Hartlepool
Borough constituency for theHouse of Commons
Interactive map of boundaries since 1983
Boundary of Hartlepool in North East England
County	County Durham
Electorate	71,228 (2023)[1]
Major settlements	Hartlepool,Seaton Carew
Current constituency
Created	1974 (1974)
Member of Parliament	Jonathan Brash (Labour)
Seats	One
Created from	The Hartlepools

Hartlepool/ˈhɑːrtlɪpuːl/HART-lih-pool is aborough constituency represented in theHouse of Commons of theUK Parliament^[a] byJonathan Brash of theLabour Party from 2024. The constituency covers the town ofHartlepool plus nearby settlements.

Labour won every contest for the seat since the first at theFebruary 1974 election (and mostly won the predecessor constituency ofThe Hartlepools from the1945 election onward) untilJill Mortimer won the2021 by-election, becoming the first Conservative MP to represent Hartlepool since1959. However, she lost her seat back to Labour three years later, falling to third place.

The County Borough of Hartlepool.^[2]

Before 1974 the seat was known asThe Hartlepools (reflecting the representation of both old Hartlepool andWest Hartlepool). The name was changed following the merger in 1967 of the County Borough of West Hartlepool and the Municipal Borough of Hartlepool to form the County Borough of Hartlepool.

The Borough of Hartlepool.^[3][4][5]

As a result of major local government boundary changes in 1974 arising from theLocal Government Act 1972, the Borough of Hartlepool was incorporated into the new county ofCleveland. As a consequence, a small part of the pre-1983Easington constituency was added to the seat.

The2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies left the boundaries unchanged.^[6]

The seat is currently coterminous with theborough of Hartlepool, which has close to the average population for a UK parliamentary constituency. The seat includes the town of Hartlepool itself and the nearby villages ofHart,Elwick,Greatham,Newton Bewley andDalton Piercy.

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The constituency had previously substantially been in theconstituency of The Hartlepools. It became theconstituency of Hartlepool in 1974.

Hartlepool was aLabour constituency from its creation until 2021, although its predecessor did have Conservative MPs both in the early 1960s and during theSecond World War. At the1992 general election,Edward Leadbitter stood down and was succeeded by the former Labour Director of CommunicationsPeter Mandelson. Mandelson's pivotal role in the reshaping of the Labour Party intoNew Labour attracted much attention, and he became a prominent target.

During the first term of the Labour government led byTony Blair, Mandelson was twice appointed to theCabinet and twice forced to resign amid minor but controversial scandals. At the2001 general election there was a notable contest whenArthur Scargill, former leader of theNational Union of Mineworkers and the leader of theSocialist Labour Party, stood for election in the hope of exploiting uneasiness about New Labour in "traditional"Labour heartlands. In the event, Mandelson retained his seat, while Scargill polled only 912 votes. Mandelson shocked many with a triumphalist victory speech in which he declared "They underestimated Hartlepool, and they underestimated me, because I am a fighter and not a quitter!".^[7]

The following year, the town's firstdirect Mayoral election generated surprise when the mascot ofHartlepool United F.C.,H'Angus the Monkey (real nameStuart Drummond) was elected on a platform that included free bananas for schoolchildren.

Mandelson resigned as MP for Hartlepool when he was appointed as aEuropean Commissioner in the summer of 2004. This triggered a by-election that took place on 30 September. TheHartlepool by-election – the last held prior to the2005 general election – sawIain Wright retain the seat for Labour with a majority of 2,033 votes. That by-election marked the first time that theUK Independence Party had ever finished in third place at a by-election.

The Labour Party has continued to hold the seat since the by-election, with a dwindling majority and falling share of the vote, and at the three most recent general elections, three parties have finished in second place: the Liberal Democrats in 2005 (following their strong performance at the by-election the previous year), the Conservative Party in2010, and UKIP, going one better than its by-election showing, in2015.

In May 2010, the Conservatives gained their largest percentage vote increase in the country in Hartlepool, reducing the Labour majority to just over 5,500, whilst in 2015, UKIP recorded their eleventh-highest vote share in the United Kingdom, taking 28% and reducing the Labour majority to just over 3,000 votes.

Both the 2010 and 2015 general elections (in addition to several local elections) took place against the backdrop of concerns regarding the potential closure ofHartlepool and Stockton hospitals and their replacement with a new "super hospital" in out of townWynyard. This precipitated the closure of several departments, and the removal of services from Hartlepool. The move was initially supported by Hartlepool MP Iain Wright, and opposed by Stockton South candidate James Wharton at the 2010 general election. A substantial protest group was formed opposing Wynyard, and calling on services to remain at Hartlepool,^[8] backed by a campaign by theHartlepool Mail, a local newspaper.

Following the2008 financial crisis and theGreat Recession, theCameron–Clegg coalition announced it would scrap the Wynyard proposals, although no guarantees were made regarding the future of Hartlepool hospital.^[9] This issue continued to dominate politics in Hartlepool at both general elections and local council elections, which dented support for Iain Wright and Labour, who had backed the Wynyard plans, whilst many independent candidates gained traction.

