Post by YL on Jul 20, 2023 18:04:26 GMT
Rotherham is a large industrial town just downstream of Sheffield on the River Don, at its confluence with the River Rother. Its urban area is in fact contiguous with Sheffield's, but it retains a separate identity. In the Tudor period it had a college, Jesus College, intended to rival those of Oxford and Cambridge, but it was dissolved in 1547. As with Sheffield, there is a lot of steelmaking history here, and a significant industry today is metal recycling: passing through the town it is easy to get the impression that there are quite a lot of scrapyards here.
It has given its name to a constituency since 1885. The constituency has been held by Labour since a 1933 by-election, though they have not been without headaches in recent years. The town of Rotherham generally has high deprivation and working class demographics, and a look around the constituency can exaggerate this impression, as one of the most middle class parts of the town is excluded from the constituency. The constituency does extend outside the core urban area to include some surrounding settlements, and these are generally better off than most of the town. The boundary changes are not major, but add part of the Wickersley area, Treeton and the parts of Thrybergh and Waverley which weren't already in the constituency.
Rotherham town centre is in Boston Castle ward, named after a folly in a park south of the town centre. This ward extends south to take in Canklow, Clifton and parts of the Moorgate and Broom areas. It has a high Asian and Muslim population. The north of the ward and Canklow are deprived working class areas but the southern end of the ward has a more middle class population, with an educated professional element, especially close to Rotherham General Hospital. This more middle class part of the town extends south to include the rest of Broom and Moorgate and the separate parish of Whiston, and east to include parts of Herringthorpe, but these areas are not in this constituency, having been transferred to Rother Valley in one of the odder decisions of the 2010 review.
East of the town centre is a swathe of very deprived working class areas: Eastwood, East Dene, Herringthorpe Valley and Dalton Parva. These are covered by the wards of Rotherham East and much of Dalton & Thrybergh; the latter extends east to include the mining village of Thrybergh and the small and better off village of Dalton Magna. Eastwood is a particularly deprived area, with all of its Lower Super Output Areas being in the thousand most deprived in England and a reputation for poverty and crime. Of all Rotherham borough wards, these two wards have the lowest proportions both of managerial and professional occupations and of those with degree level qualifications and the highest with no qualifications. The areas closer to the town centre have quite a high Asian Muslim population, but the areas further out are mostly white.
South of Thrybergh we find the suburban communities around Wickersley, forming a small urban area semi-detached from the town. This area is divided into three wards, and only one, Wickersley North, is in this constituency. This is generally the more working class part of Wickersley, but it is still one of the least deprived parts of this constituency.
In the west and north-west of the town we find Masbrough and Kimberworth, forming the ward of Rotherham West, Kimberworth Park in Keppel ward, and Greasbrough and Wingfield in Greasbrough ward. These areas are also mostly deprived working class areas, but they are not quite as deprived as the east of the town. Keppel ward is named after Keppel's Column, a prominent landmark built for the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham to celebrate the acquittal of Admiral Augustus Keppel, and includes the former mining village of Thorpe Hesley, which has developed into more of a commuter settlement and is one of the less deprived parts of the borough, and also the hamlet of Scholes and some suburban development close to the column itself.
Finally, the southern end of the constituency consists of the wards of Brinsworth and Rother Vale, the latter covering Catcliffe, Treeton and Waverley. Brinsworth is also quite a working class area, but is less deprived and has quite high owner occupation. Catcliffe is a traditionally industrial village by the Rother, vulnerable to flooding and noted for its glass cone which survives from an old glassworks, and Treeton is a former mining village, but better off than some in this area.
South of Catcliffe we used to find the parish of Orgreave. Orgreave of course is notorious for events at its coking works during the miners' strike in 1984, but in the 1990s virtually the whole area, including the south of Catcliffe parish, was levelled and became an opencast mine. This area has since been landscaped, and has become the site of the University of Sheffield's Advanced Manufacturing Park and the expanding "new town" of Waverley. (It might be suggested that the use of this name rather than Orgreave is something of a rebranding exercise, although there is still a rump parish of Orgreave to the south, not in this constituency and no longer including the coking works site.) Waverley has attracted quite a middle class population, and as a result Rother Vale ward now has the most managerial and professional and educated population of any ward in Rotherham borough.
For many years Rotherham was firmly Labour both at parliamentary and local level. In 1997 Denis MacShane, who had first won the seat in a 1994 by-election, won over 70% of the vote, but then things started to go downhill. There were unusually large falls in the Labour vote in all of 2001, 2005 and 2010, though an opposition split between the Conservatives, Lib Dems and BNP (who got over 10% in 2010, and won a council seat in Brinsworth & Catcliffe in 2008) meant that the seat did not become marginal.
