Stockton South
Labour hold

There are not many marginal seats in the North region of England, and Stockton South, though a gain for Dari Taylor from the Conservative member Tim Devlin in 1997, scarcely seems to rank as one any more with its five figure majority. Perhaps it should not be quite written off yet, as the voting balance between the two main parties was fairly even in the 1999 council and Euro elections, and because the Tories must be competitive here if they are ever to form another government; but that day seems a long way off at the moment.

Dari Taylor, Welsh-born (1944) daughter of the later Dan Jones MP for Burnley 1959-83, won this seat in 1997, following selection from an all-women shortlist which the local Labour Party had initially resisted. A Sunderland councillor for eleven years, she was educated at Ynyshir Girls' School, Rhondda, and Nottingham University, and worked as an FE lecturer and as an education officer with the GMBU. A feminist campaigner for women in the armed forces, she damned Tory Desmond Swayne for his "utterly offensive" quotation from St Bernard of Clairvaux about the impossibility of being with a woman and not having intercourse with her.

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   Thriving Wealthy Achievers, Suburban Areas 13.22% 14.99% 88.19 Affluent Greys, Rural Communities 0.00% 2.13% 0.00 Prosperous Pensioners, Retirement Areas 0.47% 2.49% 18.88 Expanding Affluent Executives, Family Areas 15.38% 4.43% 347.57 Well-Off Workers, Family Areas 22.82% 7.27% 313.79 Rising Affluent Urbanites, Town & City Areas 1.36% 2.56% 52.97 Prosperous Professionals, Metropolitan Areas 0.43% 2.04% 20.97 Better-Off Executives, Inner City Areas 0.83% 3.94% 20.93 Settling Comfortable Middle Agers, Mature Home Owning Areas 12.50% 13.04% 95.90 Skilled Workers, