Scarborough and Whitby (UK Parliament constituency)

Scarborough and Whitby is a constituency^{[n 1]} in North Yorkshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Alison Hume, a Labour MP.^{[n 2]}

Scarborough and Whitby
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundaries since 2010
Boundary of Scarborough and Whitby in Yorkshire and the Humber
County	North Yorkshire
Electorate	72,191 (December 2019)[1]
Major settlements	Scarborough and Whitby
Current constituency
Created	1997
Member of Parliament	Alison Hume (Labour)
Seats	One
Created from	Scarborough
1918–1974 (1974)
Seats	One
Type of constituency	County constituency
Created from	Scarborough and Whitby
Replaced by	Scarborough

History

The constituency name has had two separate periods of existence.

1918–1974:

A Scarborough and Whitby division of the North Riding of Yorkshire was created by the Representation of the People Act 1918 after the Boundary Commission of 1917 and first elected a Member of Parliament in the 1918 general election. This division took the entirety of the abolished Parliamentary borough of Scarborough together with the majority of the previous Whitby division and a very small part of Cleveland division^{[n 3]}. It had a population, in the middle of 1914, of 72,979.^[2] The Boundary Commission had initially recommended that the division simply be called 'Scarborough' but an amendment moved by the Government during enactment of their recommendations enacted it from the outset as Scarborough and Whitby.^[3] Throughout its 56-year first creation which allowed a full franchise for all resident men it was represented by a Conservative, including during the Attlee Ministry and First Wilson Ministry.

Changes to boundaries:

The Initial Report of the Boundary Commission in 1947 made minor changes to the constituency, in line with local government changes which had abolished Guisborough Rural District in 1932 and absorbed it into Whitby Rural District. The new constituency again included the whole of Whitby Rural District, and so gained Hinderwell which was previously within Cleveland constituency. It had an electorate of 67,884 on 15 October 1946.^[4] No change was made in the First Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission in 1954.^[5]

The Second Periodical Report, published in 1969 recommended that the constituency be divided and its recommendations came into effect at the February 1974 general election abolishing the seat. The Scarborough constituency was thereby re-established, and Whitby joined with Guisborough, Loftus, Saltburn and Brotton to form Cleveland and Whitby.

By the beginning of the Third Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission, Cleveland had been created as a new county, which would normally prevent the commission from recommending a constituency crossing the border. Several representations were made to the commission to try to preserve Cleveland and Whitby constituency, but the Commission found itself unable to accept them and recommended putting Scarborough and Whitby together in a new Scarborough despite including the other coastal town, its old name, including Whitby, was finally reinstated in the next review.^{[n 4]} This constituency did not include Pickering, which was placed in a new Ryedale constituency.^[6]

1997–present:

In the Fourth Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for England, published in 1995 and coming into effect at the 1997 general election, the Scarborough constituency was renamed as Scarborough and Whitby with no change in boundaries.^[7]

When the constituency was recreated in 1997, the Labour candidate, Lawrie Quinn, defeated John Sykes, the sitting Conservative MP – one of many locally and national press-predicted unlikely gains for Labour in their landslide victory of that year. The current incumbent, Robert Goodwill, defeated Quinn in 2005 to regain the seat for Conservatives.

Prominent members

Sir Herbert Paul Latham was the first sitting Member of Parliament serving in the army to have been court martialled since 1815.

Sir Alexander Spearman served as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the President of the Board of Trade from 1951 to 1952.

Sir Robert Goodwill served in as a junior minister in both the Cameron–Clegg coalition and the second Cameron ministry.

Boundaries

1918–1950: The Municipal Borough of Scarborough, the Urban Districts of Pickering, Scalby, and Whitby, the Rural Districts of Scarborough and Whitby, and parts of the Rural District of Pickering and Guisborough.

1950–1974: The Municipal Borough of Scarborough, the Urban Districts of Pickering, Scalby, and Whitby, and the Rural Districts of Scarborough and Whitby.

1997–2010: The Borough of Scarborough wards of Ayton, Castle, Cayton, Central, Danby, Derwent, Eastfield, Eskdaleside, Falsgrave, Fylingdales, Lindhead, Mayfield, Mulgrave, Newby, Northstead, Scalby, Seamer, Streonshalh, Weaponness, and Woodlands.

