Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland

Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland is a constituency in the Teesside area of North Yorkshire. It covers the southern suburbs of the town of Middlesbrough (Stainton, Hemlington, Coulby Newham, Marton, Nunthorpe and part of Ormesby) and the eastern part of the region of Cleveland, which includes the towns of Guisborough, Skelton-in-Cleveland and Loftus and the village of Brotton.

Middlesbrough is a large port town. It was a small settlement until the 1830s when it was selected as the location for an industrial port to ship the region's coal production.^[2] It rapidly grew to become a major centre for iron manufacturing and was nicknamed Ironopolis.^[3] Middlesbrough's southern suburbs were rural villages until the late 20th century when the town's expansion brought them into its urban area. The towns in Cleveland are historic market towns that grew mostly to house iron miners who worked in the nearby North York Moors. Guisborough, Marton and Nunthorpe are generally affluent whilst the rest of the constituency has high levels of deprivation, giving the constituency an overall average level of wealth.^[4] The average house price is lower than the national average but similar to the rest of North East England.^[5]

There is a large retiree population in the Cleveland area, giving the constituency a high average age.^[6] Residents have average levels of education and homeownership, and rates of household income and child poverty are in line with the rest of the region.^[5][6] A high proportion of residents work in the health, retail and education sectors,^[7] and the unemployment rate is similar to the rest of the country.^[6] White people made up 96% of the population at the 2021 census.^[8]

The constituency is politically mixed at the local borough council level. The wealthier Middlesbrough suburbs elected Liberal Democrat and independent representatives, whilst the more deprived areas are represented by Labour Party and Conservative councillors. In Cleveland, there was Labour Party support in Guisborough and Skelton-in-Cleveland whilst the more rural east elected mostly independents. Voters in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland strongly supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum; an estimated 65% voted in favour of Brexit compared to the nationwide figure of 52%.^[5]

Summary of results

This seat was created in 1997 and was held until 2017 by a representative of the Labour Party. Election results have to date been considerably more close than in the overwhelmingly urban, city seat of Middlesbrough, this instead being a marginal seat, particularly the 2010, 2015 and 2017 results which saw no absolute majority unlike the previous three absolute majorities won by Ashok Kumar of the Labour Party. In the five elections from 1997 to 2015, the second-positioned candidate was a Conservative. The 2015 result gave the seat the 20th-smallest majority of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority.^[11] At the 2017 general election, the seat was gained by Simon Clarke of the Conservative Party on a 3.6% swing, one of the six seats in England gained by the Conservatives at that election.

Third-placed parties

In each election to date the fourth-placed and lower candidates have failed to reach 5% of the vote, therefore forfeiting their deposits. In 2015 the third-placed party in line with national trends changed from the Liberal Democrats to UKIP on large swings; candidates from the third-placed parties in this area have always kept their deposit except in the 2017 and 2019 elections.

Turnout

Turnout has varied from 76% in 1997 to just over 60% in 2005.

Langbaurgh prior to 1997

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