Keighley and Ilkley (UK Parliament constituency)

Keighley and Ilkley is a constituency in West Yorkshire created in 1885 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Robbie Moore of the Conservative Party.

Since 1959, the seat has been a bellwether (its winner affiliated to the winning party nationally), with three exceptions: in 1979 and 2017, the seat leant to the left, bucking the national result, while in 2024, the seat was held by the Conservatives despite a landslide victory for the Labour party nationally.

Keighley is one of 9 seats won (held or gained) by a Conservative candidate in 2019 from a total of 22 covering its county. Moore's 2019 win was one of 47 net gains by the Conservative Party.

The seat has been considered – relative to others – a marginal seat, as well as a swing seat, since 2005, as its winner's majority has not exceeded 6.2% of the vote since the 10.5% majority won in 2005, and the seat has changed hands three times since that year.

Prior to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies the constituency was known as Keighley (until the 2024 United Kingdom general election).

Boundaries
1885–1918: The parishes in the Wapentake of Staincliffe and Ewecross of Cowling, Glusburn, Keighley, Steeton with Eastburn, and Sutton, and the parishes of Haworth, Thornton, and Wilsden.

1918–1950: The Municipal Borough of Keighley, the Urban Districts of Denholme, Haworth, Oakworth, Oxenhope, and Silsden, and the Rural District of Keighley.

1950–1983: The Municipal Borough of Keighley, the Urban Districts of Denholme and Silsden, and in the Rural District of Skipton the parishes of Steeton with Eastburn, and Sutton.

1983–2010: The City of Bradford wards of Craven, Ilkley, Keighley North, Keighley South, Keighley West, and Worth Valley.

2010–present: The City of Bradford wards of Craven, Ilkley, Keighley Central, Keighley East, Keighley West, and Worth Valley. The constituency boundaries remained unchanged.

Unlike many constituencies, Keighley was unaffected by the boundary changes for the 2010 general election; indeed its boundaries have remained unchanged since the 1983 redistribution.

Constituency profile
This constituency covers the town and outskirts of Keighley in West Yorkshire. It comprises the mostly Labour voting area of Keighley itself, the Conservative voting spa town of Ilkley, and the rural areas of Craven and Worth Valley which are also mostly  Conservative voting. The seat has a large minority with Asian heritage, especially from Pakistan and Bangladesh. The seat is also a semi-reliable bellwether of the national result; it has voted for the party to form the government in every election since the Second World War except the 1951, 1955, 1979 and 2017 elections, in which it elected Labour MPs despite the Conservatives forming the government.

Electoral Calculus categorises the seat as being part of the “Centrists” demographic, those who generally have average opinions on the economy, nationalism and social issues. Other metrics include support for Brexit, which was 53% back in 2016, and deprivation, in terms of employment, income and education, which is 51%, according to the site. For general statistics, the average age is 51.4, at least 78% of the local population owns a car, whilst 72% own a home, and the gross household income is £40,635.

Members of Parliament
Since the 1950s, Keighley has been a marginal seat between Labour and the Conservatives. The MP from 1997 was Labour's Ann Cryer, widow of Bob Cryer who was MP for the same seat from 1974 to 1983 (and then for Bradford South, 1987–1994). She retired at the 2010 general election.

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:
 * Labour; Hastings Lees-Smith
 * Conservative; Gay Burdett