Sunderland Central 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 ...

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 ...

. It is represented by the Labour Party MP

Julie Elliott Julie Elliott (born 29 July 1963) is a British Labour Party politician, who was first elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Sunderland Central in 2010. Elliott served as Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change from October 2013 to Sept ...

, who has held the seat since its creation in 2010.

Constituency profile

The Sunderland Central constituency covers both the

city centre A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...

and Sunderland Docks as well as coastal suburbs such as Fulwell and

Ryhope Ryhope ( ) is a coastal village along the southern boundary of the City of Sunderland, in Tyne and Wear, North East England. With a population of approximately 14,000, measured at 10.484 in the 2011 census, Ryhope is 2.9 miles to the centre of ...

. Nearly all of the middle-class areas of the city are in this constituency and therefore the Conservatives tend to do better in Sunderland Central than either of its neighbours. The City of Sunderland spans the

River Wear The River Wear (, ) in North East England rises in the Pennines and flows eastwards, mostly through County Durham to the North Sea in the City of Sunderland. At long, it is one of the region's longest rivers, wends in a steep valley through ...

and is southeast 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 ...

, with long-distance train and air links, as such it is a base for companies, particularly those requiring a large labour force, including in graphic design and production through to customer service jobs in fields such as insurance and banking. The public sector is also a source of significant employment, providing a wide range of services. Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 higher than the national average of 3.8%, at 6.0% of the population based on a statistical compilation by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', one percentage point higher than

Houghton and Sunderland South Houghton and Sunderland South () is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its creation in 2010 by Bridget Phillipson of the Labour Party. In the 2010 and 2015 general elections, it was the first cons ...

. Similarly, the regional average stood at 5.7%.

Boundaries

The City of Sunderland wards of Barnes, Fulwell,

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Gre ...

Millfield Millfield is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) located in Street, Somerset, England. It was founded in 1935. Millfield is a registered charity and is the largest co-educational boarding sch ...

Pallion Pallion is a suburb and electoral ward in North West Sunderland, in Tyne and Wear, England. Most of the buildings in the area were built during the Victorian Era and consist of large terraced houses built for shipbuilders, but also smaller one-s ...

, St Michael's, St Peter's and Southwick. Sunderland Central was created for the 2010 general election when the Boundary Commission reduced the number of seats in

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 ...

from 13 to 12, with the constituencies in the City of Sunderland, in particular, being reorganised. The constituency was formed primarily from the abolished

Sunderland North Sunderland North was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 to 2010. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. History Sun ...

seat, together with parts of the abolished constituencies of Sunderland South (Hendon and St Michael's wards) and Houghton and Washington East (Ryhope ward). The reorganisation also created the

and

Washington and Sunderland West Washington and Sunderland West is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 2010 creation by Sharon Hodgson, a member of the Labour Party. Constituency profile The town of Washington has a well-preserv ...

constituencies.

Political history

Sunderland Central is a slightly more

marginal seat A marginal seat or swing seat is a constituency held with a small majority in a legislative election, generally one conducted under a single-winner voting system. In Canada, they may be known as target ridings. The opposite is a safe seat. The ...

than its predecessors with a swing of 12.8% from Labour to the

Conservatives 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 ...

required for the latter party to win the seat in 2010. This is because it brings together virtually all of the areas of historical Conservative strength, such as Fulwell and St Michaels, into one seat.

Local politics of wards in the seat

At the 2008 city council elections, held in thirds, the Conservatives carried five of Sunderland Central's nine wards, with Labour winning three and the Liberal Democrats one. However, at the next city council elections held on the same day as the 2010 general election, the Conservatives carried only two of Sunderland Central's nine wards, with Labour winning seven and the Liberal Democrats none.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

References

{{Authority control Politics of the City of Sunderland Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 2010 Parliamentary constituencies in Tyne and Wear Sunderland