Post by YL on Dec 29, 2023 16:14:02 GMT
The Colne to which the name refers is the main river running through the town of Huddersfield. The name has a long history, first being used in 1885, and has an interesting political history, including being a relative stronghold of the Liberal Party for many years. The boundaries have varied over the years, but the current version includes two main Pennine valleys, the upper part of the Colne valley around Marsden and the Holme valley around Holmfirth, together with some of the western parts of Huddersfield itself. The Lib Dem vote collapsed in 2015, and the seat now looks like a relatively standard Conservative/Labour marginal: Jason McCartney won it for the Conservatives in 2010 and Labour's Thelma Walker took it back in 2017; McCartney defeated her again in 2019, with Walker, rather bizarrely, standing in the 2021 Hartlepool by-election as an Independent backed by the Northern Independence Party.
That 2017 Labour gain was on the outgoing boundaries, but it is oversized and the Boundary Commission have chosen to reduce the Huddersfield element by removing the relatively working class and diverse Crosland Moor & Netherton ward, which will move it towards the Conservatives, meaning that the new seat would not have voted Labour in 2017. It becomes a more middle class constituency, and in its overall demographics, the constituency rarely stands out, but it is clearly more middle class and well educated than average, with quite high owner occupation and low social renting, and the population is older than average.
This is of course the area associated with Last of the Summer Wine, and much of the constituency features classic Yorkshire Pennine scenery, with mill towns built from dark stone in the steep sided valleys and green fields rising to moorland above, including the northernmost parts of the Peak District National Park. This description particularly applies to its southernmost ward, Holme Valley South, which includes Holmfirth and other smaller communities including the curiously named Netherthong and Upperthong. In terms of demographics this is a fairly middle class ward, and for an area outside a major city has high levels of degree level education. It has usually voted Conservative though there is something of the alternative tendency found in parts of the southern Pennines here and in recent years it has trended towards Labour and they won it in 2019, 2022 and 2023, though they have not pulled away as they have in say the Upper Calder Valley. Further down the Holme Valley towards Huddersfield is Holme Valley North, which also includes the town of Meltham in the hills between the Holme and Colne valleys; this ward is also quite middle class, but a little bit less educated. For many years it generally voted for local Independent candidates, but in the last couple of elections they have been beaten by the Conservatives, and it will be one of the more Conservative parts of the constituency in General Elections.
The upper part of the actual Colne valley, south-west of Huddersfield, forms a ward with the same name of the constituency. Here we find Marsden, by the entrance to the Standedge canal and rail tunnels through to Saddleworth, and Slaithwaite (commonly pronounced roughly as "Slough-it"; no I am not making this up). The character here is not that different to the Holme valley, though it is better served by rail; it is a little less middle class but education levels are again above average. The ward usually voted Liberal Democrat up to 2015, though with occasional Conservative wins, but Labour broke through here in 2016 and have won in most years since; here they did win by a considerable margin in 2023.
The remaining two wards are more part of Huddersfield. Golcar is on the western edge of the town, east of Colne Valley ward. This is the most working class part of the constituency, especially the parts in the Colne valley west of the town centre, which are quite deprived; the hills to the north-west are demographically more like the rest of the constituency. In local elections it is an unpredictable Labour/Liberal Democrat marginal but is presumably one of the more Labour parts of the constituency in General Elections. The other Huddersfield ward included, Lindley, is a largely middle class area in the north-west of the town, though it is not uniformly middle class: some census areas in the south of the ward have quite high deprivation. This ward is usually Liberal Democrat locally, but the Conservatives have sometimes been able to win it and presumably usually carry it in General Elections, though it is the sort of area which has been tending to become less Conservative over time.
As mentioned a Colne Valley constituency first appeared in 1885. At that point it corresponded roughly to the current Colne Valley and Holme Valley North wards, together with Saddleworth on the other side of the Pennines though it also formally included the Huddersfield Parliamentary Borough; Holmfirth actually gave its name to its own constituency, which included Penistone and Denby Dale and even stretched as far as Worsbrough near Barnsley. The Holme Valley was added in 1918, and from then until 1983 it included Saddleworth and the Colne and Holme valleys together with some areas east of Huddersfield. It was held in the 1920s by Labour's Chancellor Philip Snowden; it then went Liberal in 1931 and was regained by Labour in 1935. From 1959 Richard Wainwright started challenging for the Liberals, and he defeated Labour's Patrick Duffy (who later became MP for Sheffield Attercliffe and is currently the oldest surviving MP) in 1966. In 1983 there were major boundary changes: the controversial inclusion of Saddleworth in Greater Manchester saw that removed to the new Littleborough & Saddleworth and much of the territory of the former Huddersfield West, also a constituency with some Liberal history, was added, giving something close to the current constituency. Wainwright held on in the first election under the new boundaries, but he stood down in 1987 and his replacement as Liberal candidate was narrowly defeated by the Conservatives' Graham Riddick. Labour gained the seat in 1997, and the more recent history is discussed above.
