Barrow and Furness, formerly known as Barrow-in-Furness, is a

UK Parliament constituency The Parliament of the United Kingdom currently has 650 parliamentary constituencies across the constituent countries (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland), each electing a single member of parliament (MP) to the House of Commons by ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

. It has been represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

of the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

Michelle Scrogham Michelle Scrogham ( White; born December 1970) is a British Labour Party politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Barrow and Furness since 2024. She was first elected in the 2024 general election when she defeated the incumbent ...

of the Labour Party since

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. Since its inception in 1885, the constituency has been centred on the town of

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...

, at the tip of the Furness peninsula. Over the intervening years the constituency has periodically grown in size, and as of the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

it incorporates the entirety of the peninsula, the Eskdale and Duddon Valleys, and all of coastal West Cumbria as far north as

Ravenglass Ravenglass is an English coastal village in west Cumbria that lies between Barrow-in-Furness and Whitehaven, on the estuary of three rivers: the Esk, Mite and Irt. It is the only coastal village in the Lake District National Park. Formerly in ...

History and profile

The seat was established by the

Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 23) was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (sometimes called the "Reform Act of 1885"). It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that r ...

and covers the southwest part of

. It was predominantly a Conservative seat in its early history, though from 1945, it became an increasingly safe seat for Labour for nearly four decades. The largest town in the constituency,

, grew on the back of the

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

industry and is now the site of the

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

nuclear submarine A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor, but not necessarily nuclear-armed. Nuclear submarines have considerable performance advantages over "conventional" (typically diesel-electric) submarines. Nuclear propulsion ...

and shipbuilding operation. This reliance on the industry aligns many of its journalists and in its community with strong nuclear deterrents, from which Labour has recoiled since its involvement in the Iraq War that removed dictator Saddam Hussain. Labour Cabinet member Albert Booth represented Barrow for many years from 1966, but was defeated in 1983, in the aftermath of the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

, by a

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

lawyer, Cecil Franks of the Conservative Party, who retained the seat until 1992. Local media attributed this to widespread fears of job losses because the Labour Party was then signed up to doing away with all its

nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics * Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

capabilities including the

submarines A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or info ...

. Other industries in the constituency currently include engineering and chemicals, and more than a quarter of all jobs are in

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...

. As Labour revised its policies by favouring the retention of Britain's nuclear capability, and following massive job losses in the town's shipbuilding industry, Labour's fortunes revived in Barrow. John Hutton took the seat back for Labour in 1992 and retained it until the 2010 general election, when he was replaced by John Woodcock, also of Labour. In 2001, Hutton had the support of more than half of all those who voted. The 2015 result gave the seat the 10th-smallest majority of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority. In 2017, Woodcock's majority was reduced from 795 votes to 209 votes, the 16th smallest majority in the country. Following Woodcock's resignation from the Labour party in 2018, he stood down as an MP for the 2019 general election when the seat was gained by Conservative Simon Fell, who had contested the seat unsuccessfully in 2015 and 2017. He won with a slightly greater margin than Woodcock had when he first won the seat for Labour in 2010. The seat was retaken by Labour's

at the 2024 election with a majority of 12.6% - the same as Fell's majority in 2019.

Boundaries

Historic

1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. 1918–1950: The County Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. 1950–1983: The County Borough of Barrow-in-Furness and the Urban District of Dalton-in-Furness. 1983–2010: The entire District of

and the following wards from the District of South Lakeland: Low Furness, Pennington, Ulverston Central, Ulverston East, Ulverston North, Ulverston South and Ulverston West. 2010–2024: The entire District of

and the following wards from the District of South Lakeland: Broughton, Crake Valley, Low Furness & Swarthmoor,

Ulverston Ulverston is a market town and civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it lies a few miles south of the Lake District Lake District National Park, National Park and j ...

Central, Ulverston East, Ulverston North, Ulverston South, Ulverston Town and Ulverston West.

Current

The

2023 periodic review of Westminster constituencies The 2023 review of Westminster constituencies was the most recent cycle of the process to redraw the Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, constituency map for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The new constituency b ...

was carried out using the local authority structure as it existed in

on 1 December 2020 and is officially defined as: * The Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. * The Borough of Copeland wards of: Black Combe & Scafell; Millom. * The District of South Lakeland wards of: Broughton & Coniston (polling districts AHA, AHB, AHC, BZ, CA, CB, CL and CY); Furness Peninsula; Ulverston East; Ulverston West. With effect from 1 April 2023, the second tier councils in Cumbria were abolished and replaced by the new unitary authorities of Cumberland, and Westmorland and Furness. Consequently, the constituency now comprises the following from the

: * The Cumberland wards of: Millom; Millom Without (most). * The Westmorland and Furness wards of: Dalton North; Dalton South; Hawcoat and Newbarns; High Furness; Low Furness; Old Barrow and Hindpool; Ormsgill and Parkside; Risedale and Roosecote; Ulverston; Walney Island; and a very small part of Coniston and Hawkshead. ''The constituency was expanded to bring the electorate within the permitted range by transferring the town of

Millom Millom is a town and civil parish on the north shore of the estuary of the River Duddon in southernmost Cumberland, Cumbria, England. It is situated just outside the Lake District National Park, about north of Barrow-in-Furness ( by road) and ...

from the abolished constituency of Copeland.''

Members of Parliament

Election results

Elections in the 21st century

Elections in the 2020s

Elections in the 2010s

Results for Barrow and Furness since 1997

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 20th century

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1940s

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1939–40 Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected; *Conservative: Jonah Walker-Smith *Labour: Ronald McKinnon Wood

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1910s

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; *Labour: Charles Duncan *Unionist:

Francis Meynell Sir Francis Meredith Wilfrid Meynell (12 May 1891 – 10 July 1975) was a British poet and printer at The Nonesuch Press. Early career He was the son of the journalist and publisher Wilfrid Meynell and the poet Alice Meynell, a suffragi ...

Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser 15 Jan 1914

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 19th century

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1880s

''The election was declared void on petition, causing a by-election.''

Notes

References

External links

Barrow and Furness UK Parliament constituency
(boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at ''MapIt UK''

(boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at ''MapIt UK''

(boundaries from June 2024) at ''MapIt UK'' {{Coord, 54.112, -3.178, display=title, region:GB_scale:50000 Parliamentary constituencies in Cumbria Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1885 Furness Politics of Barrow-in-Furness