Durham_City_(UK_Parliament_constituency)

City of Durham (UK Parliament constituency)

UK Parliament constituency since 1678

"Durham (UK Parliament constituency)" redirects here. For the pre-1832 county constituency, see County Durham (UK Parliament constituency).

City of Durham is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Mary Foy of the Labour Party.^{[n 2]}

Quick Facts County, Population ...

City of Durham
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of City of Durham in County Durham
Location of County Durham within England
County	County Durham
Population	94,375 (2011 census)^[1]
Electorate	72,659 (December 2010)^[2]
Major settlements	Durham, Brandon, Coxhoe, Bowburn, Framwellgate Moor, Sherburn and Ushaw Moor
Current constituency
Created	1918
Member of Parliament	Mary Foy (Labour)
Seats	One
1678–1918
Seats	1678–1885: Two 1885–1918: One
Type of constituency	Borough constituency

Constituency profile

The constituency contains a large minority of students, researchers and academics at the early 19th century founded University of Durham,^{[n 3]} that has a claim towards being the third oldest in England and has elected Labour MPs since 1935, although there have been strong SDP–Liberal Alliance and Liberal Democrat challenges to Labour since the 1980s.

The constituency corresponds to the former City of Durham local government district and as such includes a number of surrounding villages and suburbs as well as Durham itself, the largest of these are Brandon, Coxhoe, Bowburn, Framwellgate Moor, Sherburn and Ushaw Moor. The seat extends as far west as Waterhouses and as far east as Ludworth. The seat has traditionally been dominated by Labour, with support particularly strong in those villages historically connected to County Durham's mining industry. Durham is famous as an educational centre, for Durham University and the feepaying preparatory school, Chorister School where Tony Blair was educated. The city centre is more inclined to the Liberal Democrats. Like many other university cities such as Cambridge and Oxford, in the 2005 election it swung strongly towards the Liberal Democrats, one possible reason being these cities' sizeable student population who were viewed as being hostile to Labour's policies on areas such as top-up fees and the Iraq War. The Liberal Democrats were able to reduce Labour's majority by over 10,000 votes, although they were still unable to gain the seat from Labour, as was the case in the 2010 election. As reflected in throughout the country, the Liberal Democrat vote collapsed in the 2015 election.

History

The parliamentary borough (1678–1918)

The City of Durham was first given the right to return Members to Parliament by an Act of Parliament in 1673, although the first election was not held until 1678 due to drafting errors.^[3] It was the last new borough but one to be enfranchised before the Great Reform Act of 1832.^[4] It was the only borough in County Durham, the county also having been unrepresented until the same Act of Parliament, which created two MPs for the county and two for the city. Both constituencies were frequently referred to simply as Durham, which can make for some confusion.

The constituency as constituted in 1678 consisted only of the city of Durham itself, though this included its suburbs which were within the municipal boundary. The right to vote was held by the corporation and the freemen of the city, many of whom were not resident within the boundaries. Unlike the situation in many small rotten boroughs, the corporation had no jurisdiction over the creation of freemen: freemen were generally created by connection with companies of trade, either by apprenticeship or by birth (by being the son of an existing freeman), though the common council of the city had a power to create honorary freemen.

The creation of honorary freemen with the specific intention of swaying elections was a common abuse in a number of boroughs in the 18th century, and at the Durham election of 1762 became sufficiently controversial to force a change in the law. The election was disputed because 215 new freemen, most of them not resident in the city, had been made after the writ for the election was issued. The existing freemen petitioned against this dilution of their voting rights, the candidate who had been declared elected was unseated by the Commons committee which heard the case, and the following year an Act of Parliament was passed to prevent any honorary freeman from voting in a borough election within twelve months of their being accorded that status.

Through having a freeman franchise the electorate was comparatively numerous for the period, though comprising only a small fraction of the city's population; at the time of the Reform Act there were between 1,100 and 1,200 freemen in total, of whom 427 were resident and 558 lived within seven miles, while the total population of the borough was 9,269. The Lambton and Tempest families were influential, and were generally able to secure election, but fell far short of the sort of control common in pocket boroughs.

The city retained both its MPs under the 1832 Reform Act, with its boundaries adjusted only very slightly, although as elsewhere the franchise was reformed. The Reform Act 1867 extended the boundaries to include part of Framwellgate parish which had previously been excluded.^[5] Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the borough's representation was reduced from the 1885 general election to a single MP.^[6] In the boundary changes of 1918, the borough was abolished, but a division of County Durham was named after the city.

County constituency (since 1918)

From 1918, Durham City was included in a county constituency officially called The Durham Division of (County) Durham, consisting of the central part of the county.^[7] In the 1983 boundary changes, the constituency officially acquired the unambiguous City of Durham name for the first time and its boundaries were realigned to match the new City of Durham local government district.

Historic and current boundaries (county constituency)

1918–1950

the Borough of Durham
the Urban District of Hetton
the Rural District of Durham except the parish of Brancepeth
in the Rural District of Houghton-le-Spring, the parishes of East Rainton, Great Eppleton, Little Eppleton, Moor House, Moorsley, and West Rainton.^[7]

As well as absorbing the abolished parliamentary borough, the reconstituted seat included Hetton-le-Hole and surrounding rural areas, transferred from Houghton-le-Spring, and northern areas of the abolished Mid Division of Durham.

1950–1974

the Borough of Durham
the Urban Districts of Hetton and Spennymoor
the Rural District of Durham.^[8]

Spennymoor and the parish of Brancepeth transferred in from the abolished constituency of Spennymoor. Other minor changes (the Rural District of Houghton-le-Spring had been abolished and absorbed into neighbouring local authorities).

