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%
From Dep PM to failed candidate for SYP commissioner.
How did it go so wrong?
There are a lot of assumptions here & I think some people are getting a bit ahead of themselves. I don’t think Clegg will be at all easy to beat in this neck of the woods, however, as H.Hemmelig says, there will be a lot of Labour effort to get him out. I for one would be surprised if he fails to present himself to the electorate, but the possibility of him failing to win is present. But, it’s very far from certain.
‘There are a lot of assumptions here & I think some people are getting a bit ahead of themselves’
Maybe with the regard to the boundary changes as the commission seems to have been hell bent on not splitting any wards even if some ridiculous constituencies were created in the process so things will amost certainly change
I largely agree with H.Hemmelig although Clegg seems like he wants to fight on and on (at least for now).
The real fly in the ointment for the Lib Dems is the Penistone West Ward, which they don’t usually even fight in local elections. They will need to do something there to build up their profile.
This, in turn, is bad for the Conservative councillors in that Ward. They have fairly decent majorities, but if the Libs eat into their vote then it could make it uncomfortable for them.
As for how easy this will be for the Lib Dems to win, Stocksbridge is generally quite strong for them (although they lost there this year), and I still have it down in my “safe Lib Dem” column, despite their current polling. The comparative figures for the 2010 local elections are:
Sheffield Hallam:
Lib Dem 26,534
Conservative 11,228
Labour 7,885
Sheffield West and Penistone:
Lib Dem 24,687
Conservative 12,627
Labour 11,683
Remember, that Lib Dem number didn’t include Penistone West, where they didn’t stand.
The other wild card will be their success in getting people in Stocksbridge and Penistone to understand that they can win at the GE. That will obviously be a lot easier with Clegg standing, but they really struggled to do that in 2010. Despite winning the Stocksbridge local election fairly comfortably in 2010, they performed badly there in the General Election.
The key unknown for me – which maybe Keith can illuminate us on – is whether the Lib Dem support in the old Hillsborough and Penistone bits of the new seat is mainly Labour-leaning or former Tories like in Hallam.
If the Lib Dem vote is Labour-leaning then it is susceptible to a massive campaign by Labour against all the ills Nick Clegg has perpetrated on the trendy left – tuition fees etc. If it is former Tories like in Hallam there’s a better chance of the Lib Dem vote staying solid.
It’s difficult to answer that question, as the Lib Dem vote really varied across the Penistone & Stocksbridge constituency, and the Stocksbridge and Penistone West wards are very different in the way they have been campaigned.
In Stocksbridge, there was definitely evidence of Lib Dem voters going elsewhere for the general election, and I can confidently say that more of them went Conservative rather than Labour. My guess would be a 2:1 split.
In Penistone West, where there was no local Lib Dem, I’d guess that a lot of the Barnsley Independent Group voters went Lib Dem in the General and they took a similar number off of both Labour and Conservative.
So, it’s all a bit split. There will certainly be some Lib Dem to Labour movement for the reasons you state, but I don’t think it will be anything like in the numbers that would risk the seat for them.
On the other side, if this seat is talked about as one that Labour could win from the Lib Dems then I would expect an element of Conservative to Lib Dem switchers in the Hallam bit, to try to avoid that.
H.Hemmelig,
Having lived in Walkley I can confirm that the LibDems in the old Hillsborough seat are predominently ex-Labour in area which has never been Conservative in recent times, and indeed in which the Tories are barely relevant at grassroots level. In this they contrast with the ex-Conservative LIbDems of Hallam. Penistone I would think is between the two, but more ex-Labour than ex-Tory.
Whoever is LibDem candidate and/or MP for the new seat will have considerable problems bringing together the differing LibDem backgrounds in the various parts of the seat.
Frederic, I think that what you say there is largely correct for the majority of Sheffield, but not necessarily for the wards in this constituency.
As an example, in the 2010 local elections, Labour took 35.6% of the vote in Sheffield and the Conservatives took 14.6%. However, in the four Sheffield Wards that are in the new constituency, the splits were:
Crookes – Lab 20.6% Con 17.1%
Eccleshall – Lab 13.2% Con 18.8%
Fulwood – Lab 12.5% Con 23.8%
Stannington – Lab 23.2% Con 17.8%
Stocksbridge – Lab 27.3% Con 20.2%
As you can see, all these wards, including Stocksbridge are not as pro Labour/anti Conservative as Sheffield as a whole.
It could be argued that the Conservative vote in Stocksbridge was boosted by our Penistone & Stocksbridge campaign, and that will have had an impact. In 2011, the Conservative vote in Stocksbridge fell to about 14%, which was similar to Stannington.
I don’t see that Stocksbridge will be any harder for the Lib Dems to bring into the bulk of Hallam than Stannington was last year. There will certainly be some Lib Dem to Labour movement, but I think that Stocksbridge has a lot in common with the Hallam wards, and any movement won’t be enough to endanger the seat.
I’ve just done a bit of research on the change in vote shares between the 2010 locals and 2011, to see how the Lib Dem to Labour swing compared in these wards than to Sheffield as a whole.
I was expecting the swing to be lower in these wards, based on the assumption put forward earlier by H Hemmelig that ex Tory voting Lib Dems would be more likely to stay solid.
The results surprised me.
Sheffield as a whole had a swing of 11.3% Lib Dem to Labour.
The wards in this constituency had the following swings:
Crookes 19.2%
Ecclesall 14.9%
Fulwood 13.2%
Stannington 11.8%
Stocksbridge 7.8%
So this suggests that Stocksbridge is more solid than the Hallam wards. Perhaps it is because Clegg is their MP, or is swing usually higher in places where the shares of vote are high?
