Barrow and Furness, formerly known as Barrow-in-Furness, is a UK Parliament constituency in Cumbria. It has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Michelle Scrogham of the Labour Party since 2024.
Since its inception in 1885, the constituency has been centred on the town of Barrow-in-Furness, at the tip of the Furness peninsula. Over the intervening years the constituency has periodically grown in size, and as of the 2024 general election it incorporates the entirety of the peninsula, the Eskdale and Duddon Valleys, and all of coastal West Cumbria as far north as Ravenglass.
Constituency profile
The constituency is located in Cumbria and covers parts of the unitary authority areas of Cumberland and Westmorland and Furness. The constituency contains the large port town of Barrow-in-Furness and extensive rural areas to its north, some of which lie within the Lake District National Park. Other settlements in the constituency include the smaller towns of Ulverston, Millom, Dalton-in-Furness and Broughton-in-Furness.
Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town with a history of steelmaking and shipbuilding. It once contained the largest steelworks in the world, and the BAE Systems shipyard—which manufactures nuclear submarines for the Royal Navy—is the town's largest employer. Residents of the constituency have, on average, slightly lower levels of wealth and education compared to the rest of the country, and white people make up 97% of the population. At the most recent local elections in 2022, voters in Barrow-in-Furness elected mostly Labour Party councillors, whilst the seats in the rural areas of the constituency elected Conservatives. An estimated 59% of voters in the constituency supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum, higher than the national average. In 2017, Woodcock's majority was reduced from 795 votes to 209 votes, the 16th smallest majority in the country.
Following Woodcock's resignation from the Labour party in 2018, he stood down as an MP for the 2019 general election when the seat was gained by Conservative Simon Fell, who had contested the seat unsuccessfully in 2015 and 2017. He won with a slightly greater margin than Woodcock had when he first won the seat for Labour in 2010. The seat was retaken by Labour's Michelle Scrogham at the 2024 election with a majority of 12.6% - the same as Fell's majority in 2019.
Boundaries
Historic
right|thumb|260px|Barrow-in-Furness in Lancashire, boundaries used 1974-83
1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Barrow-in-Furness.
1918–1950: The County Borough of Barrow-in-Furness.
1950–1983: The County Borough of Barrow-in-Furness and the Urban District of Dalton-in-Furness.
1983–2010: The entire District of Barrow-in-Furness and the following wards from the District of South Lakeland: Low Furness, Pennington, Ulverston Central, Ulverston East, Ulverston North, Ulverston South and Ulverston West.
2010–2024: The entire District of Barrow-in-Furness and the following wards from the District of South Lakeland: Broughton, Crake Valley, Low Furness & Swarthmoor, Ulverston Central, Ulverston East, Ulverston North, Ulverston South, Ulverston Town and Ulverston West.
Current
The 2023 periodic review of Westminster constituencies was carried out using the local authority structure as it existed in Cumbria on 1 December 2020 and is officially defined as:
- The Borough of Barrow-in-Furness.
- The Borough of Copeland wards of: Black Combe & Scafell; Millom.
- The District of South Lakeland wards of: Broughton & Coniston (polling districts AHA, AHB, AHC, BZ, CA, CB, CL and CY); Furness Peninsula; Ulverston East; Ulverston West.
With effect from 1 April 2023, the second tier councils in Cumbria were abolished and replaced by the new unitary authorities of Cumberland, and Westmorland and Furness. Consequently, the constituency now comprises the following from the 2024 general election:
- The Cumberland wards of: Millom; Millom Without (most).
- The Westmorland and Furness wards of: Dalton North; Dalton South; Hawcoat and Newbarns; High Furness; Low Furness; Old Barrow and Hindpool; Ormsgill and Parkside; Risedale and Roosecote; Ulverston; Walney Island; and a very small part of Coniston and Hawkshead.
The constituency was expanded to bring the electorate within the permitted range by transferring the town of Millom from the abolished constituency of Copeland.
Members of Parliament
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="2"|Election!!Member!!Party
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1885
| David Duncan
| Liberal
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1886 by-election
|rowspan="2"| William Sproston Caine
|Liberal
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1886
| Liberal Unionist
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1890 by-election
| James Duncan
| Liberal
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1892
| Charles Cayzer
| Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1906
| Charles Duncan
| Labour
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1918
| Robert Chadwick
| Conservative
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1922
| Daniel Somerville
|Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1924
| John Bromley
| Labour
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1931
| Jonah Walker-Smith
| Conservative
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1945
| Walter Monslow
| Labour
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1966
| Albert Booth
|Labour
|-
|
| rowspan="2" | 1983
|colspan="2"| Constituency renamed "Barrow and Furness"
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Cecil Franks
| Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1992
| John Hutton
| Labour
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 2010
| rowspan="2" | John Woodcock
| Labour Co-op
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 2018
| Independent
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 2019
| Simon Fell
| Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 2024
| Michelle Scrogham
| Labour
|}
Election results
thumb|centre|upright=2.5|Election results 1950-2024
Elections in the 21st century
Elections in the 2020s
Elections in the 2010s
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="4" | 2019 notional result
|-
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="130px" colspan="2" | Party
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="50px" | Vote
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="30px" | %
|-
|
| Conservative ||align=right| 26,551 ||align=right| 53.1
|-
|
| Labour ||align=right| 19,115 ||align=right| 38.2
|-
|
| Liberal Democrats ||align=right| 2,256 ||align=right| 4.5
|-
|
| Brexit Party ||align=right| 1,355 ||align=right| 2.7
|-
|
| Green Party of England and Wales ||align=right| 770 ||align=right| 1.5
|-
|colspan="4" bgcolor="#EAECF0"|
|-
|colspan="2"|Majority
|align=right|7,436
|align=right|14.9
|-
|colspan="2"|Turnout
|align=right|50,047
|align=right|65.3
|-
|colspan="2"|Electorate
|align=right|76,603
|}
Elections in the 2000s
thumb|