Pontefract and Castleford was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until the 2010 general election. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
Boundaries 1974–1983: The Municipal Boroughs of Castleford and Pontefract, and the Urban District of Featherstone.
1983–2010: The City of Wakefield wards of Castleford Ferry Fryston, Castleford Glasshoughton, Castleford Whitwood, Knottingley, Pontefract North, and Pontefract South.
The constituency covered the West Yorkshire towns of Pontefract and Castleford. It was a very safe Labour seat, made up of former mining towns and villages. The MP from 1997 until its abolition in 2010, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, is married to former fellow Labour MP, former Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls.
Boundary review Following their review of parliamentary representation in West Yorkshire, the number of seats in West Yorkshire were reduced by one due to population decline by the Boundary Commission for England. A new, geographically larger, constituency called Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford was created in 2010 including the whole of this constituency.
Members of Parliament ElectionMemberParty Feb 1974 Joe Harper Labour 1978 by-election Sir Geoffrey Lofthouse Labour 1997 Yvette Cooper Labour 2010 Constituency abolished: see Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford
Elections Elections in the 2000s
Elections in the 1990s
Elections in the 1980s
Elections in the 1970s
See also List of parliamentary constituencies in West Yorkshire
Notes and references
External links Pontefract and Castleford UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK