Brigg and Goole
2010 Results:
Conservative: 19680 (44.86%)
Labour: 14533 (33.12%)
Liberal Democrat: 6414 (14.62%)
BNP: 1498 (3.41%)
UKIP: 1749 (3.99%)
Majority: 5147 (11.74%)
Notional 2005 Results:
Labour: 18790 (46%)
Conservative: 15443 (37.8%)
Liberal Democrat: 5404 (13.2%)
Other: 1225 (3%)
Majority: 3347 (8.2%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 16363 (38.4%)
Labour: 19257 (45.2%)
Liberal Democrat: 5690 (13.4%)
UKIP: 1268 (3%)
Majority: 2894 (6.8%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 16105 (39.2%)
Labour: 20066 (48.9%)
Liberal Democrat: 3796 (9.2%)
UKIP: 688 (1.7%)
Other: 399 (1%)
Majority: 3961 (9.6%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 17104 (36.5%)
Labour: 23493 (50.2%)
Liberal Democrat: 4692 (10%)
Referendum: 1513 (3.2%)
Majority: 6389 (13.7%)
Boundary changes: very minor, Brigg & Goole loses part of Ridge ward to Scunthorpe.
Profile: Unusually the seat of Brigg & Goole spans a ceremonial county border, Goole was traditionally in West Yorkshire and is now in the East Riding of Yorkshire, Brigg is in North Lincolnshire. Goole is a Labour voting inland port on the River Ouse, the site of major (and locally controversial) development at Centreport to the West of the town. In contrast the Lincolnshire part of the seat is more agricultural and Conservative, taking in the tiny villages across northern Lincolnshire and the Isle of Axholme (not actually an island, but historically an area of marshland bounded by rivers) as well as the growing town of Broughton and the small market town of Brigg itself.
Current MP: Andrew Percy (Conservative) School teacher and former assistant to David Davis MP. Former Hull City councillor. Contested Normanton in 2005.
Andrew Percy (Conservative) School teacher and former assistant to David Davis MP. Former Hull City councillor. Contested Normanton in 2005.Ian Cawsey(Labour) born 1960, Grimsby. Educated at Wintringham School. Formerly worked in IT for Imperial foods and Seven Seas Heath Care, then as assistant to Elliot Morley MP. First elected to Brigg & Goole in 1997. Served as PPS to Lord Williams and David Miliband during the 2001-5 Parliament, and was appointed as a government whip after the 2005 election (more information at They work for you)Richard Nixon (Liberal Democrat)Nigel Wright (UKIP)Steve Ward (BNP)2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 79253
Male: 48.8%
Female: 51.2%
Under 18: 21.9%
Over 60: 23%
Born outside UK: 2.2%
White: 99.1%
Asian: 0.3%
Mixed: 0.3%
Other: 0.2%
Christian: 82%
Full time students: 1.7%
Graduates 16-74: 13.7%
No Qualifications 16-74: 32.8%
Owner-Occupied: 76%
Social Housing: 14% (Council: 12.3%, Housing Ass.: 1.7%)
Privately Rented: 6.6%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 6.7%
Interestingly 4 of the 6 Conservatives who voted against the fees increase are from Yorkshire constituencies.
It’s something I’m very doubtful about as well.
I suspect that they all think as I do that the best solution to university funding is to reduce the numbers of ‘students’ at ‘universities’ thereby allowing those that remain to be better funded and with a greater emphasis on technical education and training for people who aren’t suited for higher education.
Yorkshire people are always uneasy about debt as well.
That Andrew Percy was a Hull councillor for 10 years suggests that he must be a good political campaigner.
I also agree with that solution
Its a solution which merely requires returning to the higher education situation of 20 years ago.
Of course the big increase in higher education since then has created many vested interests.
One of which is the much increased number of university staff.
A large proportion of whom vote LibDem and live in LibDem held constituencies.
Which casts a different light on the LibDem’s betrayal of their pledge to students.
Higher fees are a straight transfer of wealth from university students to university employees.
I met him in 2005 and 2008, when he was pretty much running David Davis’s campaign on the former occasion.
He’s certainly done very well both in DDs seat, and in his own seat.
I think I tend towards the view that we should send fewer people to University, and not make it so expensive
and get rid of the chewing gum yoonies.
But I haven’t examined the policy in detail, so would probably support it with reservations.
I am encouraged that the government seems serious about improving technical education and apprenticeships, and good to see people such as John Hayes shoring up Vince Cable’s dept.
