Consett was a

county constituency In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons. Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by electoral districts called "constituenc ...

, centred on the town of

Consett Consett is a town in County Durham, England, about south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had a population of 27,394 in 2001 and an estimate of 25,812 in 2019. History Consett sits high on the edge of the Pennines. Its' name originates in the ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

. 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 ...

, elected by the

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

voting system from 1918 to 1983.

History

Creation

Consett was created under the

Representation of the People Act 1918 The Representation of the People Act 1918 was an Act of Parliament passed to reform the electoral system in Great Britain and Ireland. It is sometimes known as the Fourth Reform Act. The Act extended the franchise in parliamentary elections, also ...

for the 1918 general election. It succeeded the abolished North West Division of Durham, comprising the whole of that seat, excluding Tanfield, which was included in the new constituency of Blaydon, and Lanchester, which was transferred to

Barnard Castle Barnard Castle (, ) is a market town on the north bank of the River Tees, in County Durham, Northern England. The town is named after and built around a medieval castle ruin. The town's Bowes Museum's has an 18th-century Silver Swan automato ...

Boundaries

1918–1950

* The Urban Districts of Annfield Plain, Benfieldside, Consett, Leadgate, and Stanley; and * in the Rural District of Lanchester, the parishes of Craghead, Ebchester, Healeyfield, Knitsley, and Medomsley.

1950–1983

* The Urban Districts of Consett and Stanley. ''Only minor changes - the Urban Districts of Annfield Plain and Tanfield (transferred back from Blaydon) had been merged with

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

; and

Benfieldside Benfieldside is a parish in County Durham, in England. Although not a village in its own right (ecclesiastically it incorporates Shotley Bridge Shotley Bridge is a village, adjoining the town of Consett in County Durham, England. It is on the ...

and Leadgate with

, along with the parishes of

Ebchester Ebchester is a village in County Durham, England. It is situated to the north of Consett and to the south east of Whittonstall. The village sits at the intersection of the A694, which runs from Consett to Swalwell, and the B6309, which connects ...

and

Medomsley Medomsley is a village in County Durham, England, about northeast of the centre of Consett, south of Hamsterley and southeast of Ebchester. Medomsley is about above sea level, atop a hill overlooking the Derwent Valley. The village has ...

.''

Abolition

The seat was abolished for the 1983 general election as a result of the periodic review of parliamentary constituencies following the re-organisation of local government under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

. On abolition, eastern areas, comprising the former Urban District of Stanley, were included in the newly created constituency of

North Durham North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

, and eastern areas, comprising the former Urban District of Consett, were transferred back to

North West Durham North West Durham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 12 December 2019 by Richard Holden of the Conservative Party. Constituency profile The constituency is in the north west of County Durham ...

(which had been re-established in 1950).

Members of Parliament

Election results

Elections in the 1910s

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1939–40: Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected; * Labour:

David Adams David Adams Musical Theatre Performer Starlight Express, Avenue Q, Les Miserables, Government officials * David S. Adams (State Department) (born 1961), Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs * David Adams (Labour politician) ( ...

Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939

Elections in the 1940s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1970s

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Consett (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in County Durham (historic) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1918 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1983 Consett