Keighley
2010 Results:
Conservative: 20003 (41.94%)
Labour: 17063 (35.78%)
Liberal Democrat: 7059 (14.8%)
BNP: 1962 (4.11%)
UKIP: 1470 (3.08%)
Others: 135 (0.28%)
Majority: 2940 (6.16%)
Notional 2005 Results:
Labour: 20720 (44.7%)
Conservative: 15868 (34.3%)
Liberal Democrat: 5484 (11.8%)
Other: 4240 (9.2%)
Majority: 4852 (10.5%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 15868 (34.3%)
Labour: 20720 (44.7%)
Liberal Democrat: 5484 (11.8%)
BNP: 4240 (9.2%)
Majority: 4852 (10.5%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 16883 (39%)
Labour: 20888 (48.2%)
Liberal Democrat: 4722 (10.9%)
UKIP: 840 (1.9%)
Majority: 4005 (9.2%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 18907 (36.7%)
Labour: 26039 (50.6%)
Liberal Democrat: 5064 (9.8%)
Referendum: 1470 (2.9%)
Majority: 7132 (13.9%)
No boundary changes:
Profile: To the North the seat extends over part of Rombald`s Moor (including the iconic Ilkley Moor) to the towns of Addingham and Ilkley in Wharfedale. Ilkley is a prosperous Victoria Spa town that remains a popular tourist destination. To the south the seat follows the preserved heritage steam railway through villages like Haworth, again a popular tourist destination thanks to its association with the Bronte sisters.
While the north and south of the seat are Conservative, Keighley itself is a former textile town and provides most of Labour`s support in the seat. The town contains somewhat troubled estates like Braithwaite and has in the past been a prime target for the BNP. Keighley`s population is around 15% muslim. West Keighley was briefly the BNP`s safest council seat after they won in 2004 and the seat was contested by the BNP leader Nick Griffin in 2005 after a furore over alleged grooming of young white girls in Keighley by Asian men. The mother of the girl at the centre of the allegations later stood for the Labour party in West Keighley, defeating the BNP, who no longer have any councillors in Keighley.
Current MP: Kris Hopkins (Conservative) College Lecturer. Leader of Bradford Council. Contested Halifax in 2005, Leeds West in 2001.
Kris Hopkins (Conservative) College Lecturer. Leader of Bradford Council. Contested Halifax in 2005, Leeds West in 2001.
Jane Thomas (Labour) Director of Network North. Former University lecturer.
Nader Fekri (Liberal Democrat) History lecturer. Calderdale councillor. Contested Keighley 2005, Yorkshire and Humberside 2009 European election.
Paul Latham (UKIP)Andrew Brons (BNP) Steven Smith (National Front)2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 90174
Male: 47.9%
Female: 52.1%
Under 18: 24%
Over 60: 22.3%
Born outside UK: 7.3%
White: 89.3%
Black: 0.3%
Asian: 9.4%
Mixed: 0.8%
Other: 0.2%
Christian: 68.8%
Muslim: 8.4%
Full time students: 2.8%
Graduates 16-74: 19.7%
No Qualifications 16-74: 30.8%
Owner-Occupied: 77.6%
Social Housing: 11% (Council: 8.8%, Housing Ass.: 2.2%)
Privately Rented: 8.2%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 19.9%
Keighley must be one of the most polarised constiuencies in the country. There is the poor, working class manufactoring town of Keighley itself which mostly votes for Labour and then there is the Tory leaning rural landscapes of Worth Valley and Craven and then of course there is the spa town of Ilkley which is reliably Tory. Any other examples of extreme polarisation in constituencies.
Corby (containing East Northants) and (certainly the old) Batley & Spen. I’ve no idea what sort of town Corby is but Batley is certainly not supplying many Conservative votes to a seat the party held through the 80s and 90s
In Wales, Gower & Vale of Glamorgan are very polarised. So too Edinburgh SW which has very little obvious middle ground.
Except that the Conservatives have had victories in all three of the Keighley wards since 2007.
A better example of a split constituency in this area would be Elmet.
As so would be Dewsbury and Batley.
Kensington and Westminster North contain some extremes of wealth and poverty. Th 1974-97 version of Kensington was perhaps the most starkly divided with 5 ultra safe Tory wards in the south and 5 safe Labour wards in the north. There was (and still is) a massive contrast between Queens Gate at one end and Golborne at the other.
The old LIverpool Garston was extremely divided socially but not so much politically latterly as the Tory support had evaporated in the middle class areas too
Westminster N has always been highly divided as was its predecessor Padington.
Poplar must be a strong contender.
Richard, I did say that Keighley mostly votes for Labour and the Tory victories in Keighley Central (2007) and Keighley West (2008) were due to the poor performance of Labour nationally. As for Keighley East, that’s marginal between Labour (2) and the Conservatives (1).
I would guess that the town of Keighley has given a plurality to Labour at every general election since the First World War with the probable exception of 1931
The Conservative victory in Keighley Central in 2007 was due to the internal workings of local Asian politics.
But IIRC the Conservatives were only about 250 votes behind in both East and West wards this year.
As Pete says Keighley as a town always has Labour ahead but I would guess that the Labour lead in Keighley twon is less than it is Dewsbury town and Batley town.
Local election results 2010:
Keighley
Rural Con +6333
Urban Lab +2796
Total Con +3537
Elmet
Rural Con +8584
Urban Lab +5756
Total Con +2828
Dewsbury
Rural Con +7125
Urban Lab +5952
Total Con +1173
Batley
Rural Con +3769
Urban Lab +6245
Total Lab +2476
Difference between urban and rural halves:
Elmet 14340
Dewsbury 13077
Batley 10014
Keighley 9129
By ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ I mean the respective Labour and Conservatives halves of each constituency. Many of the Conservatives wards are urban themselves eg Wetherby, Ilkley and Mirfield.
@Barnaby
Whilst Edinburgh SW is incredibly polarised between rich Colinton, Balerno, etc and very deprived Westerhailes the new boundaries (since 2005) do provide some middle ground in the areas that extend into the old Central area – Dalry, etc…