Middlesbrough
Labour hold

A nineteenth century industrial boom town as an early centre of the steel industry, Middlesbrough is a rock solid Labour seat with a high unemployment rate, a working class majority, and high proportions of households of single parents and of those with no car. Any local Conservatives would be well advised to concentrate on their outside chance of regaining the neighbouring seat of Middlesbrough South and Cleveland East.

Stuart Bell, bizarrely “our conduit to the Almighty” (Paul Flynn MP) as Second Church Estates Commissioner, notwithstanding authorship of a steamy novel entitled ‘Paris 69’, was elected here in 1983. A rightwing pro-European Francophile and DTI spokesman dropped from the front bench on the morrow of victory in 1997, he got the church job as a consolation prize. A County Durham miner’s son who became a barrister, he was born in 1938 and educated at Hookergate Grammar School and (eventually) Gray’s Inn. By politically-incorrectly taking the accused parents’ side against the social workers and doctors in the Cleveland child sex abuse scandal, he memorably offended important Labour client groups in the local government and social work lobbies, later keenly backing the dismantling of Cleveland County Council. Nor does he like PR or homosexual sex at 16.

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   Thriving Wealthy Achievers, Suburban Areas 4.54% 14.99% 30.26 Affluent Greys, Rural Communities 0.00% 2.13% 0.00 Prosperous Pensioners, Retirement Areas 0.53% 2.49% 21.16 Expanding Affluent Executives, Family Areas 0.19% 4.43% 4.36 Well-Off Workers, Family Areas 6.32% 7.27% 86.93 Rising Affluent Urbanites, Town & City Areas 0.41% 2.56% 16.14 Prosperous Professionals, Metropolitan Areas 0.00% 2.04% 0.00 Better-Off Executives, Inner City Areas 4.06% 3.94% 103.03 Settling Comfortable Middle Agers, Mature Home Owning Areas 13.37% 13.04% 102.51 Skilled Workers, Home Owning Areas 20.05% 12.70% 157.83 Aspiring New Home Owners, Mature Communities 7.29% 8.14% 89.49 White Collar Workers, Better-Off Multi Ethnic Areas 1.61% 4.02% 40.08 Striving Older People, Less Prosperous Areas 0.77% 3.19% 24.09 Council Estate Residents, Better-Off Homes 21.06% 11.31% 186.22 Council Estate Residents, High Unemployment 4.00% 3.06% 130.51 Council Estate Residents, Greatest Hardship 13.22% 2.52% 524.90 People in Multi-Ethnic, Low-Income Areas 2.58% 2.10% 123.04 Unclassified Unclassified 0.00% 0.06% 0.00

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   £0-5K 17.16% 9.41% 182.25 £5-10K 23.97% 16.63% 144.11 £10-15K 19.35% 16.58% 116.70 £15-20K 13.19% 13.58% 97.14 £20-25K 8.60% 10.39% 82.76 £25-30K 5.58% 7.77% 71.84 £30-35K 3.67% 5.79% 63.32 £35-40K 2.45% 4.33% 56.52 £40-45K 1.67% 3.27% 51.00 £45-50K 1.15% 2.48% 46.44 £50-55K 0.81% 1.90% 42.63 £55-60K 0.58% 1.47% 39.40 £60-65K 0.42% 1.15% 36.64 £65-70K 0.31% 0.91% 34.25 £70-75K 0.23% 0.72% 32.17 £75-80K 0.17% 0.57% 30.34 £80-85K 0.13% 0.46% 28.72 £85-90K 0.10% 0.37% 27.28 £90-95K 0.08% 0.31% 25.99 £95-100K 0.06% 0.25% 24.82 £100K + 0.26% 1.34% 19.63