{"history":[],"article":{"id":"6233be5c-c75d-4f56-a01c-9241a906abcb","title":"Sedgefield (UK Parliament constituency)","slug":"sedgefield-uk-parliament-constituency","content":":::summary\n![2010–2024 boundary of Sedgefield in County Durham](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Sedgefield2007Constituency.svg)\n**Name:** Sedgefield \n**Parliament:** uk \n**Map 2:** EnglandDurham \n**Map Entity:** [County Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/county-durham) \n**Year:** 1983 \n**Abolished:** 2024 \n**Type:** County \n**Elects Howmany:** One \n**Previous:** [Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/durham-uk-parliament-constituency), [Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/durham-uk-parliament-constituency) North West, [Easington](https://bliptext.com/articles/easington-uk-parliament-constituency) and [Bishop Auckland](https://bliptext.com/articles/bishop-auckland-uk-parliament-constituency) \n**Next:** Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor · Stockton West (minor part) · Easington (minor part) · Darlington (minor part) \n**Electorate:** 67,386 (December 2010) \n**Year 2:** 1918 \n**Abolished 2:** 1974 \n**Type 2:** County \n**Previous 2:** [South East Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/south-east-durham), [The Hartlepools](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-hartlepools) and [Mid Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/mid-durham) \n**Next 2:** [Bishop Auckland](https://bliptext.com/articles/bishop-auckland-uk-parliament-constituency), · [Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/durham-uk-parliament-constituency), · [Easington](https://bliptext.com/articles/easington-uk-parliament-constituency) \n**Elects Howmany 2:** One \n**Region:** England \n**County:** [County Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/county-durham) \n**Towns:** [Sedgefield](https://bliptext.com/articles/sedgefield), [Newton Aycliffe](https://bliptext.com/articles/newton-aycliffe), [Ferryhill](https://bliptext.com/articles/ferryhill) \n:::\n\n# \n**Sedgefield** was a [constituency](https://bliptext.com/articles/constituencies-of-the-parliament-of-the-united-kingdom) in [County Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/county-durham) represented in the [House of Commons](https://bliptext.com/articles/house-of-commons-of-the-united-kingdom) of the [UK Parliament](https://bliptext.com/articles/uk-parliament) from [2019](https://bliptext.com/articles/2019-united-kingdom-general-election) until its abolition for the [2024 general election](https://bliptext.com/articles/2024-united-kingdom-general-election) by [Paul Howell](https://bliptext.com/articles/paul-howell-sedgefield-mp) of the [Conservative Party](https://bliptext.com/articles/conservative-party-uk).\nUnder the [2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies](https://bliptext.com/articles/2023-periodic-review-of-westminster-constituencies), the seat was abolished.\nSubject to major boundary changes, though retaining the town of [Sedgefield](https://bliptext.com/articles/sedgefield), the constituency was reformed as **[Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor](https://bliptext.com/articles/newton-aycliffe-and-spennymoor)** to reflect the two largest communities in the revised seat.\n\n# History\n\n## 1918–1974\nSedgefield was first created under the [Representation of the People Act 1918](https://bliptext.com/articles/representation-of-the-people-act-1918) for the [1918 general election](https://bliptext.com/articles/1918-united-kingdom-general-election), comprising primarily southern parts of the abolished [South Eastern Division of Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/south-east-durham-uk-parliament-constituency), including the communities of [Segefield](https://bliptext.com/articles/sedgefield) and [Billingham](https://bliptext.com/articles/billingham).\nIt also included parts of the former [Mid Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/mid-durham) seat ([Ferryhill](https://bliptext.com/articles/ferryhill)) and a small area transferred from [Bishop Auckland](https://bliptext.com/articles/bishop-auckland) ([Chilton](https://bliptext.com/articles/chilton-county-durham)).\nIt was abolished for the [February 1974 general election](https://bliptext.com/articles/february-1974-united-kingdom-general-election), when its contents were distributed to the neighbouring seats of [Bishop Auckland](https://bliptext.com/articles/bishop-auckland-uk-parliament-constituency) (Darlington RD), [Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/city-of-durham-uk-parliament-constituency) (Sedgefield RD), [Easington](https://bliptext.com/articles/easington-uk-parliament-constituency) (Stockton RD) and [Teesside, Stockton](https://bliptext.com/articles/stockton-on-tees-uk-parliament-constituency) (Billingham UD).