Gateshead West 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 ...

represented in 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. T ...

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 ...

from 1950 to 1983. It elected 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 o ...

(MP) 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 thei ...

system of election.

History

Gateshead West, as could be inferred from the name, formed the western part of the Borough of Gateshead, now in

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newc ...

. The constituency was created by the

Representation of the People Act 1948 The Representation of the People Act 1948 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered the law relating to parliamentary and local elections. It is noteworthy for abolishing plural voting for parliamentary elections, including ...

for the 1950 general election when the existing Gateshead seat was split in two. It was abolished for the 1983 general election, when the majority of the electorate was included in the new constituency of

Tyne Bridge The Tyne Bridge is a through arch bridge over the River Tyne in North East England, linking Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead. The bridge was designed by the engineering firm Mott, Hay and Anderson, who later designed the Forth Road Bridge, ...

, which also included central areas of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Remaining areas were transferred to Gateshead East. It returned Labour MPs for the entire period of its existence.

Boundaries

1950–1955

* The County Borough of Gateshead wards of Central, North, North West, West, and West Central.

1955–1964

* The County Borough of Gateshead wards of Central, East Central, North, North East, North West, West, and West Central. ''The East Central and North East wards were transferred from Gateshead East.''

1964-1983

* The County Borough of Gateshead wards of Askew, Bensham, Chandless, Claremont, Riverside, Saltwell, Shipcote, and Teams. ''Minor changes to reflect redistribution of local authority wards.''

Members of Parliament

Election results

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

References

*{{Rayment-hc, g, 1, date=March 2012 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1950 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1983 Politics of Gateshead Parliamentary constituencies in Tyne and Wear (historic)