Sheffield Hallam
2010 Results:
Conservative: 12040 (23.55%)
Labour: 8228 (16.09%)
Liberal Democrat: 27324 (53.44%)
UKIP: 1195 (2.34%)
Green: 919 (1.8%)
English Democrat: 586 (1.15%)
Christian: 250 (0.49%)
Monster Raving Loony: 164 (0.32%)
Independent: 429 (0.84%)
Majority: 15284 (29.89%)
Notional 2005 Results:
Liberal Democrat: 21574 (45.5%)
Conservative: 13852 (29.2%)
Labour: 9030 (19.1%)
Other: 2912 (6.1%)
Majority: 7722 (16.3%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 12028 (29.8%)
Labour: 5110 (12.6%)
Liberal Democrat: 20710 (51.2%)
BNP: 369 (0.9%)
Green: 1331 (3.3%)
UKIP: 438 (1.1%)
Other: 441 (1.1%)
Majority: 8682 (21.5%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 11856 (31%)
Labour: 4758 (12.4%)
Liberal Democrat: 21203 (55.4%)
UKIP: 429 (1.1%)
Majority: 9347 (24.4%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 15074 (33.1%)
Labour: 6147 (13.5%)
Liberal Democrat: 23345 (51.3%)
Referendum: 788 (1.7%)
Other: 125 (0.3%)
Majority: 8271 (18.2%)
Boundary changes: Numerous small changes due to wards split between constituencies, and two more substantial changes due to the abolition of Sheffield Hillsborough. Loses part of Beauchief & Greenhill to Sheffield Heeley, loses most of Broomhill and a handful of voters in Central and Nether Edge wards to Sheffield Central. Gains Stannington from Sheffield Hillsborough, parts of Crookes from Sheffield Central and Hillsborough, a tiny part of Dore & Totley from Sheffield Heeley and tiny parts of Ecclesall from Central and Heeley.
Profile: A largely rural seat covering the south-west corner of Sheffield. This is an affluent and wealthy seat, one of the richest outside of the south-east. The western part of the seat is within the Peak District and is largely desolate moorland, stretching up into the pennines, below that are small villages like like High and Low Bradfield, Dungworth, Worrall and Ringinglow. The seat when covers the westernmost fringes of Sheffield itself, including the richest and most affluent suburbs of the city like Ecclesall and the Conservative bastions of Totley and Dore.
A wealthy, middle-class and mostly owner-occupied seat this was a safe Conservative seat between the first world war and the 1990s. However, it fell to the Liberal Democrats` Richard Allen in the anti-Conservative landslide of 1997 and he successfully passed it onto the Lib Dem rising star Nick Clegg in 2005. The boundary changes are somewhat unhelpful for the Liberal Democrats, slightly reducing the still substantial numbers of students in the constituency, but it remains a tough call for the Conservatives.
Current MP: Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat) born 1967, Buckinghamshire. Educated at Westminster school and Cambridge university. Prior to his election worked for the European Commission, including as a speechwriter to Sir Leon Brittan. MEP for the East Midlands region 1999-2004. First elected as MP for Sheffield Hallam in 2005. Europe spokesman 2005-2006, Liberal Democrat shadow home secretary since 2006. He was touted as a possible leadership contender following Charles Kennedy`s resignation, though eventually he backed Sir Menzies Campbell. After Campbell`s own resignation the following year he defeated Chris Huhne to become leader of the Liberal Democrats from December 2007. His performance in the first leaders` debate in the 2010 election produced a huge spike in Liberal Democrat support, which largely faded by the time of the election, but was enough to secure a hung Parliament. Clegg subsequently negotiated a coalition deal with the Conservative party, taking the third party into government for the first time since the second world war. Deputy Prime Minister since 2010 (more information at They work for you)
Nicola Bates (Conservative) Educated at York university. PR consultant.
Jack Scott (Labour) Educated at Sheffield University. Executive Director with Sheffield Mental Health Citizen`s Advice Bureau.Nick Clegg(Liberal Democrat) born 1967, Buckinghamshire. Educated at Westminster school and Cambridge university. Prior to his election worked for the European Commission, including as a speechwriter to Sir Leon Brittan. MEP for the East Midlands region 1999-2004. First elected as MP for Sheffield Hallam in 2005. Europe spokesman 2005-2006, Liberal Democrat shadow home secretary since 2006. He was touted as a possible leadership contender following Charles Kennedy`s resignation, though eventually he backed Sir Menzies Campbell. After Campbell`s own resignation the following year he defeated Chris Huhne to become leader of the Liberal Democrats from December 2007 (more information at They work for you)
Steve Barnard (Green) Sheffield councillor 1996-2000. Contested Yorkshire and Humberside in 2009 European elections.
Nigel James (UKIP) Retired university lecturer. Contested Sheffield Hallam 2005.
David Wildgoose (English Democrat) Educated at Oakwood Comprehensive and Hull University. Contested Rotherham 1992, 1994 by-election, 1997, Wentworth 2001 for Liberal Democrats. Contested Yorkshire and Humberside in 2009 European elections.
Ray Green (Christian Party) Mark Adshead (Official Monster Raving Loony) 
Martin Fitzpatrick (Independent) Born 1968. Educated at St Thomas Moore Derby. Sales manager.2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 84912
Male: 48.5%
Female: 51.5%
Under 18: 19.3%
Over 60: 23%
Born outside UK: 5.7%
White: 95.2%
Black: 0.6%
Asian: 2.1%
Mixed: 1.2%
Other: 0.8%
Christian: 70.5%
Hindu: 0.6%
Muslim: 1.3%
Full time students: 11.9%
Graduates 16-74: 35.6%
No Qualifications 16-74: 17%
Owner-Occupied: 79.6%
Social Housing: 10.4% (Council: 8.8%, Housing Ass.: 1.6%)
Privately Rented: 8%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 4.1%
The Conservatives have zero chance of winning any wards in Sheffield next year let alone any in Hallam . As their last councillor in Dore and Totley is no longer a member of the Conservative Party her personal vote has been lost for good .
