Chesterfield (UK Parliament constituency)

Chesterfield is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Toby Perkins of the Labour Party.

Constituency profile

The constituency is located in the north of Derbyshire. It covers most of the Borough of Chesterfield and includes the large town of Chesterfield, parts of the smaller town of Staveley and the village of Brimington. Chesterfield has an industrial heritage; coal mining was economically important to the town, and the boring machines used to create the Channel Tunnel were partly manufactured by Chesterfield-based Markham & Co. Parts of the town are highly deprived, particularly Birdholme and the north-west of the town, whilst the suburb of Walton is affluent. House prices are generally low.

On average, residents of Chesterfield are older, have lower incomes and lower levels of education and professional employment compared to the rest of the country. White people make up 95% of the population.

The boundaries include the town of Chesterfield, together with areas to the north towards Dronfield and to the east towards Bolsover. The other two Borough of Chesterfield wards (Barrow Hill and New Whittington; Lowgates and Woodthorpe) fell within the neighbouring North East Derbyshire seat. the constituency now comprises the following wards of the Borough of Chesterfield:

Brampton East & Boythorpe; Brampton West & Loundsley Green; Brimington North; Brimington South; Brockwell; Dunston; Hasland; Linacre; Rother; Spire; Staveley Central (most); Staveley South; Walton; Whittington (part); Whittington Moor.

The boundaries were unchanged by the 2023 periodic review of Westminster constituencies (which was based on the ward structure in place on 1 December 2020).

History

Chesterfield has mainly been a Labour seat, with periods when it has been held by other parties; it was gained by the Liberal Democrats in 2001 and held by them until 2010. Chesterfield was safe seat for Labour from 1935 until 2001. Andrew Cavendish, later the Duke of Devonshire, was the National Liberal candidate at the 1945 and 1950 elections.

The seat was held in succession by two prominent Labour politicians for over 35 years. The former Labour cabinet minister Eric Varley held the seat from October 1964 to January 1984, and was succeeded by his ex-government colleague Tony Benn, who held the seat following a by-election in March 1984. He remained the town's MP until his retirement from the House of Commons in 2001, when he famously remarked that his decision was taken to "spend more time on politics". Benn had been a Labour Cabinet Minister between 1966–70 and 1974–1979, while Varley was in the Wilson and Callaghan cabinets in the latter period. Paul Holmes gained the seat for the Liberal Democrats at the 2001 general election, the party's first Commons seat in the East Midlands, but were narrowly defeated at the 2010 by the Labour candidate Toby Perkins, one of only three seats the Labour Party gained at the 2010 general election. In 2015, a collapse in the Liberal Democrat vote nationwide had them fall behind to fourth place, the Conservatives move into second place, and Labour having their largest majority in the seat since 1979.