\n\n## 1983–present\nThe constituency was recreated at the next redistribution, which came into effect at the [1983 general election](https://bliptext.com/articles/1983-united-kingdom-general-election), with similar boundaries, but excluding [Billingham](https://bliptext.com/articles/billingham) and [Newton Aycliffe](https://bliptext.com/articles/newton-aycliffe) and including [Spennymoor](https://bliptext.com/articles/spennymoor).\n\n# Boundaries\n\n## 1918–1950\n\n## 1950-1974\nMinor changes - the Rural District of Stockton had been altered, absorbing the Rural District of Hartlepool, but losing Billingham to a new urban district.\nFrom 1955, the boundaries of the Rural Districts of Darlington, Sedgefield and Stockton were altered in line with changes to local authority boundaries.\n\n## 1983–1997\nSpennymoor and Tudhoe transferred from [North West Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/north-west-durham); remainder of District of Sedgefield wards from [Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/city-of-durham-uk-parliament-constituency); District of [Easington](https://bliptext.com/articles/easington-uk-parliament-constituency) wards from [Easington](https://bliptext.com/articles/easington-uk-parliament-constituency); and Borough of Darlington wards from [Bishop Auckland](https://bliptext.com/articles/bishop-auckland-uk-parliament-constituency).\n\n## 1997–2010\nNewton Aycliffe transferred in from Bishop Auckland in exchange for Spennymoor and Tudhoe.\n\n## 2010–2024\nMinor changes only to reflect redrawing of local authority ward boundaries.\nIn the [2009 structural changes to local government in England](https://bliptext.com/articles/2009-structural-changes-to-local-government-in-england), the local authority districts in Durham were abolished and replaced with a single [unitary authority](https://bliptext.com/articles/unitary-authority); however, this did affected the boundaries of the constituency.\n\n## Constituency changes\nThe [2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies](https://bliptext.com/articles/2023-periodic-review-of-westminster-constituencies) recommended that all wards in the Borough of Darlington should be removed from the seat, with [Shildon](https://bliptext.com/articles/shildon) moving in from [Bishop Auckland](https://bliptext.com/articles/bishop-auckland-uk-parliament-constituency) and [Coxhoe](https://bliptext.com/articles/coxhoe) from [City of Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/city-of-durham-uk-parliament-constituency).\nThe reconfigured seat would be renamed \"Newton Aycliffe and Sedgefield\".\n\n# Political history\nFrom its recreation in 1983 until 27 June 2007, the Member of Parliament was [Tony Blair](https://bliptext.com/articles/tony-blair), who led a successful campaign for his party to [win the 1997 general election in a landslide](https://bliptext.com/articles/1997-united-kingdom-general-election) and thereafter served for ten years as prime minister, leading the campaigns at two subsequent general elections.\nBlair was the first Prime Minister to lead the [Labour Party](https://bliptext.com/articles/labour-party-uk) to three consecutive victories.\nHe resigned as the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield on the same day as he resigned as prime minister, which triggered a [by-election](https://bliptext.com/articles/2007-sedgefield-by-election).\nAt the by-election on 19 July 2007, the official Labour Party candidate [Phil Wilson](https://bliptext.com/articles/phil-wilson-british-politician) was elected on a reduced majority which in national terms is [safe](https://bliptext.com/articles/safe-seat) instead of [marginal](https://bliptext.com/articles/marginal-seat).\nWhile Wilson had never came close to the enormous majorities held by Blair during his tenure as MP and only secured an absolute majority of the vote for the first time at the [2017 general election](https://bliptext.com/articles/2017-united-kingdom-general-election), he consistently had majorities of over 6,000 votes in every election at which he had stood.\nAt the 2019 election, the Conservatives' candidate [Paul Howell](https://bliptext.com/articles/paul-howell-sedgefield-mp) defeated Wilson with a majority of 4,513 and a swing of 12.8%.\nSedgefield was one of the net gain of 48 seats in England by the Conservatives, as well as being considered part of the so-called \"[Red Wall](https://bliptext.com/articles/red-wall-british-politics)\".\n\n# Constituency profile\nSedgefield has a long [mining](https://bliptext.com/articles/mining) history (extracting [coal](https://bliptext.com/articles/coal-mining), [fluorspar](https://bliptext.com/articles/fluorspar) and [iron ore](https://bliptext.com/articles/iron-ore)) and once had a very strong affiliation to the Labour Party, with nearly monolithic support in parts of the constituency.