Batley and Spen (UK Parliament Constituency) - Boundaries

Boundaries

The constituency was created in 1983 from parts of the seats of Batley and Morley, Brighouse and Spenborough & Dewsbury. This West Yorkshire constituency covers Batley, Birkenshaw, Birstall, Cleckheaton, East Brierley, Gomersal, Hunsworth, and Liversedge. Traditionally Batley has been inclined to vote Labour, while the other settlements have been more inclined to vote Conservative. The exception is Cleckheaton which has returned Liberal Democrat members for the local council.

The seat swung in Labour's favour in the elections of 1997, 2001 and 2005 though the Conservatives reduced the Labour majority in 2010 with a swing below the national average.

For the purposes of the 2010 general election, a neighbouring town, Heckmondwike was added to the constituency. Heckmondwike, also considered to be part of the Spen Valley (although it was never included in the former Spenborough Urban district) is a ward that is typically a Labour/British National Party stronghold, especially in the local elections. The BNP's representation in the town was cut in half due to a broad-based community campaign by Labour at the 2008 council elections which saw the sitting BNP councillor defeated.

The population in the district is diverse. Cleckheaton and many of the villages in the Spen Valley have few residents from non-white heritage backgrounds, while Batley has a sizeable number residents with South Asian backgrounds, namely Pakistani (9.2%) and Indian (Gujarati) (15.9%). Heckmondwike also has a sizeable South Asian community with 16.9% residents having Pakistani heritage.

The seat did not exist in its present form prior to 1983. It has seen not insignificant boundary changes during that time - most notably those changes that took effect for the 1997 General Election.