Yorkshire and the Humber

Yorkshire and the Humber includes the four ridings of Yorkshire plus two parts of Lincolnshire on the south side of Humber estuary. The four ridings have quite distinct political leanings. The south and west are densely populated and lean left whilst the north is more rural and Conservative leaning and the east a mixture of the two.

South Yorkshire is the most left leaning part of the region. Since 1955 it has always returned at least 11 Labour MPs and no more than three Tories. In fact, three Tory MPs were elected in 2019 following a run of six elections where no there was no Conservative representation there.

West Yorkshire is more competitive and contains a few marginal seats. When the Conservatives have been in power they tend to hold at least 7 seats in the west but they were wiped out there in 1997. They eventually recovered to win 7 seats in 2010 and take two more in 2019. Labour normally hold the rest, in a bad year that means down to 12 or 13 and in a good year above 20. The Lib Dems held one seat in West Yorkshire from 1997 to 2010.

North Yorkshire is reliably blue but with a handful of safe Labour seats. It has few marginal seats and few seats change hands between the parties. The East Riding is similarly split into safe Labour and Conservative seats. The city of Hull tends to return several Labour MPs but the more rural parts of the riding return Conservatives. The exception has been when seats have been drawn that group some of the large towns on the Humber estuary together which have been marginal. On the south side of the estuary, seats like Great Grimsby and Scunthorpe were reliably Labour for many decades but have moved to the Conservatives after a period of voting strongly for UKIP/Brexit Party/Reform (but without electing an MP from any of these parties).