2019 notional result (Rallings & Thrasher)
Con 26517 (51.2%)
Lab 18756 (36.2%)
Lib Dem 3630 (7.0%)
Brexit Party 1089 (2.1%)
Green 893 (1.7%)
Other 880 (1.7%)
Con majority 7761 (15.0%)
That 2017 Labour gain was on the outgoing boundaries, but it is oversized and the Boundary Commission have chosen to reduce the Huddersfield element by removing the relatively working class and diverse Crosland Moor & Netherton ward, which will move it towards the Conservatives, meaning that the new seat would not have voted Labour in 2017. It becomes a more middle class constituency, and in its overall demographics, the constituency rarely stands out, but it is clearly more middle class and well educated than average, with quite high owner occupation and low social renting, and the population is older than average.
This is of course the area associated with Last of the Summer Wine, and much of the constituency features classic Yorkshire Pennine scenery, with mill towns built from dark stone in the steep sided valleys and green fields rising to moorland above, including the northernmost parts of the Peak District National Park. This description particularly applies to its southernmost ward, Holme Valley South, which includes Holmfirth and other smaller communities including the curiously named Netherthong and Upperthong. In terms of demographics this is a fairly middle class ward, and for an area outside a major city has high levels of degree level education. It has usually voted Conservative though there is something of the alternative tendency found in parts of the southern Pennines here and in recent years it has trended towards Labour and they won it in 2019, 2022 and 2023, though they have not pulled away as they have in say the Upper Calder Valley. Further down the Holme Valley towards Huddersfield is Holme Valley North, which also includes the town of Meltham in the hills between the Holme and Colne valleys; this ward is also quite middle class, but a little bit less educated. For many years it generally voted for local Independent candidates, but in the last couple of elections they have been beaten by the Conservatives, and it will be one of the more Conservative parts of the constituency in General Elections.
The upper part of the actual Colne valley, south-west of Huddersfield, forms a ward with the same name of the constituency. Here we find Marsden, by the entrance to the Standedge canal and rail tunnels through to Saddleworth, and Slaithwaite (commonly pronounced roughly as "Slough-it"; no I am not making this up). The character here is not that different to the Holme valley, though it is better served by rail; it is a little less middle class but education levels are again above average. The ward usually voted Liberal Democrat up to 2015, though with occasional Conservative wins, but Labour broke through here in 2016 and have won in most years since; here they did win by a considerable margin in 2023.
The remaining two wards are more part of Huddersfield. Golcar is on the western edge of the town, east of Colne Valley ward. This is the most working class part of the constituency, especially the parts in the Colne valley west of the town centre, which are quite deprived; the hills to the north-west are demographically more like the rest of the constituency. In local elections it is an unpredictable Labour/Liberal Democrat marginal but is presumably one of the more Labour parts of the constituency in General Elections. The other Huddersfield ward included, Lindley, is a largely middle class area in the north-west of the town, though it is not uniformly middle class: some census areas in the south of the ward have quite high deprivation. This ward is usually Liberal Democrat locally, but the Conservatives have sometimes been able to win it and presumably usually carry it in General Elections, though it is the sort of area which has been tending to become less Conservative over time.
As mentioned a Colne Valley constituency first appeared in 1885. At that point it corresponded roughly to the current Colne Valley and Holme Valley North wards, together with Saddleworth on the other side of the Pennines though it also formally included the Huddersfield Parliamentary Borough; Holmfirth actually gave its name to its own constituency, which included Penistone and Denby Dale and even stretched as far as Worsbrough near Barnsley. The Holme Valley was added in 1918, and from then until 1983 it included Saddleworth and the Colne and Holme valleys together with some areas east of Huddersfield. It was held in the 1920s by Labour's Chancellor Philip Snowden; it then went Liberal in 1931 and was regained by Labour in 1935. From 1959 Richard Wainwright started challenging for the Liberals, and he defeated Labour's Patrick Duffy (who later became MP for Sheffield Attercliffe and is currently the oldest surviving MP) in 1966. In 1983 there were major boundary changes: the controversial inclusion of Saddleworth in Greater Manchester saw that removed to the new Littleborough & Saddleworth and much of the territory of the former Huddersfield West, also a constituency with some Liberal history, was added, giving something close to the current constituency. Wainwright held on in the first election under the new boundaries, but he stood down in 1987 and his replacement as Liberal candidate was narrowly defeated by the Conservatives' Graham Riddick. Labour gained the seat in 1997, and the more recent history is discussed above.
2019 notional result (Rallings & Thrasher)
Con 26517 (51.2%)
Lab 18756 (36.2%)
Lib Dem 3630 (7.0%)
Brexit Party 1089 (2.1%)
Green 893 (1.7%)
Other 880 (1.7%)
Con majority 7761 (15.0%)