1974–1983

the Borough of Durham and Framwelgate
the Rural District of Sedgefield and the Rural District of Durham except the parish of Brancepeth.^[9]

Hetton transferred back to Houghton-le-Spring, and Spennymoor and Brancepeth now included in Durham North West. Gained the Rural District of Sedgefield from the abolished constituency of Sedgefield.

1983-present

Map of current boundaries

The City of Durham.^[10]^[11]^[12]

Sedgefield returned to the re-established constituency thereof. Gained the area comprising the former Urban District of Brandon and Byshottles which had been absorbed into the District of the City of Durham, previously part of North West Durham.

2007 boundary review

Following a review of parliamentary representation in County Durham in 2007, the Boundary Commission for England made no changes to the City of Durham constituency, which remains coterminous with the boundaries of the former district. The City of Durham local council was abolished in the 2009 structural changes to local government in England, but the boundaries of the constituency have not been changed.

Proposed

Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, from the next general election, due by January 2025, the constituency will be composed of the following electoral divisions of the County of Durham (as they existed on 1 December 2020):

Belmont; Brandon; Deerness; Durham South; Elvet and Gilesgate; Esh and Witton Gilbert; Framwellgate and Newton Hall; Neville’s Cross; Sherburn; Willington and Hunwick.^[13]

Coxhoe will be transferred to the new constituency of Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor, offset by gains from the (to be abolished) constituency of North West Durham, including the communities of Esh and Willington.

Members of Parliament

Durham City (borough)

Constituency created 1678

MPs 1678–1885

More information Year, First member ...

Year		First member^[14]	First party	Second member^[14]	Second party
1678		Sir Ralph Cole		John Parkhurst
February 1679		Sir Ralph Cole		William Tempest
September 1679		William Blakiston		Sir Richard Lloyd
1681		William Tempest
1685		Charles Montagu
1689		George Morland		Henry Liddell
1690		George Morland		William Tempest
1695		Charles Montagu		Henry Liddell
1698				Thomas Conyers	Tory
1701				Sir Henry Belasyse
1702		Thomas Conyers	Tory	Sir Henry Belasyse
1708				James Nicolson
1710				Sir Henry Belasyse	Tory
1712				Robert Shafto	Tory
1713				George Baker	Tory
1722				Charles Talbot
1727		Robert Shafto	Tory
1730		John Shafto	Tory
1734		John Shafto	Tory	Henry Lambton	Whig
1742		John Tempest		Henry Lambton	Whig
1761				Ralph Gowland^[15]
1762				Major General John Lambton
1768		John Tempest	Tory^[16]	Major General John Lambton
1787		John Tempest	Tory^[16]	William Henry Lambton	Whig^[16]
1794		Sir Henry Vane-Tempest	Tory^[16]	William Henry Lambton	Whig^[16]
1798		Sir Henry Vane-Tempest	Tory^[16]	Ralph John Lambton	Whig^[16]
1800		Michael Angelo Taylor	Whig^[16]
1802		Richard Wharton^[17]	Tory^[16]
1804		Robert Eden Duncombe Shafto
1806		Richard Wharton	Tory^[16]
1813				George Allan	Tory^[16]
1818				Michael Angelo Taylor	Whig^[16]
1820		Sir Henry Hardinge	Tory^[16]
1830		Sir Roger Gresley^[18]	Tory^[16]
March 1831		William Chaytor	Whig^[16]
May 1831				Hon. Arthur Trevor	Tory^[16]
1832				William Charles Harland	Whig^[16]^[19]^[20]
1835		Hon. Arthur Trevor	Conservative^[16]	William Charles Harland	Whig^[16]^[19]^[20]
1841		Thomas Colpitts Granger	Radical^[21]^[22]^[23]^[24]	Robert FitzRoy	Conservative
April 1843				The Viscount Dungannon^[25]	Conservative^[16]
July 1843				John Bright	Radical/Anti-Corn Law^[16]
1847				Henry John Spearman	Whig^[26]^[27]
July 1852				William Atherton^[28]	Radical^[29]^[30]
December 1852		Lord Adolphus Vane^[31]	Conservative
1853		John Mowbray	Conservative
1859					Liberal
1864				John Henderson	Liberal
1868		John Robert Davison	Liberal
1871		John Lloyd Wharton	Conservative
February 1874		Thomas Charles Thompson	Liberal
June 1874^[32]		Farrer Herschell	Liberal	Sir Arthur Middleton	Liberal
1880		Farrer Herschell	Liberal	Thomas Charles Thompson	Liberal
1885	Representation reduced to one member

MPs 1885–1918

Matthew Fowler

More information Election, Member ...

	Member^[14]^[33]	Party
1885	Thomas Milvain	Conservative
1892	Matthew Fowler	Liberal
1898 by-election	Arthur Elliot	Liberal Unionist
1906	John Hills	Liberal Unionist
1918	Parliamentary borough abolished

Durham, Durham/City of Durham (county constituency)

MPs since 1918

More information Year, Member ...

	Member^[14]^[33]	Party
1918	John Hills	Conservative
1922	Joshua Ritson	Labour
1931	William McKeag	Liberal
1935	Joshua Ritson	Labour
1945	Charles Grey	Labour
1970	Mark Hughes	Labour
1987	Gerry Steinberg	Labour
2005	Roberta Blackman-Woods	Labour
2019	Mary Foy	Labour