Hyndburn (constituency)

Hyndburn is a constituency in Lancashire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Sarah Smith of the Labour Party.

Constituency profile

The Hyndburn constituency is located in Lancashire and covers the local government district of the same name and parts of Rossendale district. Its largest town is Accrington, which has a population of around 37,000. The other towns in the constituency are Oswaldtwistle, Rishton, Clayton-le-Moors, Great Harwood and Haslingden. The towns of Hyndburn have an industrial heritage with a history of textile manufacturing, coal mining and brick manufacturing; the Accrington brick was used for the foundations of the Empire State Building. The constituency has low levels of wealth, with most of Accrington falling within the top 10% most-deprived areas of England. House prices in the constituency are very low, with the average price being less than half the national average.

In general, residents of Hyndburn have low levels of education and income. White people made up 82% of the population at the 2021 census, a similar percentage to the country as a whole. At the local district council level, most of the constituency is represented by Labour Party and independent councillors, with some Conservatives elected in the rural southern parts. At the county council, which held elections more recently, most seats in Hyndburn were won by Reform UK. Voters in Hyndburn strongly supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum; an estimated 65% voted in favour of Brexit compared to the nationwide figure of 52%. and surrounding villages, that may have helped to win the constituency for a Conservative in 1983, by 21 votes. The Conservative majority in 1983 was the second smallest achieved by any party in a seat in the United Kingdom at that election, only being beaten by the Conservatives 7 vote majority in Leicester South In 1987, against the national trend, the Conservative vote share increased by 2.1% while Labour's vote share fell by 2.4%. Consequently, the Conservatives increased their majority to 2,220 votes, a higher majority than it achieved in 31 other seats.

Labour won it in 1992, and chose a new candidate for 2010, Graham Jones, who was elected. Part of Labour's Red Wall, the seat was won by the Conservatives in 2019, with the twenty-four year old Tory candidate Sara Britcliffe ousting Jones with a swing of 9.9%. This was reversed in 2024, when Sarah Smith won it back for Labour.

In January 1996, Hyndburn Conservatives deselected Hugh Neil, after a six-week investigation into alleged bogus claims that he made about his background. Neil claimed to have a doctorate from Manchester Business School and Harvard Business School, to have been an adviser to Keith Joseph, and to be a member of the Institute of Directors. He would have been the party's first black MP.

Boundaries

1983–1997: The Borough of Hyndburn.

1997–2024: The Borough of Hyndburn, and the Borough of Rossendale wards of Greenfield and Worsley.

Following its review of parliamentary representation in Lancashire in the 2000s, the Boundary Commission made minor alterations to the existing Hyndburn constituency. Two Haslingden wards from Rossendale district had been added to the constituency in 1997. The Commission rejected a proposal to rename the constituency "Hyndburn and Haslingden", following the Assistant Commissioner's view that:

::It is obviously right that constituency names should as far as possible reflect the geography and character of the constituency but equally they should be as succinct as reasonably possible

2024–present: The 2023 periodic review of Westminster constituencies, which was based on the ward structure in place on 1 December 2020, left the boundaries unchanged. However, following a local government boundary review in Rossendale which came into effect in May 2024, the constituency now comprises the following from the 2024 general election:

The Borough of Hyndburn.
The Borough of Rossendale wards or part wards of: Greenfield & Eden (part); Haslingden; Helmshore (small part).