Keighley is a constituency in

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 ...

created in 1885 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

UK Parliament 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 ...

since 2019 by

Robbie Moore Robert David Moore (May 3, 1954 – January 7, 2022) was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played for the Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals. He played his college hockey at the University of Michigan and the Universi ...

of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. Since 1959, the seat has been a

bellwether A bellwether is a leader or an indicator of trends.bellwether
" ''Cambridge Dictionary''. Ret ...

(its winner affiliated to the winning party nationally), with two exceptions: in 1979 and 2017, the seat leant to the left, bucking the national result. Keighley is one of 9 seats won (held or gained) by a Conservative candidate in 2019 from a total of 22 covering its county. Moore's 2019 win was one of 47 net gains by the Conservative Party. The seat has been considered – relative to others – a marginal seat, as well as a swing seat, since 2005, as its winner's majority has not exceeded 6.2% of the vote since the 10.5% majority won in 2005, and the seat has changed hands three times since that year.

Boundaries

1885–1918: The parishes in the Wapentake of Staincliffe and Ewecross of Cowling, Glusburn, Keighley, Steeton with Eastburn, and Sutton, and the parishes of Haworth, Thornton, and Wilsden. 1918–1950: The Municipal Borough of Keighley, the Urban Districts of Denholme, Haworth, Oakworth, Oxenhope, and Silsden, and the Rural District of Keighley. 1950–1983: The Municipal Borough of Keighley, the Urban Districts of Denholme and Silsden, and in the Rural District of Skipton the parishes of Steeton with Eastburn, and Sutton. 1983–2010: The City of Bradford wards of Craven, Ilkley, Keighley North, Keighley South, Keighley West, and Worth Valley. 2010–present: The City of Bradford wards of Craven,

Ilkley Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, in Northern England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within the ...

Keighley Central Keighley Central is a ward in City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council in the county of West Yorkshire, England. Its population is 16,276 as per the United Kingdom Census 2001 A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted ...

Keighley East Keighley East (population 14,929 - 2001 UK census) is a ward within the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council in the county of West Yorkshire, England. The population had increased to 16,775 at the 2011 Census. Within the Ward of Keigh ...

Keighley West Keighley West (population 15,784 - 2001 UK census) is a ward within the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council in the county of West Yorkshire, England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land bord ...

, and

Worth Valley Worth Valley is a ward in the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, West Yorkshire. The population of the ward taken at the 2011 Census was 14,387. It is named after the River Worth that runs through the valley to the town of Keighley ...

. ''The constituency boundaries remained unchanged.'' Unlike many constituencies, Keighley was unaffected by the boundary changes for the 2010 general election; indeed its boundaries have remained unchanged since the 1983 redistribution.

Constituency profile

This constituency covers the town and outskirts of

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of ...

. It comprises the mostly Labour voting area of Keighley itself, the Conservative voting spa town of

, and the rural areas of Craven and Worth Valley which are also mostly Conservative voting. The seat has a large minority with

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

heritage, especially from

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

and

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

. The seat is also a semi-reliable bellwether of the national result; it has voted for the party to form the government in every election since the Second World War except the 1951, 1955, 1979 and 2017 elections, in which it elected Labour MPs despite the Conservatives forming the government. The constituency is often known as Keighley & Ilkley rather than just Keighley.

Members of Parliament

Since the 1950s, Keighley has been a marginal seat between Labour and the Conservatives. The MP from 1997 was Labour's Ann Cryer, widow of

Bob Cryer George Robert Cryer (3 December 1934 – 12 April 1994) was an English Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician from Yorkshire. He sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom as the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parlia ...

who was MP for the same seat from 1974 to 1983 (and then for Bradford South, 1987–1994). She retired at the 2010 general election.

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1940s

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 from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected: *Labour;

Hastings Lees-Smith Hastings Bertrand Lees-Smith PC (26 January 1878 – 18 December 1941) was a British Liberal turned Labour politician who was briefly in the cabinet as President of the Board of Education in 1931. He was the acting Leader of the Opposition a ...

*Conservative; Gay Burdett Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer 24 August 1939

Elections in the 1930s

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1910s

* Results compared to December 1910 election

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1880s

Notes

References

;Specific ;General *Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Keighley (Uk Parliament Constituency) Keighley Parliamentary constituencies in Yorkshire and the Humber Politics of Bradford Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1885