Carlisle has existed as a seat since the Model Parliament in 1295, returning two MPs to the House of Commons until 1885, when its representation was reduced to one MP by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. Under the 2023 boundary review the seat was expanded considerably into the border regions of Cumbria and redesignated as a county constituency.
From 1885 to 1922 the constituency was represented by the Liberal Party, since when it has alternated between Labour and Conservative, changing hands nine times. It was represented by Labour Party MPs from 1964 to 2010, albeit with a slim 0.2% majority in 1983. It was gained by John Stevenson of the Conservative Party in 2010 who held it until 2024, when it was won back by Julie Minns for Labour.
1997–2010: The City of Carlisle wards of Belah, Belle Vue, Botcherby, Burgh, Currock, Dalston, Denton Holme, Harraby, Morton, St Aidan's, St Cuthbert Without, Stanwix Urban, Trinity, Upperby, and Yewdale.
2010–2024: The City of Carlisle wards of Belah, Belle Vue, Botcherby, Burgh, Castle, Currock, Dalston, Denton Holme, Harraby, Morton, St Aidan's, Stanwix Urban, Upperby, Wetheral, and Yewdale.
The City of Carlisle wards of: Belah & Kingmoor; Botcherby & Harraby North; Brampton & Fellside; Cathedral & Castle; Currock & Upperby; Denton Holme & Morton South; Harraby South & Parklands; Longtown & the Border; Newtown & Morton North; Sandsfield & Morton West; Stanwix & Houghton; Wetheral & Corby.[3]
With effect from 1 April 2023, the City of Carlisle council was abolished and absorbed into the new unitary authority of Cumberland.[4] Consequently, the constituency now comprises the following with effect from the 2024 general election:
The Cumberland wards of Belah, Belle Vue, Botcherby, Brampton, Castle, Corby and Hayton, Currock; Dalston and Burgh (small part), Denton Holme; Harraby North, Harraby South, Houghton and Irthington, Longtown, Morton, Stanwix Urban, Upperby. Wetheral (majority) and Yewdale.[5]
The constituency was expanded to bring the electorate within the permitted range by transferring the parts of the former City of Carlisle local authority previously in the abolished constituency of Penrith and The Border - comprising the towns of Brampton and Longtown and surrounding villages and rural areas. To partly offset this, Dalston was included in the new constituency of Penrith and Solway.
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 and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;
A General Election was due to take place by the end of 1915. By the summer of 1914, the following candidates had been adopted to contest that election. Due to the outbreak of war, the election never took place.
^A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
^As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years – from 1295 until 1885 it had the right to send two MPs in most years.
^Knubley defeated Rowland Stephenson in a contested by-election by 553 votes to 405; but on petition Knubley was unseated and Stephenson declared elected.
^At the general election Satterthwaite and Knubley defeated Curwen and Braddyll; however on petition the result was overturned and Curwen and Braddyll were declared elected. Knubley and Stephenson had each secured 503 votes of which 377 came from newly appointed freemen.
^Curwen was re-elected at the 1820 general election but was also elected for Cumberland, which he chose to represent, and did not sit for Carlisle in this parliament.
^ abcdHawkins, Angus (2015). "The Dynamics of Voting". Victorian Political Culture: 'Habits of Heart & Mind' (First ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 189. ISBN978-0-19-872848-1. Archived from the original on 21 February 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
^ abHall, Catherine; Draper, Nicholas; McClelland, Keith; Donington, Katie; Lang, Rachel (2014). "Appendix 4: MPs 1832-80 in the compensation records". Legacies of British Slave-ownership: Colonial Slavery and the Formation of Victorian Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 292. ISBN978-1-107-04005-2. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
^On petition, the 1847 election in Carlisle was declared void. At the resulting by-election held in March 1848, Hodgson was re-elected but Howard, who had come third in the original election, finished ahead of Dixon.
^Hill, Alan G., ed. (1993). "18 September 1848". The Letters of William and Dorothy Wordsworth: VII A Supplement of New Letters. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 261. ISBN0-19-818523-5. Archived from the original on 21 February 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
^Smith, Francis Barrymore (1973). "The English Republic". Radical Artisan: William James Linton 1812-97. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 111. ISBN0-7190-0531-0. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