In the following years the council's reputation was badly hit by the grooming gang scandal in the town. MacShane was hit by a scandal and forced to resign in 2012, and the resulting by-election had an unusual result where Labour's new candidate Sarah Champion held on comfortably enough, but UKIP came second with over 20% of the vote, the BNP were third and Respect were fourth (this was shortly after George Galloway's win in Bradford West), with the Conservatives pushed into fifth and the Lib Dems a humiliating eighth. Then in 2014 and 2015 UKIP took several council seats off Labour, and in the 2015 General Election they got 30% of the vote. There were all-up council elections in 2016, in which Labour held off UKIP to retain control, and then the UKIP vote shifted towards the Conservatives, who cut Sarah Champion's majority to just over 3000 in 2019. The new boundaries in 2024 made little difference; what did make a difference was that the Conservatives failed to stand a candidate, apparently because the selected candidate dropped out at the last minute. This allowed Reform UK to produce one of their strongest performances, getting just over 30% of the vote; Champion held on with an increased majority and vote share, though the Labour vote share was still low by their historic standards in this area.
At local level, the Conservatives are not a factor, and nor yet are Reform UK, though UKIP have been in the past, and in 2021 the Rotherham Democratic Party, formed largely from the old UKIP group, won some seats here. That party did not last, but two of its figures remain on the council as Independents, and in the 2024 election Independents won several other seats as well, though the Independent candidate with the populist pseudonym "Phil Potholes" was not among them. The Lib Dems have started winning seats in the south of the constituency and now hold both seats in Brinsworth (yes, the area once represented by the BNP) though in 2024 they lost their seat in demographically outlying Rother Vale ward, which now has two Labour councillors.
2019 notional result (Rallings & Thrasher):
Lab 17699 (40.7%)
Con 14402 (33.1%)
Brexit Party 7408 (17.0%)
Lib Dem 2717 (6.2%)
Green 50 (0.1%)
Other 1245 (2.9%)
Lab majority 3297 (7.6%)
(NB there was no Green candidate in Rotherham, hence the small notional vote)
2024 result:
Sarah Champion (Lab) 16671 (45.1%)
John Cronly (Reform UK) 11181 (30.3%)
Adam Carter (Lib Dem) 2824 (7.6%)
Tony Mabbott (Green) 2632 (7.1%)
Taukir Iqbal (Workers Party) 1714 (4.6%)
David Atkinson (Yorkshire Party) 1363 (3.7%)
Ishtiaq Ahmed (Ind) 547 (1.5%)
It has given its name to a constituency since 1885. The constituency has been held by Labour since a 1933 by-election, though they have not been without headaches in recent years. The town of Rotherham generally has high deprivation and working class demographics, and a look around the constituency can exaggerate this impression, as one of the most middle class parts of the town is excluded from the constituency. The constituency does extend outside the core urban area to include some surrounding settlements, and these are generally better off than most of the town. The boundary changes are not major, but add part of the Wickersley area, Treeton and the parts of Thrybergh and Waverley which weren't already in the constituency.
Rotherham town centre is in Boston Castle ward, named after a folly in a park south of the town centre. This ward extends south to take in Canklow, Clifton and parts of the Moorgate and Broom areas. It has a high Asian and Muslim population. The north of the ward and Canklow are deprived working class areas but the southern end of the ward has a more middle class population, with an educated professional element, especially close to Rotherham General Hospital. This more middle class part of the town extends south to include the rest of Broom and Moorgate and the separate parish of Whiston, and east to include parts of Herringthorpe, but these areas are not in this constituency, having been transferred to Rother Valley in one of the odder decisions of the 2010 review.
East of the town centre is a swathe of very deprived working class areas: Eastwood, East Dene, Herringthorpe Valley and Dalton Parva. These are covered by the wards of Rotherham East and much of Dalton & Thrybergh; the latter extends east to include the mining village of Thrybergh and the small and better off village of Dalton Magna. Eastwood is a particularly deprived area, with all of its Lower Super Output Areas being in the thousand most deprived in England and a reputation for poverty and crime. Of all Rotherham borough wards, these two wards have the lowest proportions both of managerial and professional occupations and of those with degree level qualifications and the highest with no qualifications. The areas closer to the town centre have quite a high Asian Muslim population, but the areas further out are mostly white.
South of Thrybergh we find the suburban communities around Wickersley, forming a small urban area semi-detached from the town. This area is divided into three wards, and only one, Wickersley North, is in this constituency. This is generally the more working class part of Wickersley, but it is still one of the least deprived parts of this constituency.
