Newcastle-under-Lyme is a constituency in northern Staffordshire created in 1354 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Adam Jogee of the Labour Party.
Boundaries
Historic
1885–1918: The existing parliamentary borough, so much of the municipal borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme as was not already included in the parliamentary borough, the local government district of Tunstall, and so much of the parish of Wolstanton as lay south of a line drawn along the centre of the road leading west from Chatterley railway station to the boundary of Audley parish.
1918–1950: The Municipal Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme and the Urban Districts of Audley and Wolstanton United.
1950–1983: The Municipal Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme and the Rural District of Newcastle-under-Lyme.
1983–2010: The Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme wards of Audley and Bignall End, Bradwell, Chesterton, Clayton, Cross Heath, Halmerend, Holditch, Keele, May Bank, Porthill, Seabridge, Silverdale, Thistleberry, Town, Westlands and Wolstanton.
2010–2024: The Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme wards of Audley and Bignall End; Bradwell; Chesterton; Clayton; Cross Heath; Halmerend; Holditch; Keele; Knutton and Silverdale; May Bank; Porthill; Seabridge; Silverdale and Parksite; Thistleberry; Town; Westlands; and Wolstanton.
Parliament accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies for the 2010 general election. The contents were changed to reflect the revised ward structure in the Borough, but the parliamentary boundaries were unchanged.
Current
Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies (in effect since 2024 general election), the constituency is composed of the following (as they existed on 1 December 2020):
- The Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme wards of: Audley; Bradwell; Clayton; Crackley & Red Street; Cross Heath; Holditch & Chesterton; Keele; Knutton; Madeley & Betley; May Bank; Silverdale; Thistleberry; Town; Westbury Park & Northwood; Westlands; Wolstanton.
Minor boundary change including the addition of the village of Madeley from the (abolished constituency of Stone, in order to bring the electorate within the permitted range.
The constituency includes most of the Newcastle-under-Lyme borough, primarily comprising Newcastle-under-Lyme town and including the villages of Audley, Keele and Madeley.
History
From its creation in 1354, Newcastle-under-Lyme returned two MPs to the House of Commons. Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the constituency's representation was cut to one member.
Prominent frontbenchers or members
Before the 20th century the constituency was often influenced and represented by members of the Leveson, Leveson-Gower and related Egerton family who owned in this constituency the Trentham estate - their most important MP was the Viscount Trentham who obtained a Dukedom (1st Duke of Sutherland).
Josiah Wedgwood of the pottery family was repeatedly elected to the seat from 1906. In 1919, he shifted his allegiance from the Liberal Party (the Lloyd George Coalition Liberals allying with the Conservatives) to the Labour Party; he was among many Liberals and their supporters deserting the party in or around 1918 due to the steering of David Lloyd George to the right and inviting Conservatives into government with him. He was ennobled to join the Lords in 1942, as 1st Baron Wedgwood, and campaigned in the United States for that country to join World War II and for Indian Independence.
Results
Since Wedgwood joined the Independent Labour Party in 1919, the seat elected the Labour candidate at each election for the next hundred years, a total of 29 elections in succession. Labour came close to losing the seat in 1969, 1986, 2015 and 2017, and eventually lost the seat in 2019; the first time a member of the Conservative Party had represented the seat since it had been a dual-member borough before the 1885 general election which followed the Reform Act 1884 and the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.
The 2015 result was the 9th-smallest majority of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority. Its 2017 general election result was the fifth-closest result overall and the second closest to being taken by the Conservatives, a winning margin of 30 votes (behind Dudley North, where the result was a Labour majority of 22 votes).
In 2019, it was finally won by the Conservatives for the first time since it became a single-member seat, by over 7,000 votes. It was one of the twelve Staffordshire seats (100%) won (held or gained) by Conservative candidates. However, Labour regained the seat at the 2024 election with a majority of just over 5,000.
Results of candidates of other parties
In 2015 one of four other parties' candidates standing, UKIP's Wood, won more than 5% of the vote in 2015 therefore keeping his deposit, the party which campaigned consistently for the public vote for leaving the European Union in 2016. In 2017 the three largest British parties fielded candidates only — Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat candidates in order of votes won.
