Brighouse and Spenborough was a

parliamentary constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, comprising the two

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

s of

Brighouse Brighouse is a town within the metropolitan borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated on the River Calder, east of Halifax. It is served by Junction 25 of the M62 m ...

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 urban ...

and neighbouring areas. It returned one

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the 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 parliament. ...

of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

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

. 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 The metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, with populations between 1 and 3 million. They were created in 1974 and are each di ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

and was divided between two new constituencies: Batley and Spen (including Heckmondwike and Spenborough) and

Calder Valley Calder is a Scottish name and may refer to: People *Calder (surname) * Calder baronets, two baronetcies created for people with the surname Calder *Alexander Calder (1898-1976), the American sculptor known for his mobiles, son of Alexander Stirli ...

(including Brighouse).The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1983 (S.I. 1983/417) This seat's last MP, the Conservative

Gary Waller Gary Peter Anthony Waller (24 June 1945 – 21 July 2017) was a British Conservative politician. Schooling Waller was educated at Rugby School, where he excelled at cross country running, and graduated from Lancaster University in 1967. Poli ...

, 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

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brighouse And Spenborough (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in Yorkshire and the Humber (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