High Peak (UK Parliament constituency)

High Peak is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Jon Pearce of the Labour Party.

The constituency is in north west Derbyshire and based in the heart of the Peak District, including the towns of Buxton, Glossop and New Mills.

Since the 1966 general election, the seat has been somewhat of a bellwether, with only three exceptions: at the February and October 1974 general elections the seat was won by the Conservative Party when the Labour Party won the most seats nationally, and at the 2017 general election when the seat was won by Labour but the Conservatives won the most seats nationally.

Constituency profile

High Peak is a rural constituency in Derbyshire, covering a large part of the Peak District National Park, and is coterminous with the local government district of the same name. Its largest town is Buxton, which has a population of around 20,000. Other towns in the constituency include Glossop, New Mills, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Whaley Bridge and Hadfield. Buxton is a historic spa town of Roman origins, and is popular with tourists. Glossop and New Mills are traditionally industrial, particularly in coal mining and textile manufacturing. The area is generally upland and has closer transport connections to nearby Manchester and Sheffield than with Derby and the rest of the East Midlands. The constituency has average levels of wealth; there is some deprivation in Buxton and Hadfield whilst the rural areas are more affluent. House prices across the constituency are below the national average but above the rest of the East Midlands.

Residents of High Peak are generally older and well-educated compared to the rest of the country. Household income is higher than the regional average and a high proportion of residents work in the manufacturing and tourism sectors. White people made up 97% of the population at the 2021 census.

The constituency covers much of northern Derbyshire and represents most of the west of the Peak District which encircles Buxton and Glossop. Crowden, Tintwistle and Woodhead (formerly within the boundaries of Cheshire and in the Stalybridge and Hyde constituency) were brought into the seat in the boundary changes for the 1983 general election. The constituency boundaries became co-terminous with the local government district at the 2010 general election.

History

The seat was created in the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. Since 1910, the seat has returned mostly Conservative MPs apart from during three periods. A Labour MP was elected for the first time in 1966, but was unseated at the next general election. Labour gained the seat at the 1997 general election and retained it at the following two general elections during the Blair ministry, but it was regained by the Conservatives at the 2010 general election. It was regained by Labour at the 2017 general election when Ruth George gained the seat, the first time Labour had won the High Peak seat without winning the overall general election in its history.