2010–2024: The Borough of Scarborough wards of Castle, Cayton, Central, Danby, Derwent Valley, Eastfield, Esk Valley, Falsgrave Park, Fylingdales, Lindhead, Mayfield, Mulgrave, Newby, North Bay, Northstead, Ramshill, Scalby Hackness and Staintondale, Seamer, Stepney, Streonshalh, Weaponness, Whitby West Cliff, and Woodlands.

2024–present: The Borough of Scarborough wards of Burniston and Cloughton, Castle, Cayton, Danby and Mulgrave, Derwent Valley and Moor, Eastfield, Esk Valley, Falsgrave and Stepney, Fylingdales and Ravenscar, Mayfield, Newby, Northstead, Scalby Seamer, Streonshalh, Weaponness and Ramshil, Whitby West Cliff, and Woodlands.

Constituency profile

The constituency covers the towns of Scarborough and Whitby. Both of these are seaside towns in North Yorkshire on the north-east coast of England. However, the constituency is largely rural and semi-rural, such issues tend to influence voting preferences, with Scarborough itself mostly Labour and the rural areas Conservative. At the last two general elections, it was the most marginal seat in North Yorkshire.

In statistics

The constituency consists of Census Output Areas of a Borough with a working population whose income is close to the national average and lower than average reliance upon social housing.^[8] At the end of 2012 the unemployment rate in the constituency stood as 4.8% of the population claiming jobseekers allowance, compared to the regional average of 4.7%.^[9] The borough has a medium-high 28.8% of its population without a car, a high 26.0% of the population without qualifications and a medium 22.7% with level 4 qualifications or above.

In terms of tenure, a high 75.8% of homes are owned outright or on a mortgage as at the 2011 UK Census across the borough.^[10]

Members of Parliament

MPs 1918–1974

Scarborough and Whitby 1918–1950

Year		Member[11]	Party
	1918	Gervase Beckett	Unionist
	1922	Sidney Herbert	Unionist
	1931	Paul Latham	Conservative
	1941	Alexander Spearman	Conservative
	1966	Michael Shaw	Conservative
	1974	constituency abolished

MPs since 1997

Scarborough prior to 1997

Election		Member[11]	Party
	1997	Lawrie Quinn	Labour
	2005	Robert Goodwill	Conservative
	2024	Alison Hume	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Scarborough and Whitby^[12][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alison Hume	17,758	40.2	+5.4
	Conservative	Roberto Weeden-Sanz	12,350	27.9	−27.6
	Reform UK	David Bowes	9,657	21.8	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Lockwood	1,899	4.3	−1.8
	Green	Annette Hudspeth	1,719	3.9	N/A
	Yorkshire	Lee Derrick	477	1.1	−2.5
	Social Justice Party	Asa Jones	285	0.6	N/A
	SDP	Thomas Foster	76	0.2	N/A
Majority			5,408	12.3	N/A
Turnout			44,221	59.3	−7.5
Registered electors			74,558
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+16.5

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Scarborough and Whitby^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Goodwill	27,593	55.5	+7.1
	Labour	Hugo Fearnley	17,323	34.8	−6.8
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Lockwood	3,038	6.1	+3.4
	Yorkshire	Lee Derrick	1,770	3.6	+2.9
Majority			10,270	20.7	+13.9
Turnout			49,724	66.8	−1.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	+6.9

General election 2017: Scarborough and Whitby^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Goodwill	24,401	48.4	+5.2
	Labour	Eric Broadbent	20,966	41.6	+11.4
	UKIP	Sam Cross	1,682	3.3	−13.8
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Lockwood	1,354	2.7	−1.8
	Green	David Malone	915	1.8	−2.8
	Independent	John Freeman	680	1.4	N/A
	Yorkshire	Bill Black	369	0.7	N/A
	Independent	Gordon Johnson	82	0.2	N/A
Majority			3,435	6.8	−6.2
Turnout			50,523	68.6	+3.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	-3.1

General election 2015: Scarborough and Whitby^[16][17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Goodwill	20,613	43.2	+0.4
	Labour	Ian McInnes	14,413	30.2	+3.9
	UKIP	Sam Cross	8,162	17.1	+14.1
	Green	David Malone	2,185	4.6	+3.1
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Beckett	2,159	4.5	−18.0
	Alliance for Green Socialism	Juliet Boddington	207	0.4	+0.2
Majority			6,200	13.0	−3.5
Turnout			47,739	64.9	−0.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.8