At the 2010 general election, the Conservative Party approached Alan Wright, a regional broadcaster for theBBC and columnist for theHartlepool Mail, to stand as its candidate,^[10] despite his lack of political and campaigning experience, hoping that his high-profile would help. It was also noted that the similarity of his name to that of the town's MP, and the fact he would feature above him on the ballot paper, might result in additional votes.^[11] The Conservative Party gained a swing of 16.7%, the largest in the country, taking second place from the Liberal Democrats, and garnering it a vote share far exceeding their traditional local support.

Sitting MP Iain Wright was the only candidate from 2010 to remain on the much-extended ballot paper in 2015, in which the three main parties faced competition fromUKIP, theGreen Party, and threeindependent candidates, each standing primarily on healthcare-related platforms.

Popular local taxi driver and charity fundraiser Stephen Picton put himself forward as the voice of the hospital campaigners,^[12] although this was challenged by the last-minute candidacy of Sandra Allison, who stood under the banner of 'Your Vote Could Save Our Hospital'.^[13] John Hobbs, an 80 year old autism campaigner stood under the tagline 'Tell it like it is'.^[14]

UKIP earmarked Hartlepool as a potential gain, and the seat became one of its top ten national targets as well as its main target in the north-east, attracting significant party funding, visits from leaderNigel Farage, and the regional party conference.^[15] It selected Philip Broughton, a former Stockton Conservative Councillor and wrestling entrepreneur, as its candidate.^[16] The Conservative Party selected public affairs consultant and competitive swimmer, Richard Royal, as its candidate.^[17]

The Conservative Party's national '40/40 strategy' meant that much of its regional resources were directed towards the marginal seats ofStockton South andMiddlesbrough South and East Cleveland, forcing candidates to campaign outside of their selected seats.^[18] The Green Party selected local member Michael Holt, who had been arrested the previous year for obstructing a police officer at a protest in London, although charges were subsequently dropped.^[19] Just days before the nomination deadline, the Liberal Democrats selectedDarlington-based Hilary Allen as its candidate.^[20]

OnValentine's Day in 2015, a 'We Love Our Hospital' rally was organised by Save Our Hospital and the Teesside Peoples' Assembly Against Austerity, attracting large crowds in Hartlepool town centre. Candidates Iain Wright, Richard Royal, Philip Broughton, Stephen Picton and Michael Holt each gave speeches alongside other selected speakers. It was reported that Wright was booed and heckled by the crowd.^[21][22]

One day prior to the general election, local football clubHartlepool United F.C. took the unprecedented step of openly criticising Wright, and seemingly encouraging fans to support either Royal or Broughton, both of whom had met the club's leadership and shown support for its interests.^[23] The club had been under pressure, facing relegation and had an ongoing land dispute with theLabour council.

Throughout the campaign, both Phillip Broughton and Richard Royal sought to portray themselves as the only viable alternative to Iain Wright, with Broughton distributing leaflets claiming that the Hartlepool election was a 'two horse race',^[24] and Royal referring to the close 2010 result, with his slogan "Wright for your town? Wrong for your future. Turn Hartlepool Royal Blue".^[25] As a result, much of the anti Labour vote was split, with UKIP and the Conservatives gaining a combined 48.9% compared to Iain Wright's 35.6%, but neither taking enough votes individually to defeat Labour. At one point during election night itself, the vote looked so close that a recount was reported to be due,^[26] but this proved to be unnecessary after the inclusion of postal votes.

Following the 2015 general election result, Hartlepool became the 35th most vulnerable Labour seat in the country.^[27] At theEU referendum in 2016 Hartlepool voted to 'Leave' by 69.5%, making it one of the highest Leave-voting Labour-held seats in the UK.^[28] Despite this intenseEuroscepticism in the area making it perceived as a vulnerable seat for Labour, at the2017 general election Labour's new candidateMike Hill retained the seat, with UKIP's vote falling by 17 points and Labour's rising by 17 points. This gave Labour their biggest total vote and popular vote majority in Hartlepool since2001.

Following an allegation of sexual assault made against him in September 2019, Hill sat as an Independent. However, three weeks later, the allegation was withdrawn, and he had the Labourwhip restored.

On 16 March 2021 Mike Hill resigned as the MP for Hartlepool, triggering aby-election.^[29] The election was won byJill Mortimer of the Conservative Party. It is the first time the Conservatives have held the seat.

The result was the biggest swing towards an incumbent governing party in a by-election in the post war era; the record was formerly the1945 Bournemouth by-election.^[34]

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Cleveland
• History of parliamentary constituencies and boundaries in Cleveland
• History of parliamentary constituencies and boundaries in Durham
• List of parliamentary constituencies in North East England (region)

Specific

General

Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services.ISBN 0-900178-06-X.

• Hartlepool UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) atMapIt UK
• Hartlepool UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) atMapIt UK
• Hartlepool UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) atMapIt UK

54°40′N1°16′W / 54.67°N 1.26°W /54.67; -1.26

• Parliamentary constituencies in Cleveland
• Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1974
• Politics of the Borough of Hartlepool

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