Hexham is a

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

of the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

since 2010 by

Guy Opperman Guy Thomas Opperman (born 18 May 1965) is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Employment since October 2022. He served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pensions and Financial Inclusion at the Department for Wor ...

, a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) by the

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

system of election at least every five years. The seat was created as one of four single member divisions of the county of Northumberland under the

Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict., c. 23) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that redistributed the seats in the House of Commons, introducing the concept of equal ...

Constituency profile

The second-largest constituency by land area in England (covering 250,992 hectares), Hexham reaches to the

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Common ...

and is traversed by

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall ( la, Vallum Aelium), also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Hadriani'' in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...

, which runs almost due east–west through England. It includes substantial agricultural holdings, forestry,

wood processing Wood processing is an engineering discipline in the wood industry comprising the production of forest products, such as pulp and paper, construction materials, and tall oil. Paper engineering is a subfield of wood processing. The major wood pro ...

, food, minerals, and manufactured hardware industries. In the midst of the northwest of the constituency is

Kielder Water Kielder Water is a large man-made reservoir in Northumberland in North East England. It is the largest artificial lake in the United Kingdom by capacity of water and it is surrounded by Kielder Forest, one of the biggest man-made woodlands in ...

; running between this area and the middle of the seat is the southern portion of

Kielder Forest Kielder Forest is a large forestry plantation in Northumberland, England, surrounding Kielder village and the Kielder Water reservoir. It is the largest man-made woodland in England with three-quarters of its covered by forest. The majority o ...

, and in the west, the attractions of the precipitous Haltwhistle Burn,

Viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...

and

Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

. SSE of Hexham is the Derwent Reservoir. As well as those rural areas, the constituency also includes part of Newcastle's middle-class suburbs. Hexham has been held by the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, and generally with safe majorities, since

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hold ...

. It was the only Conservative seat in the North East between the

New Labour New Labour was a period in the history of the British Labour Party from the mid to late 1990s until 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The name dates from a conference slogan first used by the party in 1994, later seen ...

years in government from 1997-2010, and the only one in

from 1973 until the Conservatives gained

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census re ...

from the Liberal Democrats in 2015. It was also the northernmost seat won by the Conservatives in 1997, in what would be their worst landslide defeat at any general election of the twentieth century; with all Conservative MPs in Scotland and Wales unseated that year. Despite this middle-class segment of the population, there are also some more working-class areas: Prudhoe frequently elects Labour councillors and has demographics similar to neighbouring parts of

Blaydon Blaydon is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, and historically in County Durham. Blaydon, and neighbouring Winlaton, which Blaydon is now contiguous with, form the postal town of Blaydon-on-Tyne. The Blay ...

, a safe Labour seat. There is also some deprivation in rural areas, particularly around

Haltwhistle Haltwhistle is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, east of Brampton. It had a population of 3,811 at the 2011 Census. Stone-built houses are a feature of Haltwhistle. It is one of two settlements in Great Britain which c ...

. Based on the latest published old age dependency ratios, a slightly larger than average level of the population is retired. In 1997, the Labour Party was very close to winning the seat, but the Conservatives retained it with a significantly reduced narrow majority of 222 votes. Hexham is considered a

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district (constituency) in a legislative body (e.g. Congress, Parliament, City Council) which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combina ...

for the Conservative Party, having been under their control for almost a century.

Boundaries

1885-1918

The contents of the county division, as defined by the

, were: * The Sessional Divisions of Bellingham, Coquetdale West, Haltwhistle, and Tynedale.

1918-1950

* the Urban Districts of

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administra ...

and Prudhoe * the

Rural Districts Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the a ...

of Bellingham,

, and part of

Castle Ward A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

. ''Rothbury transferred to

.''

1950-1983

* the Urban Districts of Hexham and Prudhoe * the Rural Districts of Bellingham, Castle Ward, Haltwhistle, Hexham. ''The remainder of Castle Ward was transferred from the abolished constituency of Wansbeck.''

1983-present

* the District of Tynedale * in the Borough of Castle Morpeth, the wards of Heddon-on-the-Wall,

Ponteland Ponteland ( ) is a large village and civil parish in Northumberland, England, north of Newcastle upon Tyne. The name means "island in the Pont", after the River Pont which flows from west to east and joins the River Blyth further downstream, be ...

East, Ponteland North, Ponteland South, Ponteland West, Stamfordham and Stannington. ''Contents changed following reorganisation of local authorities in 1974. The area of the former rural district of Castle Ward which was now part of the

City of Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is al ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcas ...

was now included Newcastle upon Tyne North.''

2007 boundary review

In the fifth periodic boundary review of parliamentary representation in Northumberland, which came into effect for the 2010 general election, the contents of the existing Hexham constituency were unchanged and the

Boundary Commission for England The boundary commissions in the United Kingdom are non-departmental public bodies responsible for determining the boundaries of constituencies for elections to the House of Commons. There are four boundary commissions: * Boundary Commission for ...

made only minor changes to take account of ward boundary changes. In 2009, a further government reorganisation resulted in the abolition of all local government boroughs and districts in Northumberland and the establishment of the county as a

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

. However, this has not affected the current constituency boundaries.

Members of Parliament

Colonel

Douglas Clifton Brown Douglas Clifton Brown, 1st Viscount Ruffside, (16 August 1879 – 5 May 1958) was a British politician who represented the Conservative Party (UK). He served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1943 to 1951. Upon stepping down as Speaker he ...

, who was Speaker of the House of Commons during the latter years of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, represented the seat for two separate tenures (from 1918-23, and again from 1924-51).

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1940s

*1943: Douglas Clifton-Brown becomes Speaker of the House of Commons.

Elections in the 1930s

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1914–15: Alan Ian Percy 8th Duke of Northumberland - Alexander Bassano - pre-1913

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:

Richard Durning Holt Sir Richard Durning Holt, Baronet, JP (13 November 1868 – 22 March 1941) was a British Liberal Party politician and businessman with interests in shipping. Background and education Holt was born on 13 November 1868 at Edge Lane, in West Der ...

*Unionist: Alan PercyNewcastle Journal 12 March 1914

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1890s

* Caused after the 1892 result was declared void on petition. *Clayton was unseated on petition

Elections in the 1880s

Notes

References

;Specific ;General Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Hexham (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in Northumberland Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1885