Sheffield South East
2010 Results:
Conservative: 7202 (17.39%)
Labour: 20169 (48.71%)
Liberal Democrat: 9664 (23.34%)
BNP: 2345 (5.66%)
UKIP: 1889 (4.56%)
Others: 139 (0.34%)
Majority: 10505 (25.37%)
Notional 2005 Results:
Labour: 22755 (59.5%)
Liberal Democrat: 6686 (17.5%)
Conservative: 5400 (14.1%)
Other: 3372 (8.8%)
Majority: 16068 (42%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 5329 (14.4%)
Labour: 22250 (60.1%)
Liberal Democrat: 6283 (17%)
BNP: 1477 (4%)
UKIP: 1680 (4.5%)
Majority: 15967 (43.1%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 5443 (15.2%)
Labour: 24287 (67.8%)
Liberal Democrat: 5092 (14.2%)
UKIP: 1002 (2.8%)
Majority: 18844 (52.6%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 7119 (16.1%)
Labour: 28937 (65.3%)
Liberal Democrat: 6973 (15.7%)
Referendum: 1289 (2.9%)
Majority: 21818 (49.2%)
Boundary changes:
Profile:
Current MP: Clive Betts(Labour) (more information at They work for you)
Nigel Bonson (Conservative) Clive Betts(Labour) (more information at They work for you)Gail Smith (Liberal Democrat)Jonathan Arnott (UKIP) Educated at Sheffield University. Maths teacher. Contested Sheffield Attercliffe 2005.Chris Hartigan (BNP) Steve Andrew (Communist)2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 91247
Male: 48.7%
Female: 51.3%
Under 18: 23.1%
Over 60: 22.3%
Born outside UK: 5.2%
White: 91.3%
Black: 0.9%
Asian: 6.2%
Mixed: 1.1%
Other: 0.5%
Christian: 72.7%
Muslim: 6.1%
Full time students: 2.7%
Graduates 16-74: 10.5%
No Qualifications 16-74: 37.8%
Owner-Occupied: 66.2%
Social Housing: 28.7% (Council: 25.7%, Housing Ass.: 3.1%)
Privately Rented: 3.6%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 7.7%
Lab maj 11,500
STATEMENT AS TO PERSONS NOMINATED
Steven ANDREW – Communist Party of Britain
Jonathan ARNOTT – UKIP
Clive BETTS – Labour
Nigel BONSON – Conservative
Christopher HARTIGAN – BNP
Gail SMITH – Liberal Democrat
http://nwsheffield.org/files/2010/04/statement-of-persons-nominated-general.pdf
Page 6 of 7
LAB HOLD
Labour did rather poorly in Sheffield this May – big percentage drops despite most of the seats still being safe Labour.
But it has to be put in context.
Although turnout dropped sharply in 2001, Labour’s share of the vote held very well in Sheffield in 2001 and 2005.
More so than in many places where they have safe seats and can indulge in protest.
So the 2010 results are not as bad as they look.
The Conservatives had a few slightly better results aswell – but nowhere near winning any seat of course.
I agree that Labour did badly against 2005 here, but it’s unlikely to be much of a concern. The Lib Dems were the benificiaries (and, to some extent, minor parties), with the Conservatives making little progress. Given that there’s every reason to expect a major fall in the Lib Dem vote in Sheffield at the next election (outside Hallam), I can’t see why they would worry.
“Slightly better” is a bit of an overstatement – the best Conservative result was an increase of 3% here and in Heeley, from a low base. Penistone and Stocksbridge was more promising, but local election results didn’t show any improvement for the Tories in the Sheffield part of the seat.
In the local elections, the picture was dire – the party slipped further away from their best hopes (Dore and Totley, Fulwood, Ecclesall) and fell to third in Beighton and Crookes.
“Penistone and Stocksbridge was more promising, but local election results didn’t show any improvement for the Tories in the Sheffield part of the seat.”
The three wards of East Ecclesfield, West Ecclesfield and Stocksbridge & Upper Don had some of the largest increases in the Conservative share of the vote between the 2008 and 2010 local elections. Increases from a low base but increases all the same.
Change 2010 2008
West Ecclesfield 7.6 18.1% 10.5%
Hillsborough 5.8 11.1% 5.3%
East Ecclesfield 3.0 13.8% 10.8%
Walkley 2.9 8.1% 5.2%
Stannington 2.6 17.8% 15.2%
Nether Edge 2.4 8.3% 5.9%
Mosborough 1.8 17.3% 15.5%
Stocksbridge & U D 1.6 20.2% 18.6%
Firth Park 1.6 11.5% 9.9%
Central 1.4 9.2% 7.8%
Graves Park 1.1 17.6% 16.5%
Gleadless 1.1 8.8% 7.7%
Southey 0.3 11.1% 10.8%
Shiregreen -0.3 11.0% 11.3%
Broomhill -0.9 11.7% 12.6%
Darnall -1.4 8.1% 9.5%
Woodhouse -1.8 14,5% 16.3%
Burngreave -3.1 9.5% 12.6%
Richmond -3.3 12.3% 15.6%
Fulwood -3.4 23.8% 27.2%
Crookes -3.5 17.1% 20.6%
Beauchief -5.5 12.3% 17.8%
Ecclesall -5.6 18.8% 24.4%
Manor -5.9 7.2% 13.1%
Arbourthorne -6.8 12.0% 18.8%
Birley -7.4 12.6% 20.0%
Dore & Totley -10.0 33.5% 43.5%
Beighton -11.1 19.5% 30.6%
Woodhouse ward – by-election August 26
Labour – 1855 (52.4% +5.4)
Lib Dem – 757 (21.4% -0.5)
UKIP – 491 (13.9% +4.4)
Conservative – 154 (4.3% -10.1)
BNP – 143 (4% +4)
Green – 83 (2.3% -0.4)
Ind – 58 (1.6% +1.6)
Labour Hold
+/- since May this year.
Looking at the above result it seems that the cutting of funding at the Forgemasters site has hurt the Tories much more than the LibDems.
The Woodhouse result would be better compared with the 2006/2007/2008 results when the turnout was similar rather than May on GE turnout .
The Labour vote was lower than in each of those years , the LibDem vote higher in each of those years and the Conservative vote much lower .
Labour share compared to
2008 +4.8
2007 -1
2006 +2.8
LD share compared to
2008 +6
2007 +8.6
2006 +6.2
Con share compared to
2008 -12
2007 -7.6
2006 -9.5
LibDems do well in byelectionj – shock, horror!!!
Conservatives do badly in byelection – shock, horror!!!
Relevance – ZERO.
Zero is a bit strong – I agree that a health warning should be appended to by-election results, but to say they’re never relevant is an overstatement.
“Conservatives do badly in byelection – shock, horror!!!”
I would expand that to “Conservatives do badly in by-election in Sheffield, shock horror!!!”.
There is a theory that the Tories in Sheffield actually benefited in the ’70s and ’80s from the fact that the local council was a left wing Labour one as people felt that the best way of expressing their discontent at that was to vote Tory. Once the council was in more moderate hands that reason to vote Tory at local elections disappeared and one of the causes of the Tory decline in the city was in place.
“There is a theory that the Tories in Sheffield actually benefited in the ’70s and ’80s from the fact that the local council was a left wing Labour one”
That doesn’t fit the evidence. The Tories ran the council for a year in the late 1960s, but quickly lost favour and, after the restructure of 1974, were down to 18 seats. This stayed steady for a few years as the council moved to the left in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but during the late 1980s, when the council’s left-wing credentials were probably most prominent, they slid down to ten seats.
Yes.
It seems more likely that the Tories’ fortunes in Sheffield went downhill when government policies rightly or wrongly closed down large parts of the steel industry leading to many thousands of job losses.
Correct me if I’m wrong but the Tories’ base vote in Sheffield was built on the owners and managers of the many manufacturing businesses, large and small. Many of these people will have been Heseltine Tories who believed in intervening to save and grow manufacturing and opposed to Thatcher’s approach.
I might add that the decline continued apace through the 1990s and right through the Blair and Brown governments. Sheffield’s only major steelworks now is the Outokumpu stainless steel plant.
Depends what you call major. The Corus plant at Stocksbridge and Sheffield Forgemasters works in Brightside are also large and produce a considerable amount of material.
Neither of those produce crude steel. They process slab or billet produced elsewhere.
If we slashed business taxes would that make a significant difference in saving steel?
Something has already been done though.
From wiki:
“However, due to increasing competition from imports, it has seen a decline in heavy engineering industries since the 1960s, which has forced the sector to streamline its operations and lay off the majority of the local employment.
Today the city is ranked among the top 10 UK cities as a business location [1] and continues to regenerate itself as a modern sports and technology based city. The steel industry now concentrates on more specialist steel-making and, despite appearances, currently produces more steel per year than at any other time in its history.[2] However, the industry is now less noticeable as it has become highly automated and employs far fewer staff than in the past. ”
That info source is from 2005 and doubtless things are a little different now.
But I certainly heard it said several times around 2000 that Sheffield was at that point producing more steel than ever before.
The reason for the perception of industrial decline is that firstly huge productivity improvements mean that employment is a small fraction of previous decades and secondly because of environmental improvements they are less visible than in the old days.
As to the decline in Conservative prospects in Sheffield the shift in voting patterns among public sector middle classes is probably the largest factor, together with a general increase in public sector workers and also the LibDems emerging as the anti-Labour party.
Yes I do recall some of those points.
It is not very visible no,
Unlike Scunthorpe.
The Sheffield steelworks are still quite impressive alongside the M1 just to the south of Meadowhall.
But not nearly so as those at Scunthorpe and Rawmarsh near Rotherham.
The Stocksbridge steelworks are also worth seeing as they are in the upper Don Valley surrounded by wooded hills.
A bit like those in Pennsylvania and West Virginia perhaps.
Patrick Duffy celebrated his 90th birthday in June this year. He was Labour MP for Sheffield Attercliffe from 1970-92 and Colne Valley 1963-66.
Labour dominant in this constituency, holding all five wards with increased majorities. The Lib Dems are now only second in Mosborough. Although far behind, it’s interesting to see the Tories in second in Birley and Beighton, and UKIP second in Woodhouse and (of all places) Darnall.
Sorry, my mistake, the Lib Dems just pipped UKIP for second in Darnall.