Bassetlaw is a parliamentary constituency in Nottinghamshire, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since the 2024 general election by Jo White, a Labour Party candidate. Before the 2019 general election, the seat had been part of the so-called "red wall", being held by the Labour Party since 1935 before falling to the Conservative Party.
Constituency profile
The Bassetlaw constituency is located in the north of Nottinghamshire and covers most of the Bassetlaw local government district. It is mostly rural and includes the towns of Worksop, Retford and Harworth Bircotes as well as the surrounding villages.
Worksop and the western parts of the constituency have a history of coal mining, whilst Retford and the eastern parts are predominantly agricultural. This is reflected in the most recent district council elections in 2023, where the west of the constituency elected entirely Labour Party councillors whilst the north-east saw more Conservative Party support . Residents of the constituency are less wealthy and less likely to have a degree-level education than national averages, and white people make up 96% of the population. Voters in Bassetlaw overwhelmingly supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum, with an estimated 68% voting in favour of Brexit.
Boundaries
Historic
2010-2024: Following its review of parliamentary boundaries in Nottinghamshire, the Boundary Commission for England made changes to the constituency for the 2010 general election to allow for population changes, most noticeably by returning the town of Retford from Newark, offset by moving the small town of Market Warsop into Mansfield constituency.
The constituency included 22 electoral wards from Bassetlaw District Council:
- Beckingham, Blyth, Carlton, Clayworth, East Retford East, East Retford North, East Retford South, East Retford West, Everton, Harworth, Langold, Misterton, Ranskill, Sturton, Sutton, Welbeck, Worksop East, Worksop North, Worksop North East, Worksop North West, Worksop South, Worksop South East.
Current
Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency has 20 wards from Bassetlaw District council:
Beckingham, Blyth, Carlton, East Retford East, East Retford North, East Retford South, East Retford West, Everton, Harworth, Langold, Misterton, Ranskill, Sutton, Welbeck, Worksop East, Worksop North, Worksop North East, Worksop North West, Worksop South, Worksop South East.
The two small wards of Clayworth and Sturton were transferred to Newark.
History
The constituency was created in 1885 by the Redistribution of Seats Act.
In March 2024, Cameron Holt was elected as the Member of UK Youth Parliament for Bassetlaw.
History of boundaries
The Bassetlaw Division (named after one of the ancient Wapentakes of the county) as originally created in 1885 consisted of the municipal borough of East Retford, the petty sessional divisions of Retford and Worksop and part of Mansfield petty sessional division.
In 1918, the number of parliamentary divisions in Nottinghamshire was increased from four to five, with resulting changes in boundaries. Bassetlaw Division was now defined as containing the Municipal Borough of East Retford, the Urban Districts of Warsop and Worksop, and the Rural Districts of Blyth & Cuckney, Misterton and East Retford, with the civil parish of Sookholme from Skegby Rural District.
In 1950, the five Parliamentary Divisions of Nottinghamshire were reorganised as six County Constituencies. Local government boundary changes in the 1930s now meant that Bassetlaw County Constituency was defined as comprising the Municipal Boroughs of East Retford and Worksop, the Urban District of Warsop and the Rural Districts of East Retford and Worksop.
In 1955, the Urban District of Warsop was moved into the Mansfield constituency.
The constituency's boundaries then remained unchanged until 1983. In that year, the town of East Retford and the neighbouring areas were transferred to the redrawn Newark constituency. Bassetlaw constituency then comprised Worksop and surrounding areas in the Bassetlaw district as well as the town of Warsop in the Mansfield district (see list of wards during this period below). There were no boundary changes in 1997.
From 1983 to 2010, the constituency comprised the following Bassetlaw district wards:
- Beckingham, Blyth, Carlton, Clayworth, Everton, Harworth East, Harworth West, Hodsock, Misterton, Rampton, Ranskill, Sturton, Sutton, Welbeck, Worksop East, Worksop North, Worksop North East, Worksop North West, Worksop South, Worksop South East
along with two Mansfield district wards:
- Birklands, Meden (both in the Warsop area).
In 2010 the two Mansfield District wards were transferred to the Mansfield constituency and the town of Retford was regained from Newark.
<gallery widths="150px" heights="200px" perrow="10" caption="Bassetlaw constituency boundaries, shown within the county of Nottinghamshire">
File:Bassetlaw1885Constituency.svg|1885 to 1918
File:Bassetlaw1950Constituency.svg|1950 to 1983
File:BassetlawConstituency.svg|1983 to 2010
File:Bassetlaw2007Constituency.svg|2010 to 2024
</gallery>
Electoral history
thumb|right|350px|Election results for Bassetlaw ([[1892 United Kingdom general election|1892 - 2019)]]
On a historical measure, this had been a very safe seat for the Labour Party before 2019, with their own or related candidates having held it since the 1929 general election. On a size-of-majority measure, it was a low to medium safe seat. Its first Member of Parliament Malcolm MacDonald was one of the few Labour MPs to join his father Ramsay MacDonald's National Government. MacDonald held the seat as a National Labour candidate in the 1931 election, but was defeated at the next election in 1935 by Labour's Frederick Bellenger.
Bellenger held the seat until he died in 1968. A by-election followed. The seat was retained for the Labour Party by Joe Ashton with a slender 1.72% majority, the narrowest since the 1920s. He held the seat until retirement at the 2001 general election. He was succeeded at that year's election by fellow Labour politician John Mann, who retained the seat at the next four elections. In 2019, Mann resigned being having been appointed to head a government inquiry on tackling anti-Semitism and to take a seat in the House of Lords. The Labour candidate initially chosen to replace Mann, Sally Gimson, was deselected before the election by the party's National Executive Committee over what were described as "very serious allegations". Gimson referred to the process as a "kangaroo court", and Mann called the decision a stitch-up; Keir Morrison, a councillor in the Ashfield District, replaced Gimson as the Labour candidate.
In the December 2019 general election, the Conservatives won the seat with a swing from Labour of 18.4%, the largest recorded in the election. The fall in Labour's vote, 24.9%, was the greatest of any seat in the election.
In the 2024 General Election, Jo White, the wife of John Mann, regained the seat for Labour on a swing of 19.6%.
Members of Parliament
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="2"| Election !! Member
!Party
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1885
| William Beckett-Denison
| Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1890
| Frederick Milner
| Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1906
| Frank Newnes
| Liberal
|-
|style="color:inherit;background: " |
| 1910
| Ellis Hume-Williams
| Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1929
|rowspan="2"| Malcolm MacDonald
| Labour
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1931
| National Labour
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1935
| Frederick Bellenger
| Labour
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1968 by-election
| Joe Ashton
| Labour
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 2001
| John Mann
| Labour
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 2019
| Brendan Clarke-Smith
| Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 2024
| Jo White
| Labour
|}
Elections
thumb|centre|upright=2.5|Bassetlaw election results 1983-2024
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| 25,941 ||align=right| 54.4
|-
|
| Labour ||align=right| 13,353 ||align=right| 28.0
|-
|
| Brexit Party ||align=right| 5,173 ||align=right| 10.9
|-
|
| Liberal Democrats ||align=right| 3,210 ||align=right| 6.7
|-
|colspan="4" bgcolor="#EAECF0"|
|-
|colspan="2"|Majority
|align=right|12,588
|align=right|26.4
|-
|colspan="2"|Turnout
|align=right|47,677
|align=right|62.9
|-
|colspan="2"|Electorate
|align=right|75,773
|}