Sheffield,_Hallam_(UK_Parliament_constituency)

Sheffield Hallam (UK Parliament constituency)

Sheffield Hallam (UK Parliament constituency)

Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1885 onwards


Sheffield Hallam is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Olivia Blake of the Labour Party.[n 2]

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The Hallam seat was previously held by Nick Clegg, the former Leader of the Liberal Democrats and Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom until he was unseated by Labour in 2017.

Constituency profile

Sheffield Hallam is the only constituency in South Yorkshire that has not been a Labour stronghold, returning a Labour MP for the first time in 2017. Apart from a brief period between 1916 and 1918, when it was taken by the Liberals, it was a Conservative seat from 1885 until 1997, when the Liberal Democrats won it. This long period of Conservative dominance included all three elections under Margaret Thatcher's premiership, starkly contrasting with most seats in the county and the neighbouring county of Derbyshire.

On income-based 2004 statistics, this is the most affluent constituency one place below the top ten seats of the 650, which were spread across the South East of England (including London), with almost 12% of residents earning over £60,000 a year.[3] This measure placed Sheffield Hallam above Windsor and Twickenham.

Based on 2011–12 income and tax statistics from HMRC,[4] Sheffield Hallam has the 70th highest median income of the 650 parliamentary constituencies, with those above it almost exclusively in London and the South East, and placing it above Tunbridge Wells (76th), The Cotswolds (92nd), Cambridge (97th), Hemel Hempstead (103rd), and David Cameron's former Witney constituency (121st).

The 2001 Census showed Hallam to have the highest number of people classified as professionals of any of the UK constituencies.[5] Furthermore, 60% of working-age residents hold a degree,[6] the 7th highest and exceeding Cambridge.[n 3]

Before the 1997 general election, the constituency was a safe Conservative seat, and was the only Conservative seat in South Yorkshire in the three previous elections to that. From 2005 to 2017, it was represented in the House of Commons by Nick Clegg, who was leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2015 and Deputy Prime Minister from 2010 to 2015.

Hallam constituency extends from Stannington and Loxley in the north to Dore in the south and includes small parts of the city centre in the east. It includes the wards of Crookes, Dore and Totley, Ecclesall, Fulwood and Stannington.

The majority of Hallam is rural, spreading in the west into the Peak District National Park. It also contains some of the least deprived wards in the country, has low unemployment (1.5% jobseekers claimants in November 2012)[7] and a high rate of owner occupancy, with few occupants who rent their home.[8] Since the 2010 boundary changes, neither of Sheffield's universities have a campus in the constituency[9] but it still includes areas where many students live.[citation needed]

In the 2017 general election, the Labour Party candidate, Jared O'Mara, won the seat from Clegg.[10] This was the first time in the seat's history that it had returned a Labour MP.

From 25 October 2017 until 3 July 2018, O'Mara had the whip withdrawn as a Labour MP and sat as an independent. It was later restored but he quit the Labour Party shortly afterwards.[11] He then sat as an independent MP until leaving parliament.[12] O'Mara announced he would resign as an MP in September 2019, citing mental health issues, which would have triggered a by-election in the constituency.[13] However, he later postponed his resignation until the 2019 general election.[14]

Olivia Blake won the seat for the Labour Party in the 2019 general election.[15] In her maiden speech to Parliament, Blake said that the Sheffield Hallam constituency had a "very long history of social justice", as mythology points to a Yorkshire origin for Robin Hood in Loxley, thereby lending her support to the idea that Loxley was the birthplace of Robin Hood.[16]

Boundaries

Map of current boundaries

1885–1918: The Borough of Sheffield wards of Nether and Upper Hallam, and parts of the wards of Ecclesall and St George's.

1918–1950: The County Borough of Sheffield wards of Crookesmoor and Hallam, and part of Broomhill ward.

1950–1955: The County Borough of Sheffield wards of Broomhill, Ecclesall, and Hallam.

1955–1974: The County Borough of Sheffield wards of Broomhill, Crookesmoor, Ecclesall, and Hallam.

1974–1983: The County Borough of Sheffield wards of Broomhill, Dore, Ecclesall, Hallam, and Nether Edge.

1983–1997: The City of Sheffield wards of Broomhill, Dore, Ecclesall, Hallam, and Nether Edge.

1997–2010: The City of Sheffield wards of Broomhill, Dore, Ecclesall, and Hallam.

2010–present: The City of Sheffield wards of Crookes and Crosspool, Dore and Totley, Ecclesall, Fulwood, and Stannington.

Hallam[n 4] borders High Peak, North East Derbyshire, Penistone and Stocksbridge, Sheffield Central, Sheffield Heeley and Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough.

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 (as they existed on 1 December 2020):

  • The City of Sheffield wards of: Crookes & Crosspool; Dore & Totley; Ecclesall; Fulwood; Stannington.[17]

Minor changes to reflect modification of ward boundaries.

History

Prior to its creation Hallam was a part of the larger Sheffield Borough constituency, which was represented by two Members of Parliament (MPs). In 1885 the Redistribution of Seats Act, which sought to eliminate constituencies with more than one MP and for the first time allow approximately equal representation of the people, led to the break-up of the constituency into five divisions: each represented by a single MP, as today. Hallam was one of these new divisions. Its first MP, the Conservative Charles Stuart-Wortley, had previously been an MP in the Sheffield constituency, elected for the first time in 1880.

