Barrow and Furness

The constituency is located in Cumbria and covers parts of the unitary authority areas of Cumberland and Westmorland and Furness. The constituency contains the large port town of Barrow-in-Furness and extensive rural areas to its north, some of which lie within the Lake District National Park. Other settlements in the constituency include the smaller towns of Ulverston, Millom, Dalton-in-Furness and Broughton-in-Furness. Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town with a history of steelmaking and shipbuilding. It once contained the largest steelworks in the world, and the BAE Systems shipyard—which manufactures nuclear submarines for the Royal Navy—is the town's largest employer. Residents of the constituency have, on average, slightly lower levels of wealth and education compared to the rest of the country, and white people make up 97% of the population. At the most recent local elections in 2022, voters in Barrow-in-Furness elected mostly Labour Party councillors, whilst the seats in the rural areas of the constituency elected Conservatives. An estimated 59% of voters in the constituency supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum, higher than the national average. ==Election history==

The seat was established by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 and covers the southwest part of Cumbria. It was predominantly a Conservative seat in its early history, though from 1945, it became an increasingly safe seat for Labour for nearly four decades. The largest town in the constituency, Barrow-in-Furness, grew on the back of the shipbuilding industry and is now the site of the BAE Systems nuclear submarine and shipbuilding operation. This reliance on the industry aligns many of its journalists and in its community with strong nuclear deterrents, from which Labour has recoiled since its involvement in the Iraq War that removed dictator Saddam Hussain. Labour Cabinet member Albert Booth represented Barrow for many years from 1966, but was defeated in 1983, in the aftermath of the Falklands War, by a Manchester lawyer, Cecil Franks of the Conservative Party, who retained the seat until 1992. Local media attributed this to widespread fears of job losses because the Labour Party was then signed up to doing away with all its nuclear capabilities including the submarines. Other industries in the constituency currently include engineering and chemicals, and more than a quarter of all jobs are in manufacturing. As Labour revised its policies by favouring the retention of Britain's nuclear capability, and following massive job losses in the town's shipbuilding industry, Labour's fortunes revived in Barrow. John Hutton took the seat back for Labour in 1992 and retained it until the 2010 general election, when he was replaced by John Woodcock, also of Labour. In 2001, Hutton had the support of more than half of all those who voted. The 2015 result gave the seat the 10th-smallest majority of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority. In 2017, Woodcock's majority was reduced from 795 votes to 209 votes, the 16th smallest majority in the country. Following Woodcock's resignation from the Labour party in 2018, he stood down as an MP for the 2019 general election when the seat was gained by Conservative Simon Fell, who had contested the seat unsuccessfully in 2015 and 2017. He won with a slightly greater margin than Woodcock had when he first won the seat for Labour in 2010. The seat was retaken by Labour's Michelle Scrogham at the 2024 election with a majority of 12.6% - the same as Fell's majority in 2019. ==Boundaries==

Historic 1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. 1918–1950: The County Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. 1950–1983: The County Borough of Barrow-in-Furness and the Urban District of Dalton-in-Furness. 1983–2010: The entire District of Barrow-in-Furness and the following wards from the District of South Lakeland: Low Furness, Pennington, Ulverston Central, Ulverston East, Ulverston North, Ulverston South and Ulverston West. 2010–2024: The entire District of Barrow-in-Furness and the following wards from the District of South Lakeland: Broughton, Crake Valley, Low Furness & Swarthmoor, Ulverston Central, Ulverston East, Ulverston North, Ulverston South, Ulverston Town and Ulverston West. Current The 2023 periodic review of Westminster constituencies was carried out using the local authority structure as it existed in Cumbria on 1 December 2020 and is officially defined as: • The Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. • The Borough of Copeland wards of: Black Combe & Scafell; Millom. • The District of South Lakeland wards of: Broughton & Coniston (polling districts AHA, AHB, AHC, BZ, CA, CB, CL and CY); Furness Peninsula; Ulverston East; Ulverston West. With effect from 1 April 2023, the second tier councils in Cumbria were abolished and replaced by the new unitary authorities of Cumberland, and Westmorland and Furness. Consequently, the constituency now comprises the following from the 2024 general election: • The Cumberland wards of: Millom; Millom Without (most). • The Westmorland and Furness wards of: Dalton North; Dalton South; Hawcoat and Newbarns; High Furness; Low Furness; Old Barrow and Hindpool; Ormsgill and Parkside; Risedale and Roosecote; Ulverston; Walney Island; and a very small part of Coniston and Hawkshead. The constituency was expanded to bring the electorate within the permitted range by transferring the town of Millom from the abolished constituency of Copeland. ==Members of Parliament==

Elections in the 21st century Elections in the 2020s Elections in the 2010s {{Election box begin | title = General election 2015: Barrow and Furness Elections in the 1920s Elections in the 1910s General Election 1914–15: Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected; • Labour: Charles Duncan • Unionist: Francis Meynell Elections in the 1900s Elections in the 19th century Elections in the 1890s Elections in the 1880s The election was declared void on petition, causing a by-election. == See also ==