Penistone and Stocksbridge

Penistone and Stocksbridge is a constituency in South Yorkshire in England, covering parts of the City of Sheffield and Barnsley metropolitan boroughs. It is named after the towns of Penistone and Stocksbridge, although Chapeltown is its largest town when taken together with its contiguous village of High Green. Other villages include Ecclesfield, Grenoside, Oughtibridge, Deepcar and Dodworth.

This constituency covers a mostly rural area to the north of Sheffield. The towns of Penistone and Stocksbridge are located at the foot of the Pennine Hills close to the Peak District National Park. This area has an industrial heritage; Dodworth and its surroundings have a history of coal mining and Stocksbridge and Chapeltown had significant steel industries. Penistone is traditionally less industrial and instead functions as a rural market town. The constituency contains three large stately homes: Cannon Hall, Wortley Hall and Wentworth Castle. Penistone and Stocksbridge has overall average levels of wealth; there is some deprivation in Stocksbridge, High Green and Ecclesfield whilst Penistone and the rural areas are mostly affluent.^[2] House prices across the constituency are generally similar to the rest of Yorkshire but lower than the UK average.^[3]

Penistone and Stocksbridge has a large retired population and a below-average proportion of young adults.^[4] Residents have average levels of income, high rates of homeownership,^[3] and the child poverty rate is low.^[5] They have average levels of education and a high proportion work in the retail and manufacturing sectors.^[3][6] The percentage claiming unemployment benefits is low.^[5] White people made up 97% of the population at the 2021 census.^[7]

At the local council level, Stocksbridge and Dodworth are mostly represented by Labour Party councillors and Penistone and Chapeltown mostly by Liberal Democrats. Some Reform UK councillors were elected across the constituency. Voters here strongly supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum; an estimated 62% voted in favour of Brexit compared to the UK-wide rate of 52%.^[3]

2010–present: The Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley wards of Dodworth, Penistone East, and Penistone West, and the City of Sheffield wards of Stocksbridge and Upper Don, East Ecclesfield and West Ecclesfield.

The 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies left the boundaries unchanged.^[8]

The seat largely resembles the old Penistone constituency, which, following the election of a Conservative in the Conservative landslide in 1931, returned MPs representing the Labour Party through to its abolition in 1983.

In 1983, two new constituencies were formed, Sheffield Hillsborough and Barnsley West and Penistone, both of which returned Labour MPs at every election they were fought.

The 2010 result was that of a marginal Labour majority. In 2015, the Labour majority increased, partly due to a split right-wing vote between the Conservatives and UKIP, while the Liberal Democrats' vote decline largely benefited Labour in the seat.

When the UKIP vote declined in 2017, with a large number of those voters going to the Conservatives causing a swing of almost 6% against Labour, the seat became extremely marginal.

Elected as a member of the Labour Party, MP Angela Smith quit the party in February 2019 and joined Change UK. She left this party in June 2019 and joined The Independents. She departed the parliamentary group in September 2019 and joined the Liberal Democrats. Smith chose not to defend her seat at the 2019 election; she instead contested Altrincham and Sale West for the Liberal Democrats, failing to gain the seat. At that election, Penistone and Stocksbridge was one of three seats gained by the Conservatives in South Yorkshire, the party's first seats there since before the 1997 general election. This was reversed at the 2024 general election when Labour regained this seat on a substantial swing and once again held all the South Yorkshire parliamentary constituencies.

Barnsley West & Penistone and Sheffield Hillsborough prior to 2010

• List of parliamentary constituencies in South Yorkshire
• List of parliamentary constituencies in the Yorkshire and the Humber (region)