Washington and Sunderland West is a
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 (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...
represented in the
House of Commons 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 supremac ...
since its 2010 creation by
Sharon Hodgson
Sharon Hodgson (born 1 April 1966) is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Washington and Sunderland West, previously Gateshead East and Washington West, since 2005.
Hodgson was appointed as the Par ...
, a member of the
Labour Party.
Constituency profile
The town of
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
has a well-preserved historic centre with a museum dedicated to the first US president, on its outskirts, the family home of
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
. Residents have lower levels of wealth and education than UK averages.
Boundaries
The
City of Sunderland wards of Castle, Redhill, St Anne's,
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
Central, Washington East, Washington North, Washington South, Washington West.
Washington and Sunderland West was created for the
2010 general election when the Boundary Commission reduced the number of seats 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, Newcastl ...
from 13 to 12, with the constituencies in the City of Sunderland, in particular, being reorganised. The constituency was formed from parts of four abolished constituencies:
* Castle and Redhill wards from
Sunderland North
Sunderland North was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 to 2010. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
History
Sunderl ...
;
* St Anne's ward from
Sunderland South
Sunderland South was, from 1950 until 2010, a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
History
Sunderland S ...
;
* Washington Central, East and North from
Houghton and Washington East
Houghton and Washington East was, from 1997 until 2010, a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. A seat ...
; and
* Washington South and West from
Gateshead East and Washington West.
Political history
All of the predecessor seats were held with majorities exceeding 5,000 votes and 5% of the vote before the 2010 election. Electoral calculus, an academic website, gave a provisional ranking as the
28th-safest Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
seat in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, and the 11th-safest Labour seat in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
based on the results of 2005.
Members of Parliament
;Selection of first MP
Following a ballot of members on 8 September 2007 Sharon Hodgson MP was selected as the Labour candidate, she represented 38% of the new seat which came from her previous seat of
Gateshead East and Washington West which was abolished.
Elections
Elections in the 2010s
For 2015, the
British National Party announced Pauline Renwick as a candidate, but she failed to stand.
:
* ''Served as an MP for
Gateshead East and Washington West in the 2005–2010 Parliament''
2010 vote share changes and swing are based on notional results (a calculation of how the seat would have voted if it had existed at the previous election).
Notes
References
See also
*
List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies
*
List of parliamentary constituencies in Tyne and Wear
*
*
Houghton and Sunderland South
Houghton and Sunderland South () is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its creation in 2010 by Bridget Phillipson of the Labour Party.
In the 2010 and 2015 general elections, it was the first cons ...
*
Sunderland Central
Sunderland Central is a constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It is represented by the Labour Party MP Julie Elliott, who has held the seat since its creation in 2010.
Constituency profile
The Sunderland Central constitue ...
{{Authority control
Politics of the City of Sunderland
Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 2010
Parliamentary constituencies in Tyne and Wear