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Pontefract and Castleford
Pontefract and Castleford
Former county constituency; for the House of Commons
	Boundary of Pontefract and Castleford in West Yorkshire for the 2005 general election
	Location of West Yorkshire within England
County	West Yorkshire
1974–2010
Seats	One
Created from	Pontefract
Replaced by	Normanton, Pontefract & Castleford

53°42′29″N 1°18′58″W / 53.708°N 1.316°W / 53.708; -1.316

Pontefract and Castleford was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until the 2010 general election. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Boundaries

1974–1983: The Municipal Boroughs of Castleford and Pontefract, and the Urban District of Featherstone.

1983–2010: The City of Wakefield wards of Castleford Ferry Fryston, Castleford Glasshoughton, Castleford Whitwood, Knottingley, Pontefract North, and Pontefract South.

The constituency covered the West Yorkshire towns of Pontefract and Castleford. It was a very safe Labour seat, made up of former mining towns and villages. The MP from 1997 until its abolition in 2010, Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, is married to former fellow Labour MP, former Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in West Yorkshire, the number of seats in West Yorkshire were reduced by one due to population decline by the Boundary Commission for England. A new, geographically larger, constituency called Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford was created in 2010 including the whole of this constituency.

Members of Parliament

	Member^[1]	Party
Feb 1974	Joe Harper	Labour
1978 by-election	Sir Geoffrey Lofthouse	Labour
1997	Yvette Cooper	Labour
2010	Constituency abolished: see Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford

Elections

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Pontefract and Castleford^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Yvette Cooper	20,973	63.7	−6.0
	Conservative	Simon Jones	5,727	17.4	−0.2
	Liberal Democrats	Wesley Paxton	3,942	12.0	+4.6
	BNP	Suzy Cass	1,835	5.6	New
	Alliance for Green Socialism	Bob Hague	470	1.4	New
Majority			15,246	46.3	−5.8
Turnout			32,947	53.3	+3.6
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 2001: Pontefract and Castleford^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Yvette Cooper	21,890	69.7	−6.0
	Conservative	Pamela Singleton	5,512	17.6	+4.0
	Liberal Democrats	Wesley Paxton	2,315	7.4	0.0
	UKIP	John Burdon	739	2.4	New
	Socialist Labour	Trevor Bolderson	605	1.9	New
	Socialist Alliance	John Gill	330	1.1	New
Majority			16,378	52.1	−10.0
Turnout			31,391	49.7	−16.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Pontefract and Castleford^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Yvette Cooper	31,339	75.7	+5.8
	Conservative	Adrian Flook	5,614	13.6	−7.3
	Liberal Democrats	Wesley Paxton	3,042	7.4	−1.8
	Referendum	Richard Wood	1,401	3.4	New
Majority			25,725	62.1	+13.1
Turnout			41,396	66.3	−8.0
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1992: Pontefract and Castleford^[5]^[6]^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey Lofthouse	33,546	69.9	+3.0
	Conservative	Anthony George Mortimer Rockall	10,051	20.9	−0.3
	Liberal Democrats	David Lawrence Ryan	4,410	9.2	−2.1
Majority			23,495	49.0	+3.3
Turnout			48,007	74.3	+0.8
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.6

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Pontefract and Castleford^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey Lofthouse	31,656	66.9	+9.8
	Conservative	Julian Malins	10,051	21.2	−4.6
	Alliance	Michael Taylor	5,334	11.3	−5.8
	Red Front	Daniel McFarlane-Lees	295	0.6	New
Majority			21,626	45.7	+14.4
Turnout			47,315	73.5	+7.1
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1983: Pontefract and Castleford^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Geoffrey Lofthouse	24,990	57.1
	Conservative	Barry Howell	11,299	25.8
	Alliance	Douglas Dale	7,452	17.1
Majority			13,691	31.3
Turnout			43,741	67.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1979: Pontefract and Castleford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey Lofthouse	30,566	68.1	−2.3
	Conservative	Hugo Page	10,665	23.8	+7.6
	Liberal	Leslie Marsh	3,616	8.0	−4.3
Majority			19,901	44.3	−9.9
Turnout			44,837	73.9	+2.8
	Labour hold		Swing

1978 Pontefract and Castleford by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey Lofthouse	19,508	65.8	−4.6
	Conservative	Hugo Page	8,080	27.3	+11.1
	Liberal	Leslie Marsh	2,054	6.9	−5.4
Majority			11,428	38.5	−15.7
Turnout			29,642
	Labour hold		Swing	-7.9

General election October 1974: Pontefract and Castleford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joseph Harper	30,208	70.4	−4.4
	Conservative	I. Bloomer	6,966	16.2	−6.9
	Liberal	S. Galloway	5,259	12.3	New
	Workers Revolutionary	T. Parsons	457	1.1	−1.1
Majority			23,242	54.2	+2.4
Turnout			42,890	71.1	−6.0
	Labour hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Pontefract and Castleford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Joseph Harper	34,409	74.8
	Conservative	Richard Needham	10,605	23.1
	Workers Revolutionary	B. Lavery	991	2.2
Majority			23,804	51.8
Turnout			46,005	77.1
	Labour win (new seat)