Brighouse and Spenborough was a

parliamentary constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

, comprising the two

municipal borough A municipal borough was a type of local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of ...

s of

Brighouse Brighouse (, locally also ) is a town within the metropolitan borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated on the River Calder, West Y ...

and

Spenborough Spenborough was, from 1915 to 1974, a local government district in the administrative county of Yorkshire, West Riding, England. Spenborough was created as an urban district in 1915 by the merger of Cleckheaton, Gomersal and Liversedge urb ...

and neighbouring areas. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

Boundaries

1950–1955: The Borough of Brighouse, and the Urban Districts of Queensberry and Shelf, and Spenborough. 1955–1983: The Borough of Brighouse, the Urban District of Heckmondwike, and the Urban District of Spenborough (a borough from 29 July 1955).

History

The constituency was created for the 1950 general election. The boundaries were redrawn for the 1955 general election: Queensbury and Shelf Urban District was transferred to Bradford South while Heckmondwike Urban District was added to this seat from the pre-1955

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder, West Yorkshire, River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, ...

. These boundaries were used until the constituency's abolition for the 1983 general election. In 1983 parliamentary seats were reorganised to reflect the changes in local government introduced in 1974. The area had become part of the

Metropolitan County Metropolitan counties are a Subdivisions of England, subdivision of England which were originally used for Local government in England, local government. There are six metropolitan counties: Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyn ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

and was divided between two new constituencies:

Batley and Spen Batley and Spen was a constituency in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the UK Parliament. The most recent MP was Kim Leadbeater, a Labour Party (UK), Labour politician, who was elected in 2021 Batley and Spen by-el ...

(including Heckmondwike and Spenborough) and Calder Valley (including Brighouse).The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1983 (S.I. 1983/417) This seat's last MP, the Conservative Gary Waller, moved to the redrawn Keighley constituency, which he held until 1997.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1970s

References

* {{reflist Parliamentary constituencies in West Yorkshire (historic) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1950 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1983 Politics of Calderdale Politics of Kirklees