You can get rid of all the extraneous rubbish like Equality units, Environmental teams plus all the superfluous levels of management even before you cut student numbers and there would be no negative effect on the running of universities. Obviously if student numbers were to be cut overall, there would be fewer frontline staff needed (academic and other) and no doubt some of the newer Universities will end up folding – one can imagine one or two which wouldn’t be missed, such as one in a county not a million miles from me, whose most well known alumni appear to be suicide bombers
Don’ t hold back Pete, say what you feel……
Increasing the proportion of young people attending university from about 15% to 30% was a huge change over a period of roughly 30 years which should have been followed by a pause to take stock of the situation in my opinion. But of course human nature dictates that once it reached 30% there was further pressure to increase numbers to 40% and beyond.
‘I suspect that they all think as I do that the best solution to university funding is to reduce the numbers of ’students’ at ‘universities’ thereby allowing those that remain to be better funded and with a greater emphasis on technical education and training for people who aren’t suited for higher education.’
The current situation is the obvious consequence of Labour’s desire to get half the population into university – regardless of how suitable that individual student might be to higher education
I’m more skeptical of this coalition policy than any other because having done a history degree at university myself – and having paid not a penny towards it in tuition fees – I would feel a complete and utter mug handing over £9000 for the 3 hours of tuition I received each week
Universities were always meant to be establishments where those of a more ‘academic’ nature could thrive. It was never envisaged that this would equate to 50% of those who completed their A-Levels
Given the choice between cutting the numbers going to university or increasing tution fees I would have thought this government might opt for the former
David Davis is right. Of course there are far to many people going to university.
Expansion of the universities to take 40-50% of 18 year olds, and bribing 16-17 year olds to stay in education with EMA, is basically just to hide the fact that there are far fewer jobs for school leavers than there used to be. It’s all been basically a great big pork-barrelled bribe, started by Thatcher/Major and massively accelerated under Labour, to keep the millions of young people who 40 years ago would have gone into factories and mines and textile mills from adding to the unemployment figures.
It’s a scandal that genuinely clever kids are being made to pay £9000 per year for their university education to keep this ridiculous charade going. I read somewhere the other day that you can get into “university” these days with two E grades in your A-levels. Absolutely ridiculous.
Yoony yer mean.
Perhaps the Tories actually called this right in the 2005 election when they opposed top up fees but proposed fewer people go to it.
I agree. Sadly the Lib Dems would have refused to countenance such an approach, given the very welcome job losses it would have caused amongst lecturers in equality studies at Pontefract University.
On this occasion I happen to agree with David Davis, Andrew Percy and the Tory rebels that their solution to student funding is the better one. Nevertheless I think they and others on the right might also be using it to destabilise the coalition, which they dislike intensely.
‘On this occasion I happen to agree with David Davis, Andrew Percy and the Tory rebels that their solution to student funding is the better one. Nevertheless I think they and others on the right might also be using it to destabilise the coalition, which they dislike intensely.’
Andrew Percy actually came out and said he opposed the government because he feared thsat increasing tutition fees to £9000 a year would di9ssuade working class like himself to going to university in the first place – which is almost what every single Labour politician usa saying along with those Lib Dems who opposed it
Obviously he’s not going to come out and say he did it because he wanted the coalition to lose the vote but I find his reasoning – and that of David Davis – genuine
And for the record David Davis is less anti EU than the current Prime Minister. Had he been elected Tory leader in 2005 the Tories would still be part of the mainsteam centre-right EPP in the European Parliament rather than being forced to form coalitions with holoucaust deniers and SS sympathisers, much to the delight to the likes of Daniel Hannan
What I find more surprising is people like Julian Lewis and Phillip Davies opposing it, because they are two MPs who are certainly on the right and who give the impression of prefering a minority Tory government to the arrangement we;ve got at the moment
Much as I wish the Tories had stayed in the EPP, all this stuff about them being in coalitions with holocaust deniers and SS sympathisers is ultraPC bollocks. Similar kind of exaggeration to those on the left who say Thatcher was a fascist.
Back to Brigg and Goole, Andrew Percy is following in the footsteps of his predecesor Michael Brown – elected when very young, with a populist streak and a rebellious thorn in the side of the government on several key issues. Michael Brown threatened to resign and fight a by-election if Nicholas Ridley went ahead with plans for a nuclear waste site in his constituency.
‘Much as I wish the Tories had stayed in the EPP, all this stuff about them being in coalitions with holocaust deniers and SS sympathisers is ultraPC bollocks.’
