Hartlepool (UK Parliament constituency)

Hartlepool
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Hartlepool in County Durham.
Location of County Durham within England.
County	County Durham
Electorate	70,010 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1974 (1974)
Member of parliament	Iain Wright (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	The Hartlepools
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	North East England

Hartlepool /ˈhɑːrtˌlᵻpᵿl/ is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament which has elected a Labour member to serve it since 1964.

The seat is currently coterminous with the borough of Hartlepool, which has close to the average population for a UK parliamentary constituency. The seat includes the town of Hartlepool itself and the nearby villages of Hart, Elwick, Greatham, Newton Bewley and Dalton Piercy. Before 1974 the seat was known as The Hartlepools (reflecting the representation of both 'old' Hartlepool and West Hartlepool).

The constituency had previously substantially been in the constituency of The Hartlepools. It became the constituency of Hartlepool in 1974.

Since its creation, Hartlepool has been a Labour constituency, although its predecessor did have Conservative MPs both in the early 1960s, and during the Second World War. In the 1992 general election, Edward Leadbitter stood down and was succeeded by the former Labour Director of Communications Peter Mandelson. Mandelson's pivotal role in the reshaping of the Labour Party into New Labour has attracted much attention and he has become a prominent target.