Barnsley Central (UK Parliament constituency)

Barnsley Central was a constituency^{[n 1]} in South Yorkshire represented in the House of Commons from 1983 until 2024.^{[n 2]} This constituency covered parts of the town of Barnsley.

Barnsley Central
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
2010–2024 boundary of Barnsley Central in South Yorkshire
Location of South Yorkshire within England
County	South Yorkshire
Population	85,714 (2011 census)[1]
Electorate	64,229 (December 2019)[2]
Borough	Barnsley
Major settlements	Barnsley, Royston
1983–2024
Seats	One
Created from	Barnsley Wakefield
Replaced by	Barnsley North Barnsley South (part)

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was replaced (including moderate boundary changes) by Barnsley North, first contested at the 2024 general election.^[3]

Constituency profile

Barnsley Central is generally an urban seat and has a large majority of its population on middle or low incomes, with most of the large former mining town's social housing contained within it.^[4] It has been held by the Labour Party since 1983 and was consistently a safe seat, like its main predecessor, until 2019, when Labour's majority was cut to 9.7%.

History

Created in 1983, Barnsley Central covers a similar area to that of the former Barnsley constituency. The seat was held by almost a year from May 2010 by Eric Illsley as an independent MP after he was suspended from the Labour party over the expenses row and he led to its becoming vacant on 8 February 2011.^[5]

On 12 January 2011, having admitted the crime of fraud over his expenses, Illsley announced the intention to stand down from Parliament, necessitating a by-election in early 2011.^[6] On 8 February 2011 Ilsley resigned his seat^{[n 3]} before he was due to be sentenced for fraudulently claiming parliamentary expenses.^[7] The by-election was held on 3 March 2011 and was won by Dan Jarvis for the Labour Party. The Labour majority and share of the vote rose to give an absolute majority, on a turnout 20% lower than in the General Election; meanwhile the Conservative share of the vote fell steeply to just 8.3%, less than UKIP's 12.2% vote-share.^[8] In the 2019 general election, Jarvis held onto his seat, but with a sharply reduced majority; it fell from 15,546 to 3,571. The Brexit Party came second with 11,233 votes, which was 30.4% of the vote, compared to Jarvis's 40.1%.

Boundaries

Map of 2010–2024 boundaries

1983–1997: The Borough of Barnsley wards of Ardsley, Athersley, Central, Monk Bretton, North West, Royston, and South West.

1997–2010: The Borough of Barnsley wards of Ardsley, Athersley, Central, Cudworth, Monk Bretton, North West, Royston, and South West.

2010–2024: The Borough of Barnsley wards of Central, Darton East, Darton West, Kingstone, Monk Bretton, Old Town, Royston, and St Helens.

Barnsley Central constituency covers most of the town of Barnsley. It is bordered by the constituencies of Wakefield, Hemsworth, Barnsley East, and Penistone and Stocksbridge.

Members of Parliament

The constituency has had three Members of Parliament since its creation in 1983, all of whom have been from the Labour Party.

Election		Member[9]	Party
	1983	Roy Mason	Labour
	1987	Eric Illsley	Labour
	2010		Independent[5]
	2011 by-election	Dan Jarvis	Labour
	2024	constituency abolished

Election results 1983–2024

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Barnsley Central ^[10][11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Roy Mason	21,847	59.8
	Conservative	Howard S. Oldfield	7,674	21.0
	Liberal	Geoffrey Reid	7,011	19.2
Majority			14,173	38.8
Turnout			36,532	66.3
	Labour win (new seat)

General election 1987: Barnsley Central ^[12][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Eric Illsley	26,139	66.8	+7.0
	Conservative	Vivien Prais	7,088	18.1	−2.9
	Liberal	Susan Holland	5,928	15.1	−4.0
Majority			19,051	48.7	+9.9
Turnout			37,548	70.0	+3.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Barnsley Central ^[14][15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Eric Illsley	27,048	69.3	+2.5
	Conservative	David N. Senior	7,687	19.7	+1.6
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen R. Cowton	4,321	11.1	−4.1
Majority			19,361	49.6	+0.9
Turnout			39,056	70.5	+0.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.5

General election 1997: Barnsley Central ^{[16][17][18][19]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Eric Illsley	28,090	77.0	+6.2
	Conservative	Simon Gutteridge	3,589	9.8	−8.7
	Liberal Democrats	Darren Finlay	3,481	9.5	−1.2
	Referendum	James Walsh	1,325	3.6	New
Majority			24,501	67.2	+17.6
Turnout			36,485	59.7	−10.8
	Labour hold		Swing	+7.5

