Stockton South 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 (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

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 suprem ...

since December 2019 by

Matt Vickers Matthew Alexander Vickers (born 24 September 1983) is a British politician serving as the member of Parliament (MP) for Stockton South since 2019 and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party since 2022. Early life Vickers was born in Univers ...

, a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

MP.

Boundaries

1983–1997: The Borough of Stockton-on-Tees wards of Bishopsgarth, Egglescliffe, Fairfield, Grangefield, Hartburn, Ingleby Barwick, Mandale, Parkfield, Preston, Stainsby, Victoria, Village, and Yarm, and the Borough of Middlesbrough wards of Ayresome, Brookfield, and Kader. 1997–2010: The Borough of Stockton-on-Tees wards of Bishopsgarth, Egglescliffe, Elm Tree, Fairfield, Grangefield, Hartburn, Ingleby Barwick, Mandale, Parkfield, Preston, Stainsby, Victoria, Village, and Yarm. ''The three Middlesbrough wards were transferred to the redrawn Middlesbrough constituency.'' 2010–present: The Borough of Stockton-on-Tees wards of Bishopsgarth and Elm Tree, Eaglescliffe, Fairfield, Grangefield, Hartburn, Ingleby Barwick East, Ingleby Barwick West, Mandale and Victoria, Parkfield and Oxbridge, Stainsby Hill, Thornaby-on-Tees, and Yarm. Stockton South consists of the south-western half of

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimat ...

and on the same bank, upstream, the town of

Eaglescliffe Eaglescliffe is a village in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, England. It is in the civil parish of Egglescliffe. The village was formerly known as Eaglescliffe Junction, being formed around . In 2011, the Office for National ...

– on the southern bank of the

River Tees The River Tees (), in Northern England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea between Hartlepool and Redcar near Middlesbrough. The modern day history of the river has bee ...

are the towns of Thornaby-on-Tees, Yarm, and

Ingleby Barwick Ingleby Barwick is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. It is south of the River Tees and north-east of the River Leven. Large scale development of the town started in the late 1970s on farm l ...

History

The seat was formed from a combination of

and

Thornaby Thornaby-on-Tees, commonly referred to as Thornaby, is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Tees's southern bank. It is in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. The parish had a population of 24,74 ...

in 1983, predominantly as a replacement to the latter seat. ;Political history More middle-class than neighbouring

Stockton North Stockton North is a constituency covering the town of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham and other nearby settlements in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees located north of the River Tees, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliame ...

, this seat was first won by the SDP-Liberal Alliance in a narrow victory at the

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

. Ian Wrigglesworth, the former Labour MP for Thornaby, defected to the newly formed

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

in 1981, and held the successor seat as the SDP candidate. This result came after the Conservative candidate's nomination was withdrawn when he was revealed to have previously been in the National Front. Following this, the seat was held by a Conservative for ten years, from

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

to 1997. It was a

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

in Labour's landslide at the 1997 general election, and its member, Dari Taylor, retained it until the 2010 general election, when the Conservative, James Wharton narrowly won back the seat. It was the Conservative Party's only gain in the North East, with Wharton substantially increasing his majority at the 2015 general election. However, Labour's victory in the seat in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

saw the seat's 30 year status as a bellwether constituency come to an end. In 2019, the Conservatives took it back, in line with the general swing in their favour in multiple north east red wall seats, despite only being held by Labour for fifteen of its 39 years of existence.

Constituency profile

Based on ONS data, workless claimants and registered jobseekers, were in May 2017 lower than the North East average of 5.9% and also lower than the national average of 4.6%, at 3.4% of the population.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

On 11 December 2019, the day before the election, the Liberal Democrat candidate Brendan Devlin endorsed the Labour candidate Paul Williams, urging people to vote tactically to stop the Conservatives winning the seat. However, Devlin still appeared on the ballot paper and therefore received votes.

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stockton South (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in North East England Politics of the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1983