It has relatively low unemployment (1.7% jobseekers claimants in May 2025[3]), and a historically higher rate of owner occupancy,[4] although the proportion of private renters has risen in the most recent census.[5] Since the2010 boundary changes, of the city's two universities, only theUniversity of Sheffield Management School has a campus in the constituency,[6] but it still includes areas where many students live.[7]
On income-based 2004 statistics, this was the most affluent constituency one place below the top ten seats of the 650, which were spread across theSouth East of England (includingLondon), with almost 12% of residents earning over £60,000 a year.[8] Based on 2011–12 income and tax statistics fromHMRC Sheffield Hallam had the 70th highest median income of the 650 parliamentary constituencies.[9] More recent data complicates this picture: theCentre for cities' 2024 analysis of constituencies showed the gross income of Sheffield Hallam to be £18,048, marginally above the city average of £17,404.[10] The same data highlighted that the constituency's share of jobs in publicly-funded services, such as the universities, council and NHS, was 31.3%, above the England and Wales average of 25.7%.[10]LabourList have highlighted that the city's public sector workforce were 'angered byLib Dem role in austerity', and 'did feel real-terms impacts from austerity in their earnings'.[11]
Prior to its creation Hallam was a part of the largerSheffield Borough constituency, which was represented by twoMembers of Parliament (MPs). In 1885 theRedistribution of Seats Act, which sought to eliminate constituencies with more than one MP and for the first time allow approximately equal representation of the people, led to the break-up of the constituency into five divisions: each represented by a single MP, as today. Hallam was one of these new divisions. Its first MP, the ConservativeCharles Stuart-Wortley, had previously been an MP in the Sheffield constituency, elected for the first time in 1880.
Hallam was regarded in 2004 as the wealthiest constituency in the north of England[8] and was held by theConservative Party for all but two years from 1885 to 1997. At the1997 general election,Richard Allan of the Liberal Democrats took the seat with an 18.5%swing, becoming only the second non-Tory ever to win it. He handed the seat to fellow Lib Dem and futureUK Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg in 2005; who held it until his defeat by Labour'sJared O'Mara at the 2017 snap general election. That year saw the constituency record its highest turnout in66 years, with 77.8% of the electorate going to the polls.
Sheffield Hallam was once only constituency inSouth Yorkshire not to be considered aLabour stronghold, returning its first Labour MP in 2017. It was a safeConservative seat from 1885 until 1997. This long period of Conservative dominance included the period underMargaret Thatcher's premiership, starkly contrasting with most seats in the county and the neighbouring county ofDerbyshire; the constituency was the only Conservative seat in South Yorkshire in the three elections before the1997 General Election.
At the1997 general election,Richard Allan of the Liberal Democrats took the seat with an 18.5%swing. He was followed byNick Clegg in 2005, who was leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2015 andDeputy Prime Minister from 2010 to 2015. Clegg held it until his defeat by Labour'sJared O'Mara at the 2017 snap general election.[12] That year saw the constituency record its highest turnout in66 years, with 77.8% of the electorate going to the polls.
From 25 October 2017 until 3 July 2018, O'Mara had the whip withdrawn as a Labour MP and sat as an independent. It was later restored but he quit the Labour Party shortly afterwards.[13] He then sat as anindependent MP until leaving parliament.[14] O'Mara announced he would resign as an MP in September 2019, citing mental health issues.[15] He postponed his resignation until the 2019 general election.[16]
Due in part to the high profile of the constituency's then-MP Nick Clegg, who served as Deputy Prime Minister during the 2010–15 Parliament, Sheffield Hallam was unusual in having had seven constituency-specific opinion polls conducted between 2010 and 2015. Each of these polls suggested significant changes in the vote share compared to 2010 general election.
The first poll, in October 2010, suggested a drop in the Lib Dem lead in the seat to just 2%, from nearly 30% at the general election five months earlier. Five of the six remaining polls, which appeared between May 2014 and May 2015, suggested that Labour was in the lead in the seat by this time, with the Labour lead fluctuating to between 1% and 10%, and one put the Lib Dems in the lead.
On average across all seven opinion polls, Labour had a lead over the Lib Dems of 2.5%. The Conservatives came second in one poll, and third in the other six polls. The May 2015 ICM poll scores displayed are those of the constituency voting intention question. The same poll also carried the standard voting intention question, which showed a Labour lead.[21][22][23][24][25][26][27]
In 2010, Sheffield Hallam was one of a number of constituencies that experienced problems on polling day leading to some people being unable to cast their vote. In this case, voters at the Ranmoor polling station were subjected to long queues and some voters were turned away when polls closed at 10 pm, with Liberal Democrat candidate Nick Clegg apologising to those voters affected. Acting Returning Officer John Mothersole said that staff had been "caught out" by a high turnout, and theElectoral Commission instigated a review of procedures in Hallam and other constituencies where similar problems had occurred.[39]
^At the1997 general election the seat saw an unprecedented 18.2%one-party swing from the other parties, particularly the large Conservative vote, towards the Liberal Democrat winning candidate.
^After 28 years as MP for the seat, John Osborn stood down at the1987 general election. His replacement as the Conservative Party candidate, local businessman Irvine Patnick, held the seat for the Conservatives with a slightly reduced majority.
^abDavid Blunkett, the losing February 1974 Labour candidate, won theSheffield Brightside seat in 1987 enabling his later positions in government as Secretary of State (1997–2005).
^The constituency boundaries were redrawn prior to theFebruary 1974 general election, perhaps accounting for the reduced majority of the incumbent, John Osborn.