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2001: Barnsley Central ^[20][21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Eric Illsley	19,181	69.6	−7.4
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Hartley	4,051	14.7	+5.2
	Conservative	Ian McCord	3,608	13.1	+4.0
	Socialist Alliance	Henry Rajch	703	2.6	New
Majority			15,130	54.9	−12.7
Turnout			27,543	45.8	−13.9
	Labour hold		Swing	−6.3

General election 2005: Barnsley Central ^[22][23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Eric Illsley	17,478	61.1	−8.5
	Liberal Democrats	Miles Crompton	4,746	16.6	+1.9
	Conservative	Peter Morel	3,813	13.3	+0.2
	BNP	Geoffrey Broadley	1,403	4.9	New
	Independent	Donald Wood	1,175	4.1	New
Majority			12,732	44.5	−10.4
Turnout			28,615	47.2	+1.4
	Labour hold		Swing	−5.2

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2010: Barnsley Central ^[24][25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Eric Illsley	17,487	47.3	−10.4
	Liberal Democrats	Christopher Wiggin	6,394	17.3	+0.7
	Conservative	Piers Tempest	6,388	17.3	+4.0
	BNP	Ian Sutton	3,307	8.9	+4.4
	UKIP	David Silver	1,727	4.7	New
	Independent	Donald Wood	732	2.0	−2.1
	Independent	Tony Devoy	610	1.6	New
	Socialist Labour	Terrence Robinson	356	1.0	New
Majority			11,093	30.0	−14.5
Turnout			37,001	56.5	+8.8
	Labour hold		Swing

2011 Barnsley Central by-election ^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dan Jarvis	14,724	60.8	+13.5
	UKIP	Jane Collins	2,953	12.2	+7.5
	Conservative	James Hockney	1,999	8.3	−9.0
	BNP	Enis Dalton	1,463	6.0	−2.9
	Independent	Tony Devoy	1,266	5.2	+3.6
	Liberal Democrats	Dominic Carman	1,012	4.2	−13.1
	English Democrat	Kevin Riddiough	544	2.2	New
	Monster Raving Loony	Howling Laud Hope	198	0.8	New
	Independent	Michael Val Davies	60	0.2	New
Majority			11,771	48.6	+18.6
Turnout			24,219	36.5	−20.0
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 2015: Barnsley Central^[27][28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dan Jarvis	20,376	55.7	+8.4
	UKIP	Lee Hunter	7,941	21.7	+17.1
	Conservative	Kay Carter	5,485	15.0	−2.3
	Green	Michael Short	938	2.6	New
	Liberal Democrats	John Ridgway	770	2.1	−15.2
	TUSC	Dave Gibson	573	1.6	New
	English Democrat	Ian Sutton	477	1.3	New
Majority			12,435	34.0	+4.0
Turnout			36,560	56.7	+0.2
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.3

General election 2017: Barnsley Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dan Jarvis	24,982	63.9	+8.2
	Conservative	Amanda Ford	9,436	24.1	+9.1
	UKIP	Gavin Felton	3,339	8.5	−13.2
	Green	Richard Trotman	572	1.5	−1.1
	Liberal Democrats	David Ridgway	549	1.4	−0.7
	English Democrat	Stephen Morris	211	0.5	−0.8
Majority			15,546	39.8	+5.8
Turnout			39,089	60.6	+3.9
	Labour hold		Swing	−0.48

General election 2019: Barnsley Central^[29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dan Jarvis	14,804	40.1	−23.8
	Brexit Party	Victoria Felton	11,233	30.4	New
	Conservative	Iftikhar Ahmed	7,892	21.4	−2.7
	Liberal Democrats	Will Sapwell	1,176	3.2	+1.8
	Green	Tom Heyes	900	2.4	+0.9
	Yorkshire	Ryan Williams	710	1.9	New
	Independent	Donald Wood	188	0.5	New
Majority			3,571	9.7	−30.1
Turnout			36,903	56.5	−4.1
	Labour hold		Swing	−27.1

This was the highest Brexit Party vote share at the 2019 general election.^[30] It was also the highest vote share for any non Labour candidate in the seat's history.

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in South Yorkshire

Notes

1. A borough 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. By the time-honoured tradition of accepting appointment as Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds