Houghton and Sunderland South
2010 Results:
Conservative: 8147 (21.43%)
Labour: 19137 (50.33%)
Liberal Democrat: 5292 (13.92%)
BNP: 1961 (5.16%)
UKIP: 1022 (2.69%)
Independent: 2462 (6.48%)
Majority: 10990 (28.9%)
Notional 2005 Results:
Labour: 23354 (63.6%)
Conservative: 5982 (16.3%)
Liberal Democrat: 5973 (16.3%)
Other: 1439 (3.9%)
Majority: 17372 (47.3%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 6923 (22.5%)
Labour: 17982 (58.6%)
Liberal Democrat: 4492 (14.6%)
BNP: 1166 (3.8%)
Other: 149 (0.5%)
Majority: 11059 (36%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 6254 (20.1%)
Labour: 19921 (63.9%)
Liberal Democrat: 3675 (11.8%)
UKIP: 470 (1.5%)
BNP: 576 (1.8%)
Other: 291 (0.9%)
Majority: 13667 (43.8%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 7536 (18.9%)
Labour: 27174 (68.1%)
Liberal Democrat: 4606 (11.5%)
Other: 609 (1.5%)
Majority: 19638 (49.2%)
Boundary changes:
Profile:
Current MP: Bridget Phillipson (Labour) Educated at St Roberts School and Oxford University. Women`s refuge manager.
Robert Oliver (Conservative) Politics and history teacher. Sunderland councillor. Contested Sunderland South 2005.Bridget Phillipson (Labour) Educated at St Roberts School and Oxford University. Women`s refuge manager.
Chris Boyle (Liberal Democrat) Lawyer. Newcastle councillor since 2003.
Richard Elvin (UKIP)Karen Allen (BNP) Colin Wakefield (Independent)2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 90046
Male: 48.4%
Female: 51.6%
Under 18: 22.4%
Over 60: 22.2%
Born outside UK: 1.4%
White: 99%
Asian: 0.5%
Mixed: 0.3%
Other: 0.2%
Christian: 84.2%
Full time students: 2.1%
Graduates 16-74: 10.9%
No Qualifications 16-74: 38.8%
Owner-Occupied: 60.8%
Social Housing: 35.1% (Council: 24.5%, Housing Ass.: 10.6%)
Privately Rented: 2.8%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 1.5%
Not sure I am comfortable with the implied comment against the independent Boundary Commission. Is this the preference of worried Labour activists? “Well, of course, if the Boundary Commission wasn’t bias and packed full of Tories we could have held onto power”
Who’s implying what Doktorb?
My word – this thread has been busy since I last visited (have been concentrating on Wansbeck.)
I can say, with certainty, that Houghton & Sunderland South is rock solid for Labour and will produce no surprises, the same applies to Washington and Sunderland West. The Tories have, in the recent past,
secured Council seats in two Wards in Washington but this will have no bearing on a General Election result there. General Election held on the same day as the locals will bring out Labour voters therefore I do not see any further gains for the Tories in the Washington Wards.
ANTHONY – May I explain that after ‘coming out’ on Wansbeck I reverted to Earthmother purely because of my comments being held up for moderation.
Thanks.
I can’t believe Labour activists are actually serious when they crow about being able to hold these seats!
Is it crowing though?
For the past few months we’ve heard the Tories bleating on about leading in polls, saying change is what the electoral wants or claiming that local people (we don’t know however if they are real members of the public or just party activists) are painting over the graffiti on Tory posters.
It’s funny, when the Tory activists or supporters comment on polls, etc. either here or in the media, it’s OK, but if any other party does, it’s classed as “crowing”.
I would class it as being positive about the future and looking at a half full glass that’s starting to fill up very quickly.
To Shaun Bennett I would say it is rather infantile to accuse certain contributers of ‘crowing’ It’s facts and predictions we are dealing with here. I abide by the comments policy and try not to be partisan but I must say the Tories must be living on another planet if they think the huge Labour majority in Houghton and Sunderland South can be dented. The bulk of the constituency is a former mining area – need I say more!!
I’m afraid the Tories are displaying an air of desperation now that nearly all polling companies are showing us that the British public will elect a hung parliament. What doesthis do for Lee Martin’s ambitions? Never mind HASS – thats Houghton and Sunderland South by the way Bennett not health and safety santimony – and WASW, which it is now crowing to declare as safe, Central has to be so off the radar now, as probably does Tynemouth too. I can’t wait til polling day.
Earthmother. I think the solid Labour nature of this constituency is clear enough for all to see. I rather think Shaun’s point was that you making anything of the fact is rather akin to the Catholic church, if faced with suggestions that it was losing members, pointing out that at least the Pope is still Catholic
Pete, I think all parties look at the level of support they get in ‘rock solid’ seats whether these be Labour, Conservative or Liberal as this can be an indicator for the future, otherwise why field a candidate.
I think we all agree that elections are won or lost in the marginals but what defines a marginal, I believe, depends on the national trends. All I am saying is, if the Tories cannot dent the huge Labour majorities in H&SS or W&SW, what hope is there for them in the North-East ‘marginals’ i.e. Tynemouth, Stockton South and Sunderland Central, although the latter is questionable as marginal.
Anthony,
Please, please , please re-open Sunderland Central. Surely everyone involved has learnt their lesson by now ? If they haven’t can you not just bar certain individuals (me included if you deem it necessary) from posting ?
yours obsequiously
RLC
er…’Dear ‘ Anthony …
I’m afraid Anthony cannot be moved – he’s being tough at the moment. He’s been generous to me in the past although I have always tried to be non-partisan and impartial in my comments and abide by the Comments Policy, however I am persona non grata
on Wansbeck now!! I still think Anthony is wonderful even though he’s rejecting me!!!
