Houghton & Washington East
Labour hold

One of Labour's 13 safest seats is this County Durham mixture of old heavy industry ex-mining areas such as Houghton-le-Spring and Hetton-le-Hole with that half of the gritty, windy, barren Washington New Town not included with Gateshead East.

Labour's Fraser Kemp, was elected in 1997 after a career as a party apparatchik, masterminding two big by-election victories at Mid Staffordshire and Dudley West in the early 1990s. A Durham miner's son, born 1958, he attended Washington Comprehensive School. Tall, balding and convivial, he favours regional assemblies but not PR, which he rightly sees as destroying a 177-strong Labour majority. He sees the biggest betrayal of the working class as indulging in "intellectual masturbation" and losing elections.

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   Thriving Wealthy Achievers, Suburban Areas 0.54% 14.99% 3.59 Affluent Greys, Rural Communities 0.00% 2.13% 0.00 Prosperous Pensioners, Retirement Areas 0.00% 2.49% 0.00 Expanding Affluent Executives, Family Areas 1.47% 4.43% 33.24 Well-Off Workers, Family Areas 13.48% 7.27% 185.26 Rising Affluent Urbanites, Town & City Areas 0.73% 2.56% 28.48 Prosperous Professionals, Metropolitan Areas 0.00% 2.04% 0.00 Better-Off Executives, Inner City Areas 0.29% 3.94% 7.40 Settling Comfortable Middle Agers, Mature Home Owning Areas 4.36% 13.04% 33.40 Skilled Workers, Home Owning Areas 21.00% 12.70% 165.34 Aspiring New Home Owners, Mature Communities 18.42% 8.14% 226.22 White Collar Workers, Better-Off Multi Ethnic Areas 0.00% 4.02% 0.00 Striving Older People, Less Prosperous Areas 3.91% 3.19% 122.74 Council Estate Residents, Better-Off Homes 28.12% 11.31% 248.59 Council Estate Residents, High Unemployment 0.83% 3.06% 26.98 Council Estate Residents, Greatest Hardship 6.75% 2.52% 267.90 People in Multi-Ethnic, Low-Income Areas 0.00% 2.10% 0.00 Unclassified Unclassified 0.11% 0.06% 182.20

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   £0-5K 13.63% 9.41% 144.81 £5-10K 21.28% 16.63% 127.92 £10-15K 18.95% 16.58% 114.31 £15-20K 13.99% 13.58% 103.01 £20-25K 9.70% 10.39% 93.36 £25-30K 6.61% 7.77% 85.02 £30-35K 4.50% 5.79% 77.76 £35-40K 3.09% 4.33% 71.43 £40-45K 2.15% 3.27% 65.88 £45-50K 1.51% 2.48% 61.01 £50-55K 1.08% 1.90% 56.71 £55-60K 0.78% 1.47% 52.91 £60-65K 0.57% 1.15% 49.54 £65-70K 0.42% 0.91% 46.53 £70-75K 0.32% 0.72% 43.84 £75-80K 0.24% 0.57% 41.43 £80-85K 0.18% 0.46% 39.26 £85-90K 0.14% 0.37% 37.29 £90-95K 0.11% 0.31% 35.51 £95-100K 0.08% 0.25% 33.89 £100K + 0.36% 1.34% 26.61