housing with few granite buildings for which the city is famed. To the east is the ward of Hilton / Woodside / Stockethill - there are some middle-class streets in the Hilton section of this ward but again, this is a predominately less well off area just like the next ward to the east - Tillydrone / Seaton / Old Aberdeen where the University of Aberdeen is located and dates back to the late 13th century. Historically, these 3 wards voted massively for Labour - between 70% and 80% of the vote on several occasions but just like most other demographically similar areas in Scotland, these traditions have been abandoned in favour of the SNP. The central / west ward of Midstocket / Rosemount is certainly more upmarket, especially the Midstocket section where the Tories would most likely have a majority of votes but the Rosemount section ensured the SNP carried this ward 38% to the Tories 25%. Finally, we have the rather absurd named ward of George Street / Harbour which takes in the central / east portion of the seat. Here we have Pittodrie, home of Aberdeen Football Club and the only Scottish side to have won 2 major European Trophies. In 1983 they defeated Real Madrid and Hamburg to win the Cup Winners Cup and Super Cup respectively.
Kirsty Blackman secured 54% of the vote in 2019 and a majority of over 12,500. Initial proposals for the new Aberdeen North appear to be relatively minor with a slight geographical shift northwards and only losing the George Street / Harbour ward to Aberdeen South. Electorally, this should have little impact, perhaps hurting the SNP only slightly and Mrs Blackman, the current Work & Pensions spokesperson for the party seems as solid as granite to continue her parliamentary career for many years to come.