Amazingly most of Sunderland Labour Groups Councillors who can walk and talk (about half) descended mob-handed on Sandhill ward in this constituency yesterday.
Hardly a knife-edge ward in hardly a marginal constituency ! Other than the fact that the Labour Cllr up for election there is David Allan, the unofficial but real power behind several recent Leaders, one wonders why they chose to go here rather than Central ?
Still, there’s no doubt about it – Bridget Philipson is the only Labour candidate in Sunderland who’s running anything like a campaign at present even though, on paper, she’s least likely to need to.
Lab Hold= 12,000 maj
Hi Richard Elvin is the UKIP candidate for Houghton and Sunderland South. Can you update your data base please.
Lab Hold 15 300
Karen Allen standing for BNP
Lab maj 12,000
I would like to announce that I am standing as an Independent candidate for the forthcoming General Election in Houghton and Sunderland South.
I think this discussion about Houghton and Sunderland South is quite interesting. I don’t think that this is a nailed on Labour win. There have been a number of things that have happened recently in the constituency (including the local effect of the expenses scandal) that have people in the constituency thinking about their vote for the first time in years.
The Sunderland Labour Ruling Group have not exactly heaped themselves in glory last year when trying to close a local school – Gillas Lane Primary – and getting a bloody nose from The Schools Adjudicator and the local community. They have been trying to railroad further unwelcome school closures and amalgamations in Hetton. These issues have lead to substantial community action and support.
People have long memories about things that are close to their hearts so don’t be surprised to see a major swing towards the other parties. It wasn’t the main parties that helped the communities in difficulties. It was the Independent councillors. One of those councillors is now standing for MP – Colin Wakefield. Local people have appreciated what Colin and his colleague, Derek Smith, have done for them. That might well translate into votes.
It will be an interesting election.
Just a quick one – are we still expecting H&SS to be the first to declare on election night regardless of boundary changes?
Must admit I’d like another constituency to get in first this time for a change, so are there any other seats which may give Sunderland a run for its money?
“are we still expecting H&SS to be the first to declare on election night regardless of boundary changes?”
The Press Association expects H&SS to be the first.
PA also expects that some North Ireland seats (they will count overnight this time) will be the closest competition for Sunderland seats
With a substantial Labour majority predicted for this seat is there any reason for the mother of the Labour PPC to go around assaulting anyone who questions the policies and conduct of the Labour party?
I agree completely with what David Coulbeck said.
Houghton has lost faith in Labour. The main issue for the residents of Houghton is a dangerous landfil site that is polluting the groundwater and causes problems with smell, traffic and vermin. The Labour controlled City Council (and Government) have ignored the problem.
The Independents won seats in 2003, 2007, 2008 and they also have two more standing in 2010. If the two candidates are elected, that will give them 5 out of six councillors in the Copt Hill and Houghton wards.
Colin Wakefield is the chairman of a local environment pressure group that opposes the landfill site and he’s very well known throughout the area for his work with this and also the aforementioned school closures. I believe Colin will get an awful lot of votes from the Houghton area.
Will it be enough to counter balance the voters from Sunderland? We’ll have to wait and see, but I think he’ll give Bridget Philipson a run for her money.
LAB HOLD
Considering the fact that it’s highly likely Bridget will be the first Labour MP in the new parliament, does that mean she’ll be the leader of the Labour party until the next Labour MP has won their seat? lol!!!
First seat declared – 8.4% swing to Tories on the notionals. Lib Dem vote down!
8.4% would mean the exit polls out a bit and Con overall majority. We shall see
OK please note: Others 14.4% – that is staggeringly high. BNP and Colin Wakefield have held their deposits!
I think this is skewing the swing figure slightly. Labour well down – but Tories not much up…
I said Colin Wakefield would do well! Maybe not as well as he’d hoped, but to finish fourth behind tthe major parties is a staggering achievement. The Independent councillors in the Copt Hill and Houghton wards also just missed out by around 200 votes each. If it hadn’t been a general election on the same night, they may well have both been elected.
Well the first couple of declarations certainly threw the cat am,ongst the pigeons with the studio pundits and swing “experts” – I think it’d be uncharitable to say they were clueless to extrapolate from Washington and Houghton’s results, but it took something of a pro-Conservative leap of faith to declare that the swings here (about 9% and in Washington, 11%) were cut and dried when in fact there were extremely high votes for none of the three main parties which totally skewed the swings, something which was totally ignored, on the BBC at least. The picture in Sunderland Central mirrored the national swing more accurately, which, being a more marginal seat, the pundits ought to have hung on for before they got a tad overexcited.
What were the 1983-97 wards of:
Sunderland North
Sunderland South
Gateshead East
Houghton and Washington
Sunderland North: Castletown, Central, Colliery, Fulwell, Pallion, St. Peter’s, South Hylton, Southwick and Town End Farm
Sunderland South: Grindon, Hendon, Ryhope, St. Chad’s, St. Michael’s, Silksworth, Thorney Close and Thornholme
Gateshead East: Chowdene, Deckham, Felling, High Fell, Leam, Low Fell, Pelaw and Heworth, Saltwell and Wrekendyke
Houghton and Washington: Eppleton, Hetton, Houghton, Shiney Row, Washington East, Washington North, Washington South and Washington West.
Harry – do buy the book if you can (as mentioned on the Nottingham North thread).
I got mine on Amazon.