Anyway, this doesn’t suggest that adding Stocksbridge to the ward increases the likelihood of Lib Dem voters going Labour due to the coalition.
Interestingly, in Penistone West, whilst I can’t calculate any swing as no Lib Dems stood, it is interesting to look at the Labour vote. Whilst the Labour vote in Barnsley rose by 9.1%, it fell in Penistone West by 1.5% which doesn’t demonstrate a great anti coalition feeling there.
So will the former Labour voters in Hillesborough who now vote Lib Dem, will they either 1) Vote Labour, or 2) vote Lib Dem because the tories are still notionally second and they would rather continue to have Nick Clegg as their MP, than have a tory MP?
And will the tory voters in Penistone continue to vote tory because they’re notionally second, or will they vote tactically for Clegg because they believe there is going to be a Labour surge in the rest of the seat.
Also, what is likely to happen in the former tory voting parts of the current seat which swung to the Lib Dem’s in 1997. Will those voter continue to vote Lib Dem, or will they return to the Conservatives to try and counter-act a Labour surge?
This looks like the most complex seat electorally I’ve ever seen.
I think some posters on here are a little confused – and no wonder, with the mess of a proposed seat. At the risk of going on, here’s my summary of the area:
Four of the wards in the proposed Sheffield West and Penistone are in the current Sheffield Hallam: Crookes, Ecclesall, Fulwood and Stannington.
These are already quite varied. Ecclesall and Fulwood are wealthy suburbia; until 2010, the Conservatives took second place behind the Lib Dems in local elections here. The western half of Crookes is similar, but the eastern half is a very studenty area of terraced housing, and swung heavily to Labour in 2011, who easily took the seat. Longer ago, these were Conservative-held – Labour has never won them.
Stannington is quite separate from the core of the old constituency. It was only added in 2010, and lies across the Rivelin Valley, which forms a major barrier between communities. The Stannington and Loxley areas of the ward are partly a council estate and partly relatively affluent former villages now on the edge of the city. Further out, it includes the villages of Oughtibridge, Worrall, Dungworth and Bradfield, and a large but little populated swathe of the Peak District. It also swung heavily against the Lib Dems in 2011, and Labour almost won it. It had been Lib Dem for many years, but the area was both Tory and Labour in the 1970s.
Further north, there are two wards currently in Penistone and Stocksbridge. Stocksbridge is within the boundaries of Sheffield, but quite separate from it. It’s still dominated by the local steelworks, but has a surprisingly varied and competitive town council, which was dominated by the Lib Dems, but now has both Labour and Tory members, has had a Green member, and had a UKIP candidate come close in 2011. Although the city council ward also swung from Lib Dem to Labour in 2011, it was a smaller swing than any the four in Hallam. Again, it had been Lib Dem for many years, but the Tories had never previously had any strength here.
Finally, Penistone is a town in the west of the borough of Barnsley, although the seat includes a large, very rural area around it. The Tories are strong there, and the Lib Dems very weak.
That’s a fair assessment Warofdreams. The only thing I’d add is that the Lib Dem weakness in Penistone West is hard to assess. It isn’t as if they have been standing candidates and getting trounced. We have very little real idea of their potential support in the ward.
Of course, they have absolutely no organisation there (unlike Stocksbridge) and it is such a large and diverse ward that it takes some getting to know.
I hope Harry Scott Parker will start posting again.
Perhaps Harry Scott-Parker is Jeremy Clarkson?
I used to enjoy reading his “robust” contributions.
It was mentioned on Question Time last night that Jeremy Clarkson is the Lady Gaga of the motoring world.
I confess I did find that funny.
It is a sad state of affairs that we Brits can’t even make jokes about shooting people any more. A gaffe, maybe, but talk about overreaction.
The reason I no longer post is because I don’t live in Hallam anymore. However, for what it’s worth, I’ll offer some assessment. Clegg looks more and more pathetic by the day. However, the same goes for Ed Miliband. Also, completely coincidentally I’m sure, Clegg has ditched the student areas of Sheffield in return for even more rural areas. I loved his comment the other day about manufacturing jobs in his constituency of Sheffield. He’s always trying to play the gritty northern MP card.
So, anyway, it’s difficult to call. I just can’t imagine the Tories winning here again. Labour are, in the long term, likely to become the main contender. But for now I think Clegg is safe in Hallam. He appeals to the sort of wet middle class voter this constituency plays home to.
Welcome back Harry.
Where do you live now?
I love the last statement.
I agree Labour could become the main threat here.
It’s difficult to make a proper assessment.
I’m not sure how the area is being redrawn either.
Most likely is the LD and Con shares down a bit with
Labour perhaps nosing into second or being just behind the Tories (on these boundaries).
I think Labour could get up to 26-30% (a clear 2nd) on these exact boundaries but I don’t want to speculate on the boundaries.
Have to see what happens next year, if Labour can break through in Stannington for example.
In four of the five wards in this constituency the sitting Liberal Democrat councillor isn’t seeking reelection. Only in Dore & Totley is the sitting councillor standing again. http://www.thestar.co.uk/lifestyle/candidates_hoping_for_election_to_the_city_council_1_3988543
JJB – I’m now in Sittingbourne & Sheppey.
What made you go down there, may I ask?
Are you from Sheffield?
Much better Tory position though.
Yes, lived in Fulwood. One follows the jobs and the family. Alas, it’s working class Toryism down here – miss the peaks!