Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford

History

Parliament accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which recommended this constituency for the 2010 general election in the district of the city of Wakefield. Due to less increase in population than elsewhere the commission had to reduce constituencies in the county by one, resulting in the "merger" of Normanton and Pontefract/Castleford seats, however some wards of both went to other neighbouring seats to give the correct size electorate.

The commission had great difficulty in naming the constituency, with "Normanton and Pontefract" and "Pontefract and Castleford" both suggested. On 24 May 2006 the modified name was chosen following further public consultation. The only other three-place constituency name in England was Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner in London.

Boundaries

The constituency first contested at the 2010 general election has electoral wards of the City of Wakefield:

• Airedale and Ferry Fryston, Altofts and Whitwood, Castleford Central and Glasshoughton, Knottingley, Normanton, Pontefract North, and Pontefract South.

Constituency profile

The area has the three retail towns, Pontefract being the most touristic — producing liquorice as well as Pontefract cakes — the wider economy includes self-employed trades, work in local manufacturing and jobs in creative industry, retail, public sector and corporate headquarters including in Leeds and Wakefield.

The last working deep coal mine in the United Kingdom, Kellingley Colliery, was a significant employer until it closed in December 2015.

Well recovered from economic decline from the loss of most local mines, the rate of jobseeking benefits claimed is lower than the Yorkshire and Humber average (4.6%) at 4.4% however this slightly exceeds the national average and is over twice that of six constituencies in the region.

Members of Parliament

Election results 2010–2024

Elections in the 2010s

| access-date = 13 May 2015}}

2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum

The results for the referendum were not returned by individual parliamentary constituencies (instead using a counting area within a region), but the Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford area is estimated to have voted by a 69.3% – 30.7% margin to leave the European Union.

Neighbouring constituencies

Notes

References

References

1. (15 June 2020). "Constituency data: electorates – House of Commons Library". Parliament UK.
2. "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume one: Report – Yorkshire and the Humber {{!}} Boundary Commission for England".
3. (14 March 2016). "UK's last deep coal mine Kellingley Colliery capped off". [[BBC News Online]].
4. [https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/nov/17/unemployment-and-employment-statistics-economics Unemployment statistics] ''[[The Guardian]]''
5. {{Rayment-hc. n. 2. (March 2012)
6. "Election Data 2010". [[Electoral Calculus]].
7. "Election Data 2015". [[Electoral Calculus]].
8. "Normanton, Pontefract & Castleford Parliamentary constituency". BBC.
9. "Election 2017 dashboard".