Scarborough and Whitby is a constituency in North Yorkshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Alison Hume, a Labour MP.
Constituency profile
Scarborough and Whitby is a constituency in North Yorkshire in England. Its largest town is Scarborough, which has a population of around 61,000 when taken together with the adjacent town of Eastfield. Other settlements include the town of Whitby and the village of East Ayton.
This is a large, rural constituency covering towns and villages along Yorkshire's North Sea coast. Most of its area is taken up by the North York Moors, an upland region of heather moors with many deep dales. This coastal area contains numerous holiday parks and picturesque villages like Staithes and Robin Hood's Bay.
The towns of Scarborough and Whitby were traditionally reliant on the fishing industry. This sector has largely declined and today the tourism industry is a major part of the local economy; this area is the most-visited tourist location in England outside of London. There are high levels of deprivation in the towns of Scarborough and Whitby whilst the rural areas and the towns' suburbs are wealthier. House prices across the constituency are similar to the rest of Yorkshire and lower than the UK average.
Scarborough and Whitby has a large retired population and a low proportion of young adults. Residents have low rates of income and average levels of homeownership. The child poverty rate is above-average. Residents have low levels of education and a high proportion work in the tourism, manufacturing and agriculture sectors. The percentage claiming unemployment benefits is low. White people made up 97% of the population at the 2021 census.
At the local council, Scarborough is represented by Labour Party councillors whilst the rest of the constituency elected Conservatives. Voters in Scarborough and Whitby strongly supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum; an estimated 61% voted in favour of Brexit compared to the UK-wide figure of 52%.
History The constituency name has had two separate periods of existence.
1918–1974:
A Scarborough and Whitby division of the North Riding of Yorkshire was created by the Representation of the People Act 1918 after the Boundary Commission of 1917 and first elected a Member of Parliament in the 1918 general election. This division took the entirety of the abolished Parliamentary borough of Scarborough together with the majority of the previous Whitby division and a very small part of Cleveland division. It had a population, in the middle of 1914, of 72,979.Statement 45 (County of York, North Riding), Schedule, "Report of the Boundary Commission (England & Wales)", Cd. 8756. The Boundary Commission had initially recommended that the division simply be called 'Scarborough' but an amendment moved by the Government during enactment of their recommendations enacted it from the outset as Scarborough and Whitby.Hansard, HC 5ser vol 99 col 2395. Throughout its 56-year first creation which allowed a full franchise for all resident men it was represented by a Conservative, including during the Attlee Ministry and First Wilson Ministry.
Changes to boundaries:
The Initial Report of the Boundary Commission in 1947 made minor changes to the constituency, in line with local government changes which had abolished Guisborough Rural District in 1932 and absorbed it into Whitby Rural District. The new constituency again included the whole of Whitby Rural District, and so gained Hinderwell which was previously within Cleveland constituency. It had an electorate of 67,884 on 15 October 1946."Initial Report of the Boundary Commission for England", Cmd. 7260, p. 52. No change was made in the First Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission in 1954."First Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for England", Cmd. 9311, p. 39.
The Second Periodical Report, published in 1969 recommended that the constituency be divided and its recommendations came into effect at the February 1974 general election abolishing the seat. The Scarborough constituency was thereby re-established, and Whitby joined with Guisborough, Loftus, Saltburn and Brotton to form Cleveland and Whitby.
By the beginning of the Third Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission, Cleveland had been created as a new county, which would normally prevent the commission from recommending a constituency crossing the border. Several representations were made to the commission to try to preserve Cleveland and Whitby constituency, but the Commission found itself unable to accept them and recommended putting Scarborough and Whitby together in a new Scarborough despite including the other coastal town, its old name, including Whitby, was finally reinstated in the next review. This constituency did not include Pickering, which was placed in a new Ryedale constituency."Third Periodical Report", Boundary Commission for England, vol I, Cmnd. 8797-I, p. 130.