No it’s not
The Tories main allies are the Polish Law and Justice Party, which has banned gay rights’ marches, the Czech Civic Democrats (ODS), the party of the Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who has described climate change as a “myth” and the the Latvian Fatherland and Freedom party which commemorations for the Waffen-SS
One has to wonder why the pragnatic and sensible Mr Cameron would want to form an alliance with these groups. I would hope it’s not to appease the likes of Mr Hannan.
‘Andrew Percy is following in the footsteps of his predecesor Michael Brown – elected when very young, with a populist streak and a rebellious thorn in the side of the government on several key issues. Michael Brown threatened to resign and fight a by-election if Nicholas Ridley went ahead with plans for a nuclear waste site in his constituency.’
As I remember it Michael Brown was a right-wing Thatcherite and member of the No Turning Back Group who, like many of his colleagues, stayed in the closet throughout his Parliamentary career
He did indeed threaten to resign if the Tories went ahead and built a nuclear waste site in Killingholme, but I don’t remember he being a serial rebel at all – certainly not during the Thatcher years
He also surprisingly, worked for the Indeoendent for a while after losing his seat in the 1997 election – as a politocal correspondent
“The Tories main allies are the Polish Law and Justice Party, which has banned gay rights’ marches, the Czech Civic Democrats (ODS), the party of the Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who has described climate change as a “myth” and the the Latvian Fatherland and Freedom party which commemorations for the Waffen-SS”
Why does not believing in gay rights and climate change mean that you are a holocaust denier? Being against gay rights is a legitimate view held by many respectable mainstream political parties in the world, including the US Republicans, and by most religions. I am personally liberal on gay rights but that doesn’t mean I have the right to say that someone who disagrees with me is a holocaust denier or a Nazi.
There is also nothing wrong with “commemorating” the war dead from the German side, whether Waffen SS or whatever else, just as we commemorate the allied soldiers who were lost.
There’s no evidence that David Cameron is personally more Eurosceptic than David Davis. Cameron promised to withdraw from the EPP because he needed to gain support from the Eurosceptic right, of which he was not a part. Davis’ natural base was the Eurosceptic right so he didn’t see the need to preach to the choir, so to speak.
HH
Good post at 5.30. I was wondering what on earth TJ’s supposed nazis had done to make them nazis.
You refuted your own argument perfectly, Tim!
Clearly the European grouping that Tories are part of is a lot more credible than some of the media would have us believe.
Whereas Labour’s European group contains :-
A Romanian MEP who dressed as a Nazi at a fashion show
An ex-Communist and former member of the IRA who may well have asked for Soviet backing (he apparently doesn’t remember whether or not he sent the letter)
Slovakian Social Democrats (who power-share with a neo-Nazi party)
Bulgarian Socialists, who condemn gay pride marches
The successor to the Hungarian Communist Party
As the old saying goes – people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones (and should get changed in the cellar)
Did H Hemmelig just call the Republicans respectable and mainstream?
In what sense is denying someone rights because of their sexuality an acceptable position in the 21st century?
Calum – are you of this planet? The Republicans are one of the two mainstream parties of the US. How can that possibly not be true?
“One has to wonder why the pragnatic and sensible Mr Cameron would want to form an alliance with these groups. I would hope it’s not to appease the likes of Mr Hannan.”
Because Cameron thought by a gimmick like this he would impress EUsceptic people on the borrderline between Conservative and UKIP.
People like me and Pete for instance.
Well it certainly didn’t impress me, I wonder if the gimmick impressed Pete?
What Cameron didn’t understand is that silly gimmicks are seen through by people with actual belief and indeed usually tend to annoy them as they don’t like being treated like fools.
I don’t really care about the grouping in the EU Parliament.
The important thing is we control the budget and cut the amount of red tape coming out of it – I don’t care how they do it.
Just get on with it.
Although I think the new grouping is probably the right option,
but I can’t get too excited that either way it’s very important.
“I wonder if the gimmick impressed Pete?”
It didn’t impress me. It was certainly necessary for the Conservatives to extricate themselves from the European Peoples Party, but doing so was never going to be enough to persuade me to support them in European elections since the problem lies with so many Tory MEPs rather than just their associates. I never felt able to vote Conservative in European elections even as far back as 1989. If Richard had been sufficently impressed by this gimmick as to vote Tory, he would have helped elect an MEP who now sits as a Lib Dem. I’m sure he didn’t make that mistake because he will have known that whether Macmillan-Scott sat as a nominal Tory or as a Lib Dem in Strasbourg, his views on Eurpean integration (and that of many of his colleagues) are an anathema
I’ve always voted Con in every Euro election from 1989 onwards.
I do think though the EU should have taken a substantial budget cut this year and beyond.