In the west and north-west of the town we find Masbrough and Kimberworth, forming the ward of Rotherham West, Kimberworth Park in Keppel ward, and Greasbrough and Wingfield in Greasbrough ward. These areas are also mostly deprived working class areas, but they are not quite as deprived as the east of the town. Keppel ward is named after Keppel's Column, a prominent landmark built for the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham to celebrate the acquittal of Admiral Augustus Keppel, and includes the former mining village of Thorpe Hesley, which has developed into more of a commuter settlement and is one of the less deprived parts of the borough, and also the hamlet of Scholes and some suburban development close to the column itself.
Finally, the southern end of the constituency consists of the wards of Brinsworth and Rother Vale, the latter covering Catcliffe, Treeton and Waverley. Brinsworth is also quite a working class area, but is less deprived and has quite high owner occupation. Catcliffe is a traditionally industrial village by the Rother, vulnerable to flooding and noted for its glass cone which survives from an old glassworks, and Treeton is a former mining village, but better off than some in this area.
South of Catcliffe we used to find the parish of Orgreave. Orgreave of course is notorious for events at its coking works during the miners' strike in 1984, but in the 1990s virtually the whole area, including the south of Catcliffe parish, was levelled and became an opencast mine. This area has since been landscaped, and has become the site of the University of Sheffield's Advanced Manufacturing Park and the expanding "new town" of Waverley. (It might be suggested that the use of this name rather than Orgreave is something of a rebranding exercise, although there is still a rump parish of Orgreave to the south, not in this constituency and no longer including the coking works site.) Waverley has attracted quite a middle class population, and as a result Rother Vale ward now has the most managerial and professional and educated population of any ward in Rotherham borough.
For many years Rotherham was firmly Labour both at parliamentary and local level. In 1997 Denis MacShane, who had first won the seat in a 1994 by-election, won over 70% of the vote, but then things started to go downhill. There were unusually large falls in the Labour vote in all of 2001, 2005 and 2010, though an opposition split between the Conservatives, Lib Dems and BNP (who got over 10% in 2010, and won a council seat in Brinsworth & Catcliffe in 2008) meant that the seat did not become marginal.
In the following years the council's reputation was badly hit by the grooming gang scandal in the town. MacShane was hit by a scandal and forced to resign in 2012, and the resulting by-election had an unusual result where Labour's new candidate Sarah Champion held on comfortably enough, but UKIP came second with over 20% of the vote, the BNP were third and Respect were fourth (this was shortly after George Galloway's win in Bradford West), with the Conservatives pushed into fifth and the Lib Dems a humiliating eighth. Then in 2014 and 2015 UKIP took several council seats off Labour, and in the 2015 General Election they got 30% of the vote. There were all-up council elections in 2016, in which Labour held off UKIP to retain control, and then the UKIP vote shifted towards the Conservatives, who cut Sarah Champion's majority to just over 3000 in 2019. The new boundaries in 2024 made little difference; what did make a difference was that the Conservatives failed to stand a candidate, apparently because the selected candidate dropped out at the last minute. This allowed Reform UK to produce one of their strongest performances, getting just over 30% of the vote; Champion held on with an increased majority and vote share, though the Labour vote share was still low by their historic standards in this area.
At local level, the Conservatives are not a factor, and nor yet are Reform UK, though UKIP have been in the past, and in 2021 the Rotherham Democratic Party, formed largely from the old UKIP group, won some seats here. That party did not last, but two of its figures remain on the council as Independents, and in the 2024 election Independents won several other seats as well, though the Independent candidate with the populist pseudonym "Phil Potholes" was not among them. The Lib Dems have started winning seats in the south of the constituency and now hold both seats in Brinsworth (yes, the area once represented by the BNP) though in 2024 they lost their seat in demographically outlying Rother Vale ward, which now has two Labour councillors.
2019 notional result (Rallings & Thrasher):
Lab 17699 (40.7%)
Con 14402 (33.1%)
Brexit Party 7408 (17.0%)
Lib Dem 2717 (6.2%)
Green 50 (0.1%)
Other 1245 (2.9%)
Lab majority 3297 (7.6%)
(NB there was no Green candidate in Rotherham, hence the small notional vote)
2024 result:
Sarah Champion (Lab) 16671 (45.1%)
John Cronly (Reform UK) 11181 (30.3%)
Adam Carter (Lib Dem) 2824 (7.6%)
Tony Mabbott (Green) 2632 (7.1%)
Taukir Iqbal (Workers Party) 1714 (4.6%)
David Atkinson (Yorkshire Party) 1363 (3.7%)
Ishtiaq Ahmed (Ind) 547 (1.5%)