Turnout since 1945
Turnout has ranged from 87.6% in 1950 to 58.4% in 2024.
2017 election issues
In the 2017 election, 1,500 eligible voters were turned away while 2 ineligible voters were able to vote. An independent report by Andrew Scallan found a "complex picture of administrative mistakes around registration and postal voting processes", and because of the small margin of victory (30 votes) concluded that "it is impossible to have absolute confidence that the result... reflects the will of the electorate."
2024 election
On 31 May Aaron Bell announced that he would not be standing again for Newcastle-under-Lyme at the 2024 General Election. He announced the news on Facebook with an open letter in which he said 'It is with a heavy heart that I have decided not to contest the forthcoming general election for personal and family reasons'.
Members of Parliament
MPs 1353–1509
Where the name of the member has not yet been ascertained or is not recorded in a surviving document, the entry unknown is entered in the table.
Burgesses in the English Parliament 1510-1707
As there were sometimes significant gaps between Parliaments held in this period, the dates of first assembly and dissolution are given.
The Roman numerals after some names are those used in The House of Commons 1509-1558 and The House of Commons 1558-1603 to distinguish a member from another politician of the same name.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Elected!!Assembled!!Dissolved!!First member!!Second member
|-
| 1510|| 21 January 1510|| 23 February 1510|| John Welles|| William Pury
|-
| 1512|| 4 February 1512|| 4 March 1514|| John Welles|| Thomas Rider
|-
| 1515|| 5 February 1515|| 22 December 1515|| John Welles|| Thomas Rider
|-
| 1523|| 15 April 1523|| 13 August 1523|| unknown|| unknown
|-
| 1529|| 3 November 1529|| 14 April 1536|| John Persall||Richard Grey
|-
| 1536|| 8 June 1536|| 18 July 1536|| unknown|| unknown
|-
| 1539|| 28 April 1539|| 24 July 1540|| unknown|| unknown
|-
| 1542|| 16 January 1542|| 28 March 1544|| Harry Broke||John Smith
|-
| 1545|| 23 November 1545|| 31 January 1547|| Humphrey Welles||Harry Broke
|-
| 1547|| 4 November 1547|| 15 April 1552||James Rolston||William Layton (died)<br />Alexander Walker in place of Layton
|-
| 1553|| 1 March 1553|| 31 March 1553|| Roger Fowke||John Smyth
|-
| 1553|| 5 October 1553|| 5 December 1553|| Roger Fowke||James Rolston
|-
| 1554|| 2 April 1554|| 3 May 1554|| James Rolleston||Francis Moore
|-
| 1554|| 12 November 1554|| 16 January 1555||Sir Ralph Bagnall||Richard Smyth
|-
| 1555|| 21 October 1555|| 9 December 1555||Sir Richard Bagnall (properly Sir Nicholas Bagenal)||Richard Smyth
|-
| 14 January 1558|| 20 January 1558|| 17 November 1558|| Richard Hussey||Thomas Egerton
|-
| 5 January 1559|| 23 January 1559|| 8 May 1559|| Sir Nicholas Bagenal||Walter Blount
|-
| 1562 or 1563|| 11 January 1563|| 2 January 1567|| Sir Ralph Bagnall||John Long
|-
| 1571|| 2 April 1571|| 29 May 1571|| Sir Ralph Bagnall||Ralph Bourchier
|-
| 12 April 1572||8 May 1572||19 April 1583|| Ralph Bourchier||Thomas Grimsdiche
|-
| 16 November 1584|| 23 November 1584|| 14 September 1585|| Peter Warburton||Walter Chetwynd
|-
| 28 September 1586|| 13 October 1586|| 23 March 1587|| James Colyer||Walter Chetwynd
|-
| 10 October 1588|| 4 February 1589||29 March 1589|| Thomas Humphrey||Francis Angier
|-
| 1593|| 18 February 1593|| 10 April 1593|| John James||Thomas Fitzherbert
|-
| 16 October 1597|| 24 October 1597|| 9 February 1598||Sir Walter Leveson||John Bowyer
|-
