Ashfield (UK Parliament constituency)

Ashfield is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It is in the English county of Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, to the northwest of the city of Nottingham, in the Erewash Valley along the border with neighbouring county Derbyshire.

Ashfield was part of the Red Wall, a group of constituencies in the Midlands and Northern England which formerly almost always voted for the Labour Party, until many of them switched to the Conservative Party in the 2019 general election. In the 2016 referendum on membership of the European Union, Ashfield voted 70% in favour of Brexit.

Since 2019, its Member of Parliament (MP) has been Lee Anderson, who was first elected as a Conservative, but switched to Reform UK in 2024, winning reelection later that year.

Constituency profile

The constituency is located in Nottinghamshire and is roughly coterminous with the Ashfield local government district, excepting the town of Hucknall. The constituency contains the market towns of Kirkby-in-Ashfield and Sutton-in-Ashfield, as well as nearby villages including Huthwaite, Selston and Underwood.

Coal mining was formerly a significant part of the local economy. Residents of the constituency are, on average, less wealthy and less likely to be degree-educated than the rest of the country. The constituency's population is 96% white. The local government district has historically been Labour-controlled, but is currently run by the Ashfield Independents. Voters in the constituency overwhelmingly voted in favour of leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum; Ashfield is estimated to have been in the top 20 most Brexit-supporting constituencies out of 650.

Boundaries

Historic

1955–1974: The Urban Districts of Eastwood, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, and Sutton-in-Ashfield, and in the Rural District of Basford the parishes of Annesley, Bestwood Park, Brinsley, Felley, Linby, Newstead, Papplewick, and Selston.

1974–1983: The Urban Districts of Hucknall, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, and Sutton-in-Ashfield, and in the Rural District of Basford the parishes of Annesley, Felley, and Selston.

1983–2010: The District of Ashfield wards of Jacksdale, Kirkby-in-Ashfield Central, Kirkby-in-Ashfield East, Kirkby-in-Ashfield West, Selston, Sutton-in-Ashfield Central, Sutton-in-Ashfield East, Sutton-in-Ashfield North, Sutton-in-Ashfield West, Underwood, and Woodhouse, and the Borough of Broxtowe wards of Brinsley, Eastwood East, Eastwood North, and Eastwood South.

2010–2024: The District of Ashfield wards of Jacksdale, Kirkby-in-Ashfield Central, Kirkby-in-Ashfield East, Kirkby-in-Ashfield West, Selston, Sutton-in-Ashfield Central, Sutton-in-Ashfield East, Sutton-in-Ashfield North, Sutton-in-Ashfield West, Underwood, and Woodhouse, and the Borough of Broxtowe wards of Brinsley, Eastwood North and Greasley Beauvale, and Eastwood South.

Current

Following the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies, and reflecting the local government boundary review in the District of Mansfield which came into effect in May 2023, the constituency is composed of the following with effect from the 2024 general election:

The District of Ashfield wards of: Abbey Hill; Annesley & Kirkby Woodhouse; Ashfields; Carsic; Central & New Cross; Huthwaite & Brierley; Jacksdale; Kingsway; Kirkby Cross & Portland; Larwood; Leamington; St. Mary’s; Selston; Skegby; Stanton Hill & Teversal; Summit; Sutton Junction & Harlow Wood; The Dales; Underwood.

Parts of the District of Mansfield wards of: Lindhurst; Pleasley; Rufford; Sherwood.<sup>1</sup>

The parts in the Borough of Broxtowe were transferred to the Broxtowe constituency and the parts in Mansfield District were transferred from the Mansfield constituency.

History

Until the Conservatives gained the seat at the 2019 general election, the constituency had almost always been a Labour Party seat since its creation for the 1955 general election. The Ashfield constituency has been served by a former Secretary of State, Geoff Hoon, and, from its creation until 2019, was only served by one member of another party, Tim Smith of the Conservative Party, for two years from 1977 to 1979. Ashfield's 2019 result suggested it may have been a safe seat for the Conservatives.

In 2010, the seat had a marginal majority of only 192 votes over the Liberal Democrats, but that was increased to 8,820 in 2015 after a collapse in the Liberal Democrat vote, with the Conservatives finishing in second place.

In 2017, there was another narrow margin of victory for Labour after an 8.9% swing to the Conservatives, who squeezed most of the fairly substantial UKIP vote from two years earlier, and also a large vote for the Ashfield Independents candidate of nearly 10%, but Labour on that occasion did just enough to hang on by just over 400 votes. In 2019, the Ashfield Independents candidate Jason Zadrozny, who had come close to winning the seat for the Liberal Democrats nine years earlier, came second with a substantial vote, and the Conservatives took the seat despite achieving fewer votes and a smaller percentage of the total vote than in 2017.

When the MP Lee Anderson left the Tories to become an independent and then subsequently join Reform UK, he contested it once again in the 2024 election, managing to win it for the party due to their message resounding with the predominantly pro-Brexit electorate and Anderson having the advantage of incumbency.