Scarborough & Whitby 1997–

General election 2010: Scarborough and Whitby^[18][19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Goodwill	21,108	42.8	+1.8
	Labour	Annajoy David	12,978	26.3	−12.0
	Liberal Democrats	Tania Exley-Moore	11,093	22.5	+6.5
	UKIP	Michael James	1,484	3.0	+1.0
	BNP	Trisha Scott	1,445	2.9	N/A
	Green	Dilys Cluer	734	1.5	−1.1
	Independent	Peter Popple	329	0.7	N/A
	Alliance for Green Socialism	Juliet Boddington	111	0.2	N/A
Majority			8,130	16.5	+13.9
Turnout			49,282	65.3	+1.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	+6.9

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Scarborough and Whitby^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Goodwill	19,248	41.0	+1.4
	Labour	Lawrie Quinn	18,003	38.4	−8.8
	Liberal Democrats	Tania Exley-Moore	7,495	16.0	+7.6
	Green	Jonathan Dixon	1,214	2.6	+0.4
	UKIP	Paul Abbott	952	2.0	0.0
Majority			1,245	2.6	N/A
Turnout			46.912	71.7	+8.5
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+5.1

General election 2001: Scarborough and Whitby^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lawrie Quinn	22,426	47.2	+1.6
	Conservative	John Sykes	18,841	39.6	+3.4
	Liberal Democrats	Thomas Pearce	3,977	8.4	−5.7
	Green	Jonathan Dixon	1,049	2.2	N/A
	UKIP	John Jacob	970	2.0	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	Theresa Murray	260	0.5	N/A
Majority			3,585	7.6	−1.8
Turnout			47,523	63.2	−8.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Scarborough and Whitby^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lawrie Quinn	24,791	45.6	+15.7
	Conservative	John Sykes	19,667	36.2	−13.6
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Allinson	7,672	14.1	−4.8
	Referendum	Shelagh Murray	2,191	4.0	N/A
Majority			5,124	9.4	N/A
Turnout			54,321	71.6	−5.6
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+14.7

Election in the 1970s

General election 1970: Scarborough & Whitby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Shaw	26,154	49.8	+6.7
	Liberal	Michael Ford Pitts	16,517	31.5	−0.3
	Labour	Jean B Hewitson	9,802	18.7	−5.5
Majority			9,637	18.3	+7.0
Turnout			52,473	71.5	−2.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1966: Scarborough & Whitby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Shaw	21,141	43.1	−2.9
	Liberal	Richard S Rowntree	15,599	31.8	+1.9
	Labour	Jack Goodhand	11,848	24.2	+0.2
	Ind. Conservative	Jane Ellis	429	0.9	N/A
Majority			5,542	11.3	−4.8
Turnout			49,017	74.1	−0.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1964: Scarborough & Whitby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alexander Spearman	22,632	46.0	−8.3
	Liberal	Richard S Rowntree	14,725	29.9	+6.7
	Labour	Peter Hardy	11,818	24.0	+1.5
Majority			7,907	16.1	−15.0
Turnout			49,175	74.9	+2.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1959: Scarborough & Whitby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alexander Spearman	25,226	54.3	−3.6
	Liberal	Gilbert Gray	10,759	23.2	+3.5
	Labour	Guy Barnett	10,468	22.5	+0.1
Majority			14,467	31.1	−4.4
Turnout			46,453	72.6	0.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1955: Scarborough & Whitby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alexander Spearman	27,133	57.9	−8.6
	Labour	John Archer	10,488	22.4	−11.1
	Liberal	Gilbert Gray	9,215	19.7	N/A
Majority			16,645	35.5	+2.5
Turnout			46,453	72.6	−3.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1951: Scarborough & Whitby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alexander Spearman	32,988	66.5	+11.3
	Labour	Henry Brinton	16,621	33.5	+5.9
Majority			16,367	33.0	+2.4
Turnout			49,609	75.9	−4.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1950: Scarborough & Whitby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alexander Spearman	28,896	55.2	+4.3
	Labour	Philip Taylor	14,421	27.6	+4.8
	Liberal	Ronald William Sykes	8,989	17.2	−9.1
Majority			14,475	27.6	+3.0
Turnout			52,306	80.8	+11.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Scarborough & Whitby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alexander Spearman	20,786	50.9	−3.0
	Liberal	Humphrey Razzall	10,739	26.3	−12.4
	Labour	Douglas H Curry	9,289	22.8	+15.4
Majority			10,047	24.6	+9.4
Turnout			40,814	69.2	−5.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

