Newcastle upon Tyne North (UK Parliament constituency)

Newcastle upon Tyne North is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Catherine McKinnell of the Labour Party.

Under the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, effective from the 2024 United Kingdom general election, the constituency underwent wholesale boundary changes, with only 41.3% of the previous seat being included in the redrawn one.

History
Parliament created this seat under the Representation of the People Act 1918 for the general election later that year. It was one of four divisions of the parliamentary borough of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which had previously been represented by one two-member seat.

The constituency included much of Newcastle city centre from 1950 to 1983, despite the fact that the Newcastle upon Tyne Central constituency was retained, albeit with redrawn boundaries.

Following the local government reorganisation arising from the Local Government Act 1972, major boundary changes resulted in a constituency composed entirely of wards that did not form any part of the pre-1983 seat. The majority of the old Newcastle upon Tyne North wards moved to Newcastle upon Tyne Central. The newly constituted seat comprised northern and western suburbs of the expanded metropolitan borough of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne.

1918–1950

 * The County Borough of Newcastle upon Tyne wards of Dene, Heaton, Jesmond, St Andrew's, and St Thomas.

1950–1983

 * The County Borough of Newcastle upon Tyne wards of Arthur's Hill, Elswick, Jesmond, Sandyford, and Westgate.

''Boundaries redrawn to take account of expansion of the County Borough and redistribution of wards. Dene and Heaton transferred to Newcastle upon Tyne East. Expanded westwards and into parts of the city centre, gaining Arthur's Hill and Elswick from Newcastle upon Tyne West and Westgate from Newcastle upon Tyne Central.''

1983–2010

 * The City of Newcastle upon Tyne wards of Castle, Denton, Fawdon, Grange, Lemington, Newburn, Westerhope, and Woolsington.

''Following the reorganisation of local authorities as a result of the Local Government Act 1972, the constituencies within the City of Newcastle upon Tyne were completely redrawn. The contents of the existing seat formed no part of newly constituted version. With the exception of Sandyford, which was transferred to Newcastle upon Tyne East, the existing seat was absorbed into a redrawn Newcastle upon Tyne Central.''

The new seat was made up of western parts of the now abolished constituency of Newcastle upon Tyne West, comprising the former Urban District of Newburn, the parts of Castle Ward transferred to the new metropolitan borough, previously in Hexham and a small area transferred from Wallsend.

2010–2024

 * The City of Newcastle upon Tyne wards of Castle, Denton, East Gosforth, Fawdon, Lemington, Newburn, Parklands, Westerhope, and Woolsington.

Minor changes due to redistribution of ward boundaries.

2024–present
Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the constituency is composed of the following (as they existed on 1 December 2020):


 * The City of Newcastle upon Tyne wards of: Castle (polling districts F04, F05 and F06); Dene & South Gosforth; Fawdon & West Gosforth; Gosforth; Kenton; Kingston Park South & Newbiggin Hall (polling district O04); North Jesmond; Parklands; South Jesmond.


 * The Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside wards of: Benton; Longbenton.

The constituency underwent wholesale changes, with the following areas being transferred out:


 * The districts of Denton, Lemington, Westerhope and Newbiggin Hall to the new constituency of Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West;
 * Callerton & Throckley ward (which includes the communities of Newburn and Woolsington) to Hexham; and
 * The northern part of Castle ward, including Dinnington, to the new constituency of Cramlington and Killingworth.

The redrawn seat now comprises the following areas:


 * Eastern parts of Gosforth, Fawdon, Parklands ward and most of Castle ward from the previous version of the seat;
 * Kenton and western parts of Gosforth from Newcastle upon Tyne Central (abolished);
 * Jesmond and Dene from Newcastle upon Tyne East (abolished); and
 * The North Tyneside Borough wards of Benton and Longbenton from the North Tyneside constituency (abolished).

Political history
From its creation in 1918, the seat was a safe Conservative Party seat, including six years of representation by Gwilym Lloyd George, who was aligned to the National Liberal Party but served as Home Secretary for almost three years until 1957 in a Conservative government. This continued until the 1983 general election, when the major boundary changes resulted in the majority of the old wards being moved to Newcastle upon Tyne Central, which the Conservatives won in 1983, while the new Newcastle North became a safe Labour seat, although in 1983 Labour's majority was just over 2,500 votes in a relatively close three-way race, despite a landslide defeat on the national scale. It has been a safe Labour seat ever since, with the Liberal Democrats being the greatest challengers in 2005 and 2010, and the Conservatives finishing in second place in 2015, 2017 and 2019.

Elections in the 1980s
The 1983 result is classed as a hold for Labour, rather than a gain from the Conservatives, because the pre-1983 Newcastle-upon-Tyne North constituency, which was a Conservative-held seat, covered a substantially different area, making the two seats entirely different. The constituency which replaced the pre-1983 Newcastle-upon-Tyne North constituency, Newcastle-upon-Tyne Central, was won by the Conservatives and is classed as a hold for the Conservatives, as they were incumbent party in the pre-1983 Newcastle-upon-Tyne North seat. By contrast, this constituency was the closest successor to the pre-1983 Newcastle-upon-Tyne West seat where Robert Brown had been the MP.