Stoke-on-Trent North (UK Parliament constituency)

Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox UK constituency main

Stoke-on-Trent North is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by David Williams, a member of the Labour Party.^{[n 2]}

Boundaries

Historic

1950–1955: The County Borough of Stoke-on-Trent wards numbers 1 to 9 and 27.

1955–1983: The County Borough of Stoke-on-Trent wards numbers 1 to 8.

1983–1997: The City of Stoke-on-Trent wards of Burslem Central, Burslem Green, Chell, East Valley, Norton and Bradeley, and Tunstall North, and the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme wards of Butt Lane, Kidsgrove, Newchapel, and Talke.

1997–2010: The City of Stoke-on-Trent wards of Burslem Central, Burslem Grange, Chell, East Valley, Norton and Bradeley, and Tunstall North, and the District of Staffordshire Moorlands wards of Brown Edge and Endon, and Stanley.

2010–2024: The City of Stoke-on-Trent wards of Burslem North, Burslem South, Chell and Packmoor, East Valley, Norton and Bradeley, and Tunstall, and the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme wards of Butt Lane, Kidsgrove, Ravenscliffe, and Talke.

Current

Under the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency was defined as composing the following as they existed on 1 December 2020:

The Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme wards of: Kidsgrove & Ravenscliffe; Newchapel & Mow Cop; Talke & Butt Lane.
The City of Stoke-on-Trent wards of: Baddeley, Milton and Norton; Bradeley and Chell Heath; Burslem Central; Burslem Park; Ford Green and Smallthorne; Goldenhill and Sandyford; Great Chell and Packmoor; Little Chell and Stanfield; Moorcroft; Tunstall.^[1]

In order to bring the electorate within the permitted range, the Kidsgrove district of Newchapel was transferred from Staffordshire Moorlands. The boundary with Stoke-on-Trent Central was re-aligned to take account of revised ward boundaries.

Following a further local government boundary review in the City of Stoke-on-Trent which came into effect in May 2023,^[2]^[3] the constituency now comprises the following from the 2024 general election:

The Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme wards of: Kidsgrove & Ravenscliffe; Newchapel & Mow Cop; Talke & Butt Lane.
The City of Stoke-on-Trent wards of: Baddeley, Milton & Norton; Bradeley and Chell Heath; Burslem; Burslem Park; Ford Green & Smallthorne; Goldenhill & Sandyford; Great Chell & Packmoor; Little Chell & Stanfield; Moorcroft & Sneyd Green (majority); Tunstall; and a very small part of Etruria & Hanley.^[4]

Constituency profile

Each of the three constituencies of Stoke-on-Trent contain two of the historic "six towns" of the Potteries. Burslem and Tunstall are Stoke-on-Trent North's long-established ceramics and porcelain settlements; see Staffordshire Potteries.

The area has relatively fast connections compared to other seats in the county, equally to Greater Manchester and the West Midlands. However, the area's traditional pottery industry has shed many jobs. Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 higher than the national average of 3.8%, at 5.2% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian, the middle figure of the three rates for the city's seats.^[5]

History

The constituency was created for the 1950 general election as the successor to the Burslem Division of Stoke-on-Trent. It also included parts of the Leek constituency which had been absorbed into the County Borough of Stoke-on-Trent.

Political history

This seat and its predecessor had elected Labour MPs at every election since 1935, until Jonathan Gullis won the seat for the Conservatives from incumbent Ruth Smeeth in 2019. Labour's David Williams recaptured the seat from Gullis at the 2024 general election.

Prominent members

As a frontbench member in government, John Forrester became in 1970 a Health Minister, before the election of that year.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member^[6]	Party
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	1950	Albert Davies	Labour
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	1953 by-election	Harriet Slater	Labour Co-op
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	1966	John Forrester	Labour
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	1987	Joan Walley	Labour
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	2015	Ruth Smeeth	Labour
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	2019	Jonathan Gullis	Conservative
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	2024	David Williams	Labour