1997–present:
In the Fourth Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for England, published in 1995 and coming into effect at the 1997 general election, the Scarborough constituency was renamed as Scarborough and Whitby with no change in boundaries."Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies", ed. by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, BBC/ITN/PA News/Sky, 1995, p. 8 note 1.
When the constituency was recreated in 1997, the Labour candidate, Lawrie Quinn, defeated John Sykes, the sitting Conservative MP for Scarborough – one of many locally and national press-predicted unlikely gains for Labour in their landslide victory of that year. Robert Goodwill defeated Quinn in 2005 to regain the seat for Conservatives. Goodwill retained the seat at the next four elections before deciding to stand down for the 2024 election, when the seat was regained for Labour by Alison Hume.
Prominent members
Sir Herbert Paul Latham was the first sitting Member of Parliament serving in the army to have been court martialled since 1815.
Sir Alexander Spearman served as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the President of the Board of Trade from 1951 to 1952.
Sir Robert Goodwill served in as a junior minister in both the Cameron–Clegg coalition and the second Cameron ministry.
Boundaries 1918–1950: The Municipal Borough of Scarborough, the Urban Districts of Pickering, Scalby, and Whitby, the Rural Districts of Scarborough and Whitby, and parts of the Rural District of Pickering and Guisborough.
1950–1974: The Municipal Borough of Scarborough, the Urban Districts of Pickering, Scalby, and Whitby, and the Rural Districts of Scarborough and Whitby.
1997–2010: The Borough of Scarborough wards of Ayton, Castle, Cayton, Central, Danby, Derwent, Eastfield, Eskdaleside, Falsgrave, Fylingdales, Lindhead, Mayfield, Mulgrave, Newby, Northstead, Scalby, Seamer, Streonshalh, Weaponness, and Woodlands.
2010–2024: The Borough of Scarborough wards of Castle, Cayton, Central, Danby, Derwent Valley, Eastfield, Esk Valley, Falsgrave Park, Fylingdales, Lindhead, Mayfield, Mulgrave, Newby, North Bay, Northstead, Ramshill, Scalby Hackness and Staintondale, Seamer, Stepney, Streonshalh, Weaponness, Whitby West Cliff, and Woodlands.
2024–present: The District of North Yorkshire electoral divisions of: Castle; Cayton; Danby & Mulgrave; Derwent Valley & Moor; Eastfield; Esk Valley & Coast; Falsgrave & Stepney; Newby; Northstead; Scalby & the Coast; Seamer; Weaponness & Ramshill; Whitby Streonshalh; Whitby West; Woodlands.
The 2023 periodic review of Westminster constituencies, which was based on the local authority structure in place on 1 December 2020, left the boundaries unchanged. The above contents take into account the abolition of the Borough of Scarborough, which was absorbed into the new unitary authority of North Yorkshire with effect from 1 April 2023.
Members of Parliament
MPs 1918–1974
YearMemberParty1918 Gervase Beckett Unionist 1922 Sidney Herbert Unionist 1931 Paul Latham Conservative 1941 Alexander Spearman Conservative 1966 Michael Shaw Conservative1974 constituency abolished
MPs since 1997
Scarborough prior to 1997
ElectionMemberParty1997 Lawrie Quinn Labour2005 Robert Goodwill Conservative2024 Alison Hume Labour
Elections
Elections in the 2020s
Elections in the 2010s
Elections in the 2000s
Elections in the 1990s
Election in the 1970s
Elections in the 1960s
Elections in the 1950s
Elections in the 1940s
General Election 1939–40:
Another general election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected; Conservative: Alexander SpearmanHull Daily Mail, 21 July 1938 Liberal: Margery Corbett-Ashby
Elections in the 1930s
Elections in the 1920s
Elections in the 1910s
See also List of parliamentary constituencies in North Yorkshire List of parliamentary constituencies in the Yorkshire and the Humber (region) Wayback Machine www.annajoydavid.org.uk
Notes
References Specific
General Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. .
Sources
External links Scarborough and Whitby UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK Scarborough and Whitby UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK Scarborough and Whitby UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK