;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. 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. ==Constituency profile==