\nThe area contains a mixture of former coal country in the area around [Trimdon](https://bliptext.com/articles/trimdon) and more industrial areas around the new town of [Newton Aycliffe](https://bliptext.com/articles/newton-aycliffe).\nThe construction of a new [Hitachi factory](https://bliptext.com/articles/hitachi-newton-aycliffe) created 730 jobs in the town.\nThere are also more prosperous parts of the constituency that form the bulk of the Conservative vote – for example, the ancient [market town](https://bliptext.com/articles/market-town) of [Sedgefield](https://bliptext.com/articles/sedgefield) itself, with a charter dating back to 1312.\nThe outer suburbs of [Darlington](https://bliptext.com/articles/darlington) are also relatively wealthy, as well as [Hurworth-on-Tees](https://bliptext.com/articles/hurworth-on-tees), where unemployment stands at just 1.0%.\nThe constituency consists of Census Output Areas of two local government districts with similar characteristics: a working population whose average income is lower than the national average and close-to-average reliance upon [social housing](https://bliptext.com/articles/social-housing).\nAt the end of 2012 the unemployment rate in the constituency stood as 5.0% of the population claiming Jobseekers' Allowance, compared to the regional average of 5.5%.\nThe local authority contributing to the bulk of the seat has a middling 27.2% of its population without a car, a high 27.5% of the population without qualifications and a medium 21.5% with level 4 qualifications or above.\nDarlington has 28% of its population without a car, 24.8% of the population without qualifications and a medium 23.7% with level 4 qualifications or above.\nIn terms of tenure 65.8% of County Durham homes and 64.9% of Darlington homes are owned outright or on a mortgage as at the 2011 census.\n\n# Members of Parliament\n\n## MPs 1918–1974\n\n## MPs 1983–2024\n\n# Election results 1983–2024\n# [Election results in constituency | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Sedgefield///%281983-%29///election///results.png]\n\n## Elections in the 1980s\n

\n\n## Elections in the 1990s\n

\n\n## Elections in the 2000s\n

\n\n## Elections in the 2010s\n\n# Election results 1918–1974\n\n## Elections in the 1910s\n# [Starmer | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Sir///Charles///Starmer.jpg]\n\n## Elections in the 1920s\n\n## Elections in the 1930s\n\n## Elections in the 1940s\n\n## Elections in the 1950s\n\n## Elections in the 1960s\n\n## Elections in the 1970s","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-25T21:37:58.865Z","updated_at":"2025-01-25T21:37:58.865Z","search_vector":"'constitu':4 'parliament':3 'sedgefield':1 'uk':2","search_content":" \n \n**Name:** Sedgefield \n**Parliament:** uk \n**Map 2:** EnglandDurham \n**Map Entity:** [County Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/county-durham) \n**Year:** 1983 \n**Abolished:** 2024 \n**Type:** County \n**Elects Howmany:** One \n**Previous:** [Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/durham-uk-parliament-constituency), [Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/durham-uk-parliament-constituency) North West, [Easington](https://bliptext.com/articles/easington-uk-parliament-constituency) and [Bishop Auckland](https://bliptext.com/articles/bishop-auckland-uk-parliament-constituency) \n**Next:** Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor · Stockton West (minor part) · Easington (minor part) · Darlington (minor part) \n**Electorate:** 67,386 (December 2010) \n**Year 2:** 1918 \n**Abolished 2:** 1974 \n**Type 2:** County \n**Previous 2:** [South East Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/south-east-durham), [The Hartlepools](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-hartlepools) and [Mid Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/mid-durham) \n**Next 2:** [Bishop Auckland](https://bliptext.com/articles/bishop-auckland-uk-parliament-constituency), · [Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/durham-uk-parliament-constituency), · [Easington](https://bliptext.com/articles/easington-uk-parliament-constituency) \n**Elects Howmany 2:** One \n**Region:** England \n**County:** [County Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/county-durham) \n**Towns:** [Sedgefield](https://bliptext.com/articles/sedgefield), [Newton Aycliffe](https://bliptext.com/articles/newton-aycliffe), [Ferryhill](https://bliptext.com/articles/ferryhill) \n \n\n# \n**Sedgefield** was a [constituency](https://bliptext.com/articles/constituencies-of-the-parliament-of-the-united-kingdom) in [County Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/county-durham) represented in the [House of Commons](https://bliptext.com/articles/house-of-commons-of-the-united-kingdom) of the [UK Parliament](https://bliptext.com/articles/uk-parliament) from [2019](https://bliptext.com/articles/2019-united-kingdom-general-election) until its abolition for the [2024 general election](https://bliptext.com/articles/2024-united-kingdom-general-election) by [Paul Howell](https://bliptext.com/articles/paul-howell-sedgefield-mp) of the [Conservative Party](https://bliptext.com/articles/conservative-party-uk).