Middlesbrough (UK Parliament constituency)

Middlesbrough
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Middlesbrough in Cleveland.
Location of Cleveland within England.
County	Cleveland
Electorate	65,851 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1974 (1974)
Member of parliament	Andy McDonald (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Middlesbrough East and Middlesbrough West
1868–1918
Number of members	One
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Replaced by	Middlesbrough East and Middlesbrough West
Created from	North Riding of Yorkshire
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	North East England

Middlesbrough is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2012 by Andy McDonald from Labour.

Parliament created this seat under the Representation of the People Act 1867 for the general election the next year, however the population expanded so was split into east/west areas in 1918. From its second creation for the February 1974 general election, the seat has been served by an MP in the Labour Party.

The 2012 by-election result was remarkable in seeing UKIP finish second, behind the large winning Labour share of the vote which would have seen Labour ranked 17th (behind 9 Scottish seats and 8 English seats) against their results for 2010 in the 632 mainland seats.

1974-1983: The County Borough of Teesside wards of Berwick Hills, Marton, North Ormesby, St Hilda's, Thorntree, and Tollesby.

1983-1997: The Borough of Middlesbrough wards of Acklam, Beckfield, Beechwood, Berwick Hills, Gresham, Grove Hill, Kirby, Linthorpe, North Ormesby, Pallister, Park, St Hilda's, Southfield, Thorntree, and Westbourne.

1997-2010: The Borough of Middlesbrough wards of Acklam, Ayresome, Beckfield, Beechwood, Berwick Hills, Brookfield, Gresham, Grove Hill, Kader, Kirby, Linthorpe, North Ormesby, Pallister, Park, St Hilda's, Southfield, Thorntree, and Westbourne.

2010-present: The Borough of Middlesbrough wards of Acklam, Ayresome, Beckfield, Beechwood, Brookfield, Clairville, Gresham, Kader, Linthorpe, Middlehaven, North Ormesby and Brambles Farm, Pallister, Park, Thorntree, and University.

The boundaries of the constituency are loosely based on the pre 1968 County Borough of Middlesbrough boundaries, which is now defined as the Borough (or Town) of Middlesbrough; the exclusions are its Easterside and Park End Wards, instead in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland.

The constituency is mostly the urban city itself, largely in the sunset of its once world-leading steel-making output, its adult population has mostly a low income with high unemployment, however with modern advanced engineering, design and tourism the city forms with nearby Redcar a bellwether for the North East region's economy firmly in the British forefront of a determined return to increasing national output. In November 2012 male and female unemployment (based on the more up-to-date claimant statistics) placed Middlesbrough topmost of 29 constituencies in the region, well ahead for example the City of Durham at the bottom of the list, with just 3.4% claimants whereas this area had 9.4% claimants.