Barrow-in-Furness (UK Parliament constituency)

Barrow and Furness
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Barrow and Furness in Cumbria for the 2007 general election.
Location of Cumbria within England.
County	Cumbria (Lancashire until 1974)
Population	88,826 (2011 census)
Electorate	69,148 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Barrow-in-Furness, Ulverston
Current constituency
Created	1885
Member of parliament	John Woodcock (Labour Co-op)
Number of members	One
Created from	North Lancashire
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	North West England

Coordinates: 54°06′43″N 3°10′41″W / 54.112°N 3.178°W / 54.112; -3.178

Barrow and Furness (previously Barrow-in-Furness) is a constituency in Cumbria represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by John Woodcock of the Labour Party who is also a member of the Co-operative Party.

The seat of Barrow and Furness was established by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 and is located in the SW of Cumbria beyond the Lake District, the location for one of Britain's most important industrial centres. 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 a single industry associated with controversial defence policies has, in the past, proved politically volatile in a constituency the Labour Party would consider its own backyard. Labour Cabinet member Albert Booth represented Barrow from 1966 for many years 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.