\nUnder the [2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies](https://bliptext.com/articles/2023-periodic-review-of-westminster-constituencies), the seat was abolished.\nSubject to major boundary changes, though retaining the town of [Sedgefield](https://bliptext.com/articles/sedgefield), the constituency was reformed as **[Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor](https://bliptext.com/articles/newton-aycliffe-and-spennymoor)** to reflect the two largest communities in the revised seat.\n\n# History\n\n## 1918–1974\nSedgefield was first created under the [Representation of the People Act 1918](https://bliptext.com/articles/representation-of-the-people-act-1918) for the [1918 general election](https://bliptext.com/articles/1918-united-kingdom-general-election), comprising primarily southern parts of the abolished [South Eastern Division of Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/south-east-durham-uk-parliament-constituency), including the communities of [Segefield](https://bliptext.com/articles/sedgefield) and [Billingham](https://bliptext.com/articles/billingham).\nIt also included parts of the former [Mid Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/mid-durham) seat ([Ferryhill](https://bliptext.com/articles/ferryhill)) and a small area transferred from [Bishop Auckland](https://bliptext.com/articles/bishop-auckland) ([Chilton](https://bliptext.com/articles/chilton-county-durham)).\nIt was abolished for the [February 1974 general election](https://bliptext.com/articles/february-1974-united-kingdom-general-election), when its contents were distributed to the neighbouring seats of [Bishop Auckland](https://bliptext.com/articles/bishop-auckland-uk-parliament-constituency) (Darlington RD), [Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/city-of-durham-uk-parliament-constituency) (Sedgefield RD), [Easington](https://bliptext.com/articles/easington-uk-parliament-constituency) (Stockton RD) and [Teesside, Stockton](https://bliptext.com/articles/stockton-on-tees-uk-parliament-constituency) (Billingham UD).\n\n## 1983–present\nThe constituency was recreated at the next redistribution, which came into effect at the [1983 general election](https://bliptext.com/articles/1983-united-kingdom-general-election), with similar boundaries, but excluding [Billingham](https://bliptext.com/articles/billingham) and [Newton Aycliffe](https://bliptext.com/articles/newton-aycliffe) and including [Spennymoor](https://bliptext.com/articles/spennymoor).\n\n# Boundaries\n\n## 1918–1950\n\n## 1950-1974\nMinor changes - the Rural District of Stockton had been altered, absorbing the Rural District of Hartlepool, but losing Billingham to a new urban district.\nFrom 1955, the boundaries of the Rural Districts of Darlington, Sedgefield and Stockton were altered in line with changes to local authority boundaries.\n\n## 1983–1997\nSpennymoor and Tudhoe transferred from [North West [Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/city-of-durham-uk-parliament-constituency)](https://bliptext.com/articles/north-west-durham); remainder of District of Sedgefield wards from [Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/city-of-durham-uk-parliament-constituency); District of [Easington](https://bliptext.com/articles/easington-uk-parliament-constituency) wards from [Easington](https://bliptext.com/articles/easington-uk-parliament-constituency); and Borough of Darlington wards from [Bishop Auckland](https://bliptext.com/articles/bishop-auckland-uk-parliament-constituency).\n\n## 1997–2010\nNewton Aycliffe transferred in from Bishop Auckland in exchange for Spennymoor and Tudhoe.\n\n## 2010–2024\nMinor changes only to reflect redrawing of local authority ward boundaries.\nIn the [2009 structural changes to local government in England](https://bliptext.com/articles/2009-structural-changes-to-local-government-in-england), the local authority districts in Durham were abolished and replaced with a single [unitary authority](https://bliptext.com/articles/unitary-authority); however, this did affected the boundaries of the constituency.\n\n## Constituency changes\nThe [2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies](https://bliptext.com/articles/2023-periodic-review-of-westminster-constituencies) recommended that all wards in the Borough of Darlington should be removed from the seat, with [Shildon](https://bliptext.com/articles/shildon) moving in from [Bishop Auckland](https://bliptext.com/articles/bishop-auckland-uk-parliament-constituency) and [Coxhoe](https://bliptext.com/articles/coxhoe) from [City of Durham](https://bliptext.com/articles/city-of-durham-uk-parliament-constituency).\nThe reconfigured seat would be renamed \"Newton Aycliffe and Sedgefield\".\n\n# Political history\nFrom its recreation in 1983 until 27 June 2007, the Member of Parliament was [Tony Blair](https://bliptext.com/articles/tony-blair), who led a successful campaign for his party to [win the 1997 general election in a landslide](https://bliptext.com/articles/1997-united-kingdom-general-election) and thereafter served for ten years as prime minister, leading the campaigns at two subsequent general elections.\nBlair was the first Prime Minister to lead the [Labour Party](https://bliptext.com/articles/labour-party-uk) to three consecutive victories.\nHe resigned as the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield on the same day as he resigned as prime minister, which triggered a [by-election](https://bliptext.com/articles/2007-sedgefield-by-election).\nAt the by-election on 19 July 2007, the official Labour Party candidate [Phil Wilson](https://bliptext.com/articles/phil-wilson-british-politician) was elected on a reduced majority which in national terms is [safe](https://bliptext.com/articles/safe-seat) instead of [marginal](https://bliptext.com/articles/marginal-seat).\nWhile Wilson had never came close to the enormous majorities held by Blair during his tenure as MP and only secured an absolute majority of the vote for the first time at the [2017 general election](https://bliptext.com/articles/2017-united-kingdom-general-election), he consistently had majorities of over 6,000 votes in every election at which he had stood.\nAt the 2019 election, the Conservatives' candidate [Paul Howell](https://bliptext.com/articles/paul-howell-sedgefield-mp) defeated Wilson with a majority of 4,513 and a swing of 12.8%.\nSedgefield was one of the net gain of 48 seats in England by the Conservatives, as well as being considered part of the so-called \"[Red Wall](https://bliptext.com/articles/red-wall-british-politics)\".\n\n# Constituency profile\nSedgefield has a long [mining](https://bliptext.com/articles/mining) history (extracting [coal](https://bliptext.com/articles/coal-mining), [fluorspar](https://bliptext.com/articles/fluorspar) and [iron ore](https://bliptext.com/articles/iron-ore)) and once had a very strong affiliation to the Labour Party, with nearly monolithic support in parts of the constituency.\nThe area contains a mixture of former coal country in the area around [Trimdon](https://bliptext.com/articles/trimdon) and more industrial areas around the new town of [Newton Aycliffe](https://bliptext.com/articles/newton-aycliffe).\nThe construction of a new [Hitachi factory](https://bliptext.com/articles/hitachi-newton-aycliffe) created 730 jobs in the town.\nThere are also more prosperous parts of the constituency that form the bulk of the Conservative vote – for example, the ancient [market town](https://bliptext.com/articles/market-town) of [Sedgefield](https://bliptext.com/articles/sedgefield) itself, with a charter dating back to 1312.\nThe outer suburbs of [Darlington](https://bliptext.com/articles/darlington) are also relatively wealthy, as well as [Hurworth-on-Tees](https://bliptext.com/articles/hurworth-on-tees), where unemployment stands at just 1.0%.\nThe constituency consists of Census Output Areas of two local government districts with similar characteristics: a working population whose average income is lower than the national average and close-to-average reliance upon [social housing](https://bliptext.com/articles/social-housing).\nAt the end of 2012 the unemployment rate in the constituency stood as 5.0% of the population claiming Jobseekers' Allowance, compared to the regional average of 5.5%.\nThe local authority contributing to the bulk of the seat has a middling 27.2% of its population without a car, a high 27.5% of the population without qualifications and a medium 21.5% with level 4 qualifications or above.\nDarlington has 28% of its population without a car, 24.8% of the population without qualifications and a medium 23.7% with level 4 qualifications or above.\nIn terms of tenure 65.8% of County Durham homes and 64.9% of Darlington homes are owned outright or on a mortgage as at the 2011 census.\n\n# Members of Parliament\n\n## MPs 1918–1974\n\n## MPs 1983–2024\n\n# Election results 1983–2024\n# [Election results in constituency | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Sedgefield///%281983-%29///election///results.png]\n\n## Elections in the 1980s\n \n \n \n \n\n## Elections in the 1990s\n \n \n \n \n\n## Elections in the 2000s\n \n \n \n \n\n## Elections in the 2010s\n\n# Election results 1918–1974\n\n## Elections in the 1910s\n# [Starmer | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Sir///Charles///Starmer.jpg]\n\n## Elections in the 1920s\n\n## Elections in the 1930s\n\n## Elections in the 1940s\n\n## Elections in the 1950s\n\n## Elections in the 1960s\n\n## Elections in the 1970s","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}