The Borough of Redcar and Cleveland wards of: Belmont; Brotton; Guisborough; Hutton; Lockwood; Loftus; Skelton East; and Skelton West.
The Borough of Middlesbrough wards of: Coulby Newham; Hemlington; Ladgate; Marton East; Marton West; Nunthorpe; Park End & Beckfield; and Stainton & Thornton.[2]
The boundaries within the Borough of Middlesbrough were aligned to new ward boundaries; in Redcar and Cleveland, the town of Saltburn-by-the-Sea was transferred to the Redcar constituency.[3]
This seat was created in 1997 and was held until 2017 by a representative of the Labour Party. Election results have to date been considerably more close than in the overwhelmingly urban, city seat of Middlesbrough, this instead being a marginal seat, particularly the 2010, 2015 and 2017 results which saw no absolute majority unlike the previous three absolute majorities won by Ashok Kumar of the Labour Party. In the five elections from 1997 to 2015, the second-positioned candidate was a Conservative. The 2015 result gave the seat the 20th-smallest majority of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority.[4] At the 2017 general election, the seat was gained by Simon Clarke of the Conservative Party on a 3.6% swing, one of the six seats in England gained by the Conservatives at that election.
Third-placed parties
In each election to date the fourth-placed and lower candidates have failed to reach 5% of the vote, therefore forfeiting their deposits. In 2015 the third-placed party in line with national trends changed from the Liberal Democrats to UKIP on large swings; candidates from the third-placed parties in this area have always kept their deposit except in the 2017 and 2019 elections.
Turnout
Turnout has varied from 76% in 1997 to just over 60% in 2005.
Constituency profile
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Whereas 13.8% of people in Middlesbrough are retired, 0.3 lower than in 2001, 19.4% of people are retired in the eastern Cleveland authority, Redcar and Cleveland, 3% higher than in 2001 (2011 figures).[5] The constituency is at the forefront of Britain's return to growth in output, however the western authority still in 2011 had the highest unemployment claimant count in the North East, having witnessed a decline in the major local industry of production of industrial and heavy duty steel.[6]
^A county 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.
^Also known as Lauren de Thibault de Boesinghe.[10]