Hallam was regarded in 2004 as the wealthiest constituency in the north of England[3] and was held by the Conservative Party for all but two years from 1885 to 1997. At the 1997 general election, Richard Allan of the Liberal Democrats took the seat with an 18.5% swing, becoming only the second non-Tory ever to win it. He handed the seat to fellow Lib Dem and future UK Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg in 2005; who held it until his defeat by Labour's Jared O'Mara at the 2017 snap general election. That year saw the constituency record its highest turnout in 66 years, with 77.8% of the electorate going to the polls.

Constituency polls during the 2010–2015 Parliament

Due in part to the high profile of the constituency's then-MP Nick Clegg, who served as Deputy Prime Minister during the 2010–15 Parliament, Sheffield Hallam is unusual in having had seven constituency-specific opinion polls conducted between 2010 and 2015. Each of these polls suggested significant changes in the vote share compared to 2010 general election. The first poll, in October 2010, suggested a drop in the Lib Dem lead in the seat to just 2%, from nearly 30% at the general election five months earlier. Five of the six remaining polls, which appeared between May 2014 and May 2015, suggested that Labour was in the lead in the seat by this time, with the Labour lead fluctuating to between 1% and 10%, and one put the Lib Dems in the lead. On average across all seven opinion polls, Labour had a lead over the Lib Dems of 2.5%. The Conservatives came second in one poll, and third in the other six polls. The May 2015 ICM poll scores displayed are those of the constituency voting intention question. The same poll also carried the standard voting intention question, which showed a Labour lead.[18][19][20][21][22][23][24]

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Members of Parliament

Elections

Election results for Sheffield Hallam

Elections in the 2020s

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Elections in the 2010s

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In 2010, Sheffield Hallam was one of a number of constituencies that experienced problems on polling day leading to some people being unable to cast their vote. In this case, voters at the Ranmoor polling station were subjected to long queues and some voters were turned away when polls closed at 10 pm, with Liberal Democrat candidate Nick Clegg apologising to those voters affected. Acting Returning Officer John Mothersole said that staff had been "caught out" by a high turnout, and the Electoral Commission instigated a review of procedures in Hallam and other constituencies where similar problems had occurred.[36]

Elections in the 2000s

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Elections in the 1990s

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Elections in the 1980s

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Elections in the 1970s

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Elections in the 1960s

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Elections in the 1950s

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Elections in the 1940s

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Elections in the 1920s

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Elections in the 1910s

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1916 by-election

This followed the resignation of Charles Stuart-Wortley on 16 December. Herbert Fisher of the Liberal Party was elected unopposed, becoming Hallam's first non-Unionist MP.

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Arthur Neal
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Elections in the 1900s

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Elections in the 1890s

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Elections in the 1880s

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See also

Notes

  1. A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
  2. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
  3. The constituency should not be confused with the former Hallamshire constituency.
  4. Knighted in 1928 and appointed Governor of Bombay
  5. At the 1997 general election the seat saw an unprecedented 18.2% one-party swing from the other parties, particularly the large Conservative vote, towards the Liberal Democrat winning candidate.
  6. After 28 years as MP for the seat, John Osborn stood down at the 1987 general election. His replacement as the Conservative Party candidate, local businessman Irvine Patnick, held the seat for the Conservatives with a slightly reduced majority.
  7. Clive Betts, the losing Labour candidate at the October 1974 general election, won the Sheffield Attercliffe seat in 1992.
  8. David Blunkett, the losing February 1974 Labour candidate, won the Sheffield Brightside seat in 1987 enabling his later positions in government as Secretary of State (1997–2005).
  9. The constituency boundaries were redrawn prior to the February 1974 general election, perhaps accounting for the reduced majority of the incumbent, John Osborn.
  10. "Conservative and Liberal"
  11. "Conservative and Liberal"
  12. The 1928 by-election followed the resignation of Frederick Sykes on 26 June to take up an appointment as Governor of Bombay.

References

  1. Sheffield Hallam UK Polling Report
  2. "Constituency data: electorates – House of Commons Library". Parliament UK. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  3. Lawson, Joanne (19 January 2005). "Sheffield – a city of class division". The Guardian.
  4. "2011 Census Interactive – ONS". ons.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 29 January 2016.
  5. "OpenStreetMap". openstreetmap.org.
  6. McCann, Kate; Bodkin, Henry (9 June 2017). "Former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg loses seat amid Labour surge". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  7. Elgot, Jessica (24 August 2018). "Labour reinstates suspended MP Jared O'Mara". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  8. "Reinstated MP quits Labour Party". BBC News. 12 July 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  9. "MP O'Mara 'postpones' his resignation". 3 September 2019 via www.bbc.co.uk.
  10. "Sheffield Hallam | Last election result". parliament.uk. 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  11. "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 1 Part 9 Yorkshire and the Humber region.
  12. "Sheffield Hallam Result 2017". BBC News. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  13. This poll originally, erroneously, showed a small lead for the LDs: see http://lordashcroftpolls.com/2015/02/sheffield-hallam-doncaster-north-thanet-south/#more-7536
  14. "GENERAL ELECTION CANDIDATES". SDP. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  15. "Sheffield Hallam Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  16. "Statement of persons nominated: Sheffield Hallam". Sheffield City Council. 12 May 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2017.[permanent dead link]
  17. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  18. "Sheffield Hallam". BBC News. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  19. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  20. "Sheffield Hallam". Election 2010. BBC News. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
  21. "Nick Clegg apologises to voters in polling queues". BBC News. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
  22. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  23. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  24. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  25. "Sheffield Hallam". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  26. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  27. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  28. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  29. Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.

53.355°N 1.523°W / 53.355; -1.523


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