Dewsbury (UK Parliament constituency)

Dewsbury is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It has normally elected Labour MPs since the 1940s, although it is currently a fairly marginal seat with the Conservatives.

Boundaries

This constituency covers the town of Dewsbury. The seat has a large Muslim population and now has a Muslim MP, Shahid Malik. Aside from 1983, the seat has been Labour since 1945, although sometimes by narrow margins. In the light of increasing concern of Muslim extremism, Mr Malik has enjoyed a fairly large public media profile since his victory in 2005 in various TV appearances and interviews, strongly denouncing believers and adherents of such views; however, much of his vote was taken by the British National Party,who obtained their largest UK vote and one of their largest percentage shares in Britain in the last General Election,and they also have a substantial vote at local level, especially in Heckmondwike where they now hold two of three council seats.

For the purposes of the next General Election, Dewsbury has lost the traditionally Labour-voting ward of Heckmondwike, but gained the more Conservative-voting wards of Denby Dale and Kirkburton, a move which is set to increase the chances of a Conserative victory.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1868	Sir John Simon
	1886	Mark Oldroyd	Liberal
	1902	Walter Runciman	Liberal
	1918	Emil William Pickering	Coalition Conservative
	1922	Benjamin Riley	Labour
	1923	Thomas Edmund Harvey	Liberal
	1924	Benjamin Riley	Labour
	1931	Walter Russell Rea	Liberal
	1935	Benjamin Riley	Labour
	1945	Will Paling	Labour
	1959	David Ginsburg	Labour
	1981		Social Democrat
	1983	John Whitfield	Conservative
	1987	Ann Taylor	Labour
	2005	Shahid Malik	Labour

Election results

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in West Yorkshire

References

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