1941 Scarborough and Whitby by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alexander Spearman	12,518	60.8	+6.9
	Independent Progressive	William Hipwell	8,086	39.2	N/A
Majority			4,432	21.6	+6.4
Turnout			20,604	35.9	−38.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

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 from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: Alexander Spearman^[23]
• Liberal: Margery Corbett-Ashby

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1935: Scarborough & Whitby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Latham	23,210	53.9	−29.1
	Liberal	Ramsay Muir	16,668	38.7	N/A
	Labour	T Wilson Coates	3,195	7.4	−9.6
Majority			6,542	15.19	−50.7
Turnout			43,073	74.7	+5.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1931: Scarborough & Whitby

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Latham	32,025	82.97
	Labour	Philip Sidney Eastman	6,575	17.03
Majority			25,450	65.94
Turnout			38,600	69.49
	Conservative hold		Swing

1931 Scarborough and Whitby by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Latham	21,618	52.7	+4.4
	Liberal	Ramsay Muir	19,429	47.3	+6.4
Majority			2,189	5.4	−2.0
Turnout			41,047	75.5	−4.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1929: Scarborough and Whitby^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sidney Herbert	20,710	48.3	−9.2
	Liberal	Henry Gisborne	17,549	40.9	+6.7
	Labour	Howard Doncaster Rowntree	4,645	10.8	+2.5
Majority			3,161	7.4	−15.9
Turnout			42,899	79.7	+0.8
	Unionist hold		Swing	-8.0

General election 1924: Scarborough and Whitby^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sidney Herbert	18,911	57.5	+2.3
	Liberal	Ashley Mitchell	11,223	34.2	−14.2
	Labour	Howard Doncaster Rowntree	2,713	8.3	N/A
Majority			7,688	23.3	+20.1
Turnout			32,847	78.9	+2.5
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1923: Scarborough and Whitby^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sidney Herbert	15,927	51.6	−3.6
	Liberal	Ashley Mitchell	14,933	48.4	+3.6
Majority			994	3.2	−7.2
Turnout			30,860	76.4	+0.2
	Unionist hold		Swing	-3.6

General election 1922: Scarborough and Whitby^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sidney Herbert	16,358	55.2	−1.6
	Liberal	Sydney Peverill Turnball	13,262	44.8	+6.3
Majority			3,096	10.4	−7.7
Turnout			29,620	76.2	+16.1
	Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Scarborough & Whitby^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Gervase Beckett	11,764	56.6
	Liberal	Osbert Sitwell	7,994	38.5
	Labour	John Watson Rowntree	1,025	4.9
Majority			3,770	18.1
Turnout			20,783	60.1
	Unionist win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in North Yorkshire
• List of parliamentary constituencies in the Yorkshire and the Humber (region)
• Wayback Machine www.annajoydavid.org.uk

Notes

1. A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer).
2. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
3. The parishes of Westerdale and Commondale
4. Still as a county constituency

References

Specific

1. "Constituency data: electorates – House of Commons Library". Parliament UK. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
2. Statement 45 (County of York, North Riding), Schedule, "Report of the Boundary Commission (England & Wales)", Cd. 8756.
3. Hansard, HC 5ser vol 99 col 2395.
4. "Initial Report of the Boundary Commission for England", Cmd. 7260, p. 52.
5. "First Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for England", Cmd. 9311, p. 39.
6. "Third Periodical Report", Boundary Commission for England, vol I, Cmnd. 8797-I, p. 130.
7. "Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies", ed. by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, BBC/ITN/PA News/Sky, 1995, p. 8 note 1.
8. "Local statistics – Office for National Statistics". www.ons.gov.uk.
9. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
10. "2011 census interactive maps". Archived from the original on 29 January 2016.
11. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 2)
12. "Scarborough and Whitby results". BBC News. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
13. "Notice of Result of Poll" (PDF). North Yorkshire Council. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
14. "Scarborough & Whitby Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
15. "General Election 2017". Gazette & Herald. 11 May 2017.
16. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
17. "Scarborough & Whitby". BBC News. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
18. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
19. "Scarborough & Whitby". BBC News. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
20. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
21. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
22. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
23. Hull Daily Mail, 21 July 1938
24. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, Craig

General

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

Sources

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 509. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.

External links

• Scarborough and Whitby UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK
• Scarborough and Whitby UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
• Scarborough and Whitby UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK

54.38°N 0.54°W / 54.38; -0.54