That seems more than generous to an organisation which hasn’t had it’s accounts signed off for 16 years, but that’s only a small part of the reason.
Do less, and do it better.
Brigg and Goole May 2010
declaration (scroll down a bit on the link to play)
http://www.thisisscunthorpe.co.uk/news/Brigg-Goole-CONSERVATIVE-GAIN/article-2128719-detail/article.html
Would North Lincolnshire Council (Labour gain in 2007) be likely to go more strongly Labour given the overall trend nationally,
or would it be a standstill result or even slightly back to the Conservatives,
given this was against the trend in 2007, and that the C swing was large in 2010 in the intervening period?
There was actually an overall swing to the Conservatives in 2007 compared with 2003 but the way the votes fell in some split wards favoured Labour.
I sense that its an area that suffered heavily during the recession but is now recovering well.
The Conservative gain in North Lincolnshire was rather an achievement but not that unexpected to people here.
There are some very close wards – one Conservative gain from Labour was by 1 vote and one Labour gain from Conservative was also by 1 vote.
I think the extreme marginality does need to be born in mind yes.
But the 2007 result was somewhat aberrant, so perhaps this isn’t a total surprise.
There was a strike on the part of the residents in the Scunthorpe section in 2007 over bins and separating waste,
but some very well informed posts earlier said the Tories had some other problems – a councillor who had been involved in some unpopular planning dispute and another case of someone who was disqualified.
So perhaps the 2011 result is a flattening out of the results.
The Conservatives take control of Scunthorpe council is rather a useful soundbite for their spokespeople to use.
The Conservatives actually did very well throughout Yorkshire.
So much for the LibDem excuses that people in the north were terrified by the threat of Thatcherism reborn.
I put the BBC results on when got in early hours of Friday,
and although the BBC is competent at delivering the
figures
I got rather irritated with Dimbleby and his colleagues
constantly trying to help the Lib Dems out
by letting their spokesmen waffle on indulgently
and peddling this line that the LDs have done badly
simply because they are in coalition with the “despised”
Tories.
If the Tories were so despised, we’d have had more losses aswell.
They obviously have their mates – Simon Hughes, Lemsip Opik, etc.
I switched to Sky on Freeview for a bit and found it a lot more refreshing.
The Tories did not have a swing against them here in 2007 at all, they had a swing to them. They just happened to not get the votes in the right wards in 07 and thus last control despite polling better than in 2003. To suggest this was some sort of return to trend is not true.
This was an exceptional result. It goes against the grain and trend of what happened nationally. Look at the results for the Tories across all of the wards here and (in the Brigg and Goole seat anyway) you will see massive increases in the Tory vote.
In the East Riding part of the constituency (not the North Lincs bit) the Tories increased their majority by 700 votes in a seat they won off Labour in 2007 and one which should have been swinging back.
As a Tory in this seat I can confirm all this happened because of hard work since last year’s General Election so please do not be quite so dismissive of the result.
“This area is definately moving demographically towards the Conservatives with the many villages close to motorways and railway stations filling up with affluent commuters.”
Its interesting to compare this year’s elections to those of 2003. They reveal some interesting changes.
In Snaith ward – the area along the M62 to the west of Goole.
2003
Lab 1281, 1101
Con 746, 722
LibD 394, 278
2011
Con 1886, 1825
Lab 962, 951
Less impressive work by the Conservatives happened in Goole itself. Where they didn’t put up any candidates in Goole North ward and only 1 in Goole South.
I’ve always regarded these bids for ‘city status’ as being little more than gratuitous wasting of money by self-important councillors with ideas above their station.
But it really must have reached a low this year.
Goole is bidding for ‘city status’.
I agree with you Richard.
I’ve got nothing against Goole, which is an interesting place,
but it is not a City.
Where is this being pushed from – it’s in East Riding.
Nearly all these Mayors are a waste of money aswell.
We shouldn’t really have the GLA either – just the Mayor – “just the job”.
I had an enjoyable catch up with two Tory members last night and apparently anyone who works at the GLA has to have intensive Equality training etc.
Agreed. A definite no vote from me is coming up on the 3rd of May on the mayoral referendum. I dont think there should be a London mayor either
Interesting to see Joe R lives in this constituency. Another Yorkshireman (or Lincolnshire?)
Well it’s the Lincs part of the constituency where the Tories are strongest.
I hadn’t realised that there wasn’t a Goole constituency until 1950. The territory that formed the seat seems to have been in at least 2 other seats.
The Labour vote did actually hold up rather better than average here in 2001 and 2005 – but there was a large swing in 2010.