| 1 October 1601|| 27 October 1601|| 19 December 1601||Edward Mainwaring||Thomas Trentham
|-
| 1603 [sic]|| 19 March 1604|| 9 February 1611|| Sir Walter Chetwynd||John Bowyer (replaced in by-election 1605 by Rowland Cotton)
|-
| 1614|| 5 April 1614|| 7 June 1614|| Edward Wymarke||Robert Needham, 2nd Viscount Kilmorey
|-
| 1621|| 16 January 1621|| 8 February 1622|| Sir John Davies||Edward Kerton
|-
| 1624|| 12 February 1624|| 27 March 1625|| Sir Edward Vere (disabled,<br /> replaced April 1624 by Charles Glemham||Richard Leveson
|-
| 1625|| 17 May 1625|| 12 August 1625|| Edward Mainwaring||John Keeling
|-
| 1626|| 6 February 1626|| 15 June 1626|| Sir John Skeffington||John Keeling
|-
| 1628|| 17 March 1628|| 10 March 1629|| Sir George Gresley, 1st Baronet||Sir Rowland Cotton
|-
|colspan="5"|No parliament held
|-
| 1640|| 13 April 1640|| 5 May 1640|| Sir John Merrick (Country)||Richard Lloyd (Court)
|-
| 1640|| 3 November 1640|| 5 December 1648||Sir Richard Leveson (Royalist) (until 1643)<br />replaced by Samuel Terrick (Parl.)||Sir John Merrick (Parl.)
|-
|N/A|| 6 December 1648|| 20 April 1653||colspan="2"|unrepresented
|-
| N/A|| 4 July 1653|| 12 December 1653||colspan="2"|unrepresented
|-
| 1654|| 3 September 1654|| 22 January 1655||colspan="2"|Edward Keeling
|-
| 1656|| 17 September 1656|| 4 February 1658||colspan="2"|John Bowyer(never sat)
|-
| 1659|| 27 January 1659|| 22 April 1659||Edward Keeling||Tobias Bridge
|-
| N/A|| 7 May 1659|| 20 February 1660||rowspan="2"| unknown||rowspan="2"| unknown
|-
|}
MPs 1660–1885
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Election!!colspan="2"|First member!!First party!!colspan="2"|Second member
|rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: "|
|rowspan="2"| Sir John Boughey, Bt || rowspan="2" | Whig
|-
| 1842 by-election
|style="color:inherit;background-color: "|
| John Campbell Colquhoun
| Conservative
| style="color:inherit;background-color: "|
|rowspan="2"| William Jackson
| Whig
|-
| 1859
|style="color:inherit;background-color: "|
| William Murray
| Conservative
| style="color:inherit;background-color: "|
| Liberal
|-
| 1865
|rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: "|
|rowspan="3"| William Shepherd Allen
|rowspan="3"| Liberal
|style="color:inherit;background-color: "|
| Sir Edmund Buckley, Bt
| Conservative
|-
| 1878 by-election
|style="color:inherit;background-color: "|
| Samuel Rathbone Edge
| Liberal
|-
| 1880
|style="color:inherit;background-color: "|
| Charles Donaldson-Hudson
| Conservative
|-
| 1885
|colspan="6"| representation reduced to one member by the Redistribution of Seats Act
|}
MPs since 1885
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="2"|Year!!Member
Elections in the 2010s
Elections in the 2000s
Elections in the 1990s
Elections in the 1980s
- Resignation of John Golding on 24 June 1986, upon appointment as General Secretary of the National Communications Union.
Elections in the 1970s
Elections in the 1960s
Elections in the 1950s
Elections in the 1940s
Elections in the 1930s
thumb|120px|Wedgwood
Elections in the 1920s
Election results 1868-1918
Elections in the 1860s
thumb|120px|Allen
Elections in the 1870s
thumb|120px|Scoble
thumb|120px|Coghill
Elections in the 1900s
thumb|120px|Haslam
General Election 1914/15:
Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;
- Liberal: Josiah Wedgwood
- Unionist: Edgar Percy Hewitt
Wedgwood was issued with a Coalition Coupon but did not accept it. He was also adopted by the local Liberal association, but considered himself an independent candidate.