Probably correct but a brave assertion to make this far out from the next set of local elections.
In fact I suspect neither the Conservatives nor the Lib Dems will win many seats in Sheffield next time around. If I were a Labour strategist then I would be hammering Clegg daily over the cancellation of the Forgemasters loan (what’s the point of the DPM representing a Sheffield seat if he can’t prevent things like that, for instance)
I think Mark is right.
The Lib Dems have most to fear in traditionally Labour areas, not traditionally Tory areas like Hallam.
Being Clegg’s constituency will also help the Lib Dems here; some Tories might even be encouraged to vote Lib Dem as a result of the coalition and Clegg’s higher profile.
A more interesting question is what will happen to the Lib Dem vote in the other parts of Sheffield.
Certainly there will be a number of LibDem losses to Labour in Sheffield and other metropolitan areas but not as many as some people are assuming . Many Libdem seats in the major cities are in fact in former Conservative areas and not vulnerable to Labour .
Solihull is a good example , Labour are not in contention in a single one of the LibDem seats there .
I don’t really think the Tories will win every seat in Sheffield Hallam next May,
although they should aim to do better in this seat.
It’s too early to make a detailed forecast about the situation nationally.
The LDs could be reduced to the Nordic Fringe over time though.
Dream On JJB , Dream On
Joe’s attitude that the Lib Dems are the anti-christ puzzles me (although he is perfectly entitled to his opinion of course, and I enjoy reading his insights).
Irrational hatred of the Lib Dems is definitely his blind spot, though.
I cannot see why it would benefit those of us who want a centre-right government to see the Lib Dems “reduced to the Nordic fringe”. It would be a massive boost to Labour, who would gain a lot of former Lib Dem votes and gain a lot of seats from the Tories as a result. The lesson from the 1980s is that a strong third party in terms of vote share is a benefit to the Tories.
The best future as far as I can see it is the Tories and Lib Dems working together, with the Tories giving the Lib Dems a free run to touch the bits of the electorate that they can no longer touch – such as urban university seats like this one, and rural Scotland.
I think the Lib Dem influence overall is positive as it tames the more malign instincts of the hard right. The 1980s would have been better under a Con-Alliance coalition as many of the good policies would still have happened but there would have been no poll tax, for example.
A successful government has to be pragmatic and see politics as the art of the possible.
agree with your view that at the moment a collapse in lib dem support only benefits labour but not that the lib dems have most reason to fear in labour areas
peversely though it may same, it’s the areas where the lib dems battle it out with the tories where they are most in danger
having squeezed the labour vote in to virtual irrelevance in the south west, it’s these borrowed labour votes that are now going back to labour, which allows the conservatives to come through the middle without having to increase their own vote
that’s why uk polling has the tories just three short of a majority – despite the polls that of the three parties, labour has recovered the most since the election (almost entirely at the expense of the lib dems)
recent polls suggest that most lib dem voters at the last election lean to the left as opposed to the right – and yet the tories have played an absolute blinder in being able to benefit from this
forget his electoral reform nonsense, perhaps that’s how david cameron sold this opportunistic alliance to his right-wing backbenchers
…having said althouigh i agree entirely with the notion that people of the centre and centre right ought to welcome the coalition government
in much the same way as tony blair did in his first days in office, david cameron has almost gone out of his way to show that his not a politician willing to be sidetracked into a strategy of appeasing his core vote – a fear that has kept people such as myself from voting tory in the recent past
the labour opposition has predictably pointed to the scale of the cuts as evidence of how right wing the coalition government really is – perhaps pleased that its left to others to deal with gthe mess that many would argue they helped create
whichever party got into government on may 6, the size of the budget defecit necessitates it taking centre stage, and voters of the centre and centre right ought to welcome that there’s a government led by a party determined to get to grips with it and supported by a party whose more p;artnernalistic instincts should help ensure that it’s done in as fair a way as possible, so the most vulnerable don’t suffer most
that’s why i find the lib dems position in the polls not inexplicible but surprising
There have been a number of byelections in the South West in the last 6 weeks , the winner in the majority of cases has been the LibDems . You are putting too much faith in the current polls which are virtually all by one polling company . The odd polls by other polling companies have not been telling quite the same story .and real elections have also thrown some doubt on the size of the movement suggested by the monopoly pollster .
Give me opinion polls over local by-election results any day. The latter tell us the square root of bugger all.
Polls not only all by one company but a company known for putting the Lib Dems lower than other pollsters and which has actually changed its methodology since May to take even less account of Lib Dem votes.
As for JJB’s hatred of Liberals, in common with many Labour and Conservative supporters it is not at all irrational. Liberalism stands opposed to the social and political structures on which both those parties rely. Of course Tories and Labour hate Lib Dems more than they hate one another, not only do we not respect their long-standing carve up of political power but we want to change things. It doesn’t take a genius, it’s perfectly ordinary self-interest.
Local council by-elections are sometimes useful – but it’s very easy to pick out the ones you want.
Sometimes they seem to bare little relation, partly because they are small numbers and the turnout is low.
The truth is in some quarters they are reasonable indicators if you get enough aggragated, but other quarters have very little relation if any.
How long will it take for people to understand – opinion polls have no bearing on this seat at all. The voting in Hallam has been continually static since at least 1995. The Lib Dems won’t suffer a jot, they have Hallam and I can see nothing that will ever change that short of the exposure of a child molestation racket run by the local party, and I’m not even sure that would do the trick.
Welcome back Harry.