Bolsover | |
---|---|
County constituency for the House of Commons | |
County | Derbyshire |
Population | 94,473 (2011 census)[1] |
Electorate | 74,680 (2023)[2] |
Major settlements | Bolsover, Shirebrook, Clowne, South Normanton |
Current constituency | |
Created | 1950 |
Member of Parliament | Natalie Fleet (Labour) |
Seats | One |
Created from | Clay Cross and North East Derbyshire |
Bolsover (/ˈbɒlsˌoʊvər/, /ˈbɒlzˌoʊvər/ and commonly /boʊzər/) is a constituency in Derbyshire, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Natalie Fleet, a member of the Labour Party. The constituency was created in 1950, and is centred on the town of Bolsover.
Between 1970 and 2019, the constituency was represented by Labour's Dennis Skinner, who by 2019 was the oldest member of the House of Commons and the second longest-serving. At the constituency's inception it was one of the safest Labour seats in the country, but over the following half century Skinner's vote share dropped from 77% in 1970, still holding a high vote share of 65% in 2005, to only 36% in 2019, with the result that he lost the seat to the Conservatives by a margin of 11%. The seat was regained by Labour in 2024, in part due to the two right-wing parties, Reform UK and the Conservative Party intensely splitting the vote. Labour's share of the vote was still well below what they had been getting before Brexit.