Doncaster North 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 ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. ...

, England, 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 2005 by

Ed Miliband Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliba ...

of the Labour Party. From 2010 until 2015, he was

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

before he lost the 2015 general election to

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

and 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 ...

. Part of the red wall, it was formerly a Labour stronghold, until the 2019 general election when it became a Labour-Conservative marginal.

History

The constituency was created in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

from parts of the former constituencies of Don Valley,

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

Goole Goole is a port town and civil parish on the River Ouse in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The town's historic county is the West Riding of Yorkshire. According to the 2011 UK census, Goole parish had a population of 19,518, an increa ...

, and was a Labour

stronghold A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere' ...

until the 2019 general election, when Labour held the seat with a significantly reduced majority of 2,370 votes.

has served as the MP for the constituency since

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

, and he also served as Leader of the Labour Party and

from

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

until stepping down after the 2015 general election.

Boundaries

1983–1997: The Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster wards of Adwick, Askern, Bentley Central, Bentley North Road, Hatfield, Stainforth, and Thorne. 1997–2010: The Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster wards of Adwick, Askern, Bentley Central, Bentley North Road, Stainforth, and Thorne. 2010–present: The Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster wards of Adwick, Askern Spa, Bentley, Great North Road, Mexborough, Sprotbrough, Stainforth and Moorends.

Constituency profile

The constituency covers largely rural areas north and west of

, and suburban areas too, stretching to partly suburban

Mexborough Mexborough is a town in the City of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. Situated between Manvers and Denaby Main, it lies on the River Don close to where it joins the River Dearne, and the A6023 road runs through the town. It is contiguous ...

in the west,

Bentley Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, Nort ...

that lies on the northern banks of the River Don and Adwick which is farther north. The seat is an area with moderate typical incomes which has yet to fully recover from the almost total end of the local coal mining industry; however, large numbers of constituents now work in construction and manufacturing. Alongside these typically Labour-supporting areas, the constituency also contains more Conservative-leaning areas such as

Sprotbrough Sprotbrough is a village in the City of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England, west of the centre. With Cusworth to the north, it forms the civil parish of Sprotbrough and Cusworth. Sprotbrough village had a population of 3,321 at the 2011 c ...

. Doncaster North has returned Labour MPs since

, when the constituency was created. The preceding constituencies had returned Labour MPs at every general election since at least

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

. At the EU referendum held on 23 June 2016, Doncaster voted to leave the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

. This was a contrast to the views of the constituency's MP

, who advocated a "Remain" vote. Miliband was re-elected on 12 December with a significantly reduced majority of 2,370 votes at the 2019 general election, which is attributed to

Brexit Party Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was briefly a significant ...

candidate Andy Stewart picking up 8,294 votes and finishing in third place with 20.4% of the vote. Following the collapse in the Labour vote, the seat is now marginal between Labour and the Conservatives.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Notes

References

Sources

Ed Miliband, MP for Doncaster North
The website of Ed Miliband {{Authority control Parliamentary constituencies in Yorkshire and the Humber Politics of Doncaster Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1983