Hull West & Hessle
Labour hold

Hessle is rather lucky to get its name in a constituency title, but it was offered this privilege when the Boundary Commission found it necessary before the 1997 election to bring in some extraneous territory to a Hull seat to equalise electorates: Hessle came from the middle class Beverley seat and must have feared being swallowed up by its large and "socialist" neighbour, hence the sop offered in the name of the seat. Hessle is inclined to the Liberal Democrats, and helped them to move forward to second place in this constituency - but they remained far behind Labour, who utterly dominate Hull.

Alan Johnson, a former postman and eventually postman's union leader, was elected here in 1997 after a last-minute shoe-in made possible by a quick shoe-out-with-a-peerage of the sitting MP Stuart Randall. After a spell as PPS to Dawn Primarolo, he soon entered the government as a DTI minister responsible for the Post Office. A smooth, sharp-looking Londoner, born 1950 and educated at Sloane Grammar School, Chelsea, he represents the acceptable face of marginalized union influence reduced to Blairite specifications.

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   Thriving Wealthy Achievers, Suburban Areas 4.49% 14.99% 29.91 Affluent Greys, Rural Communities 0.00% 2.13% 0.00 Prosperous Pensioners, Retirement Areas 0.29% 2.49% 11.85 Expanding Affluent Executives, Family Areas 0.05% 4.43% 1.04 Well-Off Workers, Family Areas 1.27% 7.27% 17.44 Rising Affluent Urbanites, Town & City Areas 0.34% 2.56% 13.11 Prosperous Professionals, Metropolitan Areas 0.00% 2.04% 0.00 Better-Off Executives, Inner City Areas 7.53% 3.94% 190.90 Settling Comfortable Middle Agers, Mature Home Owning Areas 4.72% 13.04% 36.20 Skilled Workers, Home Owning Areas 41.80% 12.70% 329.09 Aspiring New Home Owners, Mature Communities 3.75% 8.14% 46.00 White Collar Workers, Better-Off Multi Ethnic Areas 2.33% 4.02% 57.90 Striving Older People, Less Prosperous Areas 4.91% 3.19% 154.07 Council Estate Residents, Better-Off Homes 18.28% 11.31% 161.61 Council Estate Residents, High Unemployment 6.69% 3.06% 218.51 Council Estate Residents, Greatest Hardship 3.56% 2.52% 141.48 People in Multi-Ethnic, Low-Income Areas 0.00% 2.10% 0.00 Unclassified Unclassified 0.00% 0.06% 0.00

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   £0-5K 15.98% 9.41% 169.78 £5-10K 24.01% 16.63% 144.33 £10-15K 19.92% 16.58% 120.15 £15-20K 13.62% 13.58% 100.31 £20-25K 8.80% 10.39% 84.66 £25-30K 5.63% 7.77% 72.47 £30-35K 3.65% 5.79% 62.98 £35-40K 2.41% 4.33% 55.54 £40-45K 1.62% 3.27% 49.66 £45-50K 1.12% 2.48% 44.94 £50-55K 0.78% 1.90% 41.11 £55-60K 0.56% 1.47% 37.97 £60-65K 0.41% 1.15% 35.35 £65-70K 0.30% 0.91% 33.15 £70-75K 0.22% 0.72% 31.27 £75-80K 0.17% 0.57% 29.66 £80-85K 0.13% 0.46% 28.25 £85-90K 0.10% 0.37% 27.02 £90-95K 0.08% 0.31% 25.94 £95-100K 0.06% 0.25% 24.97 £100K + 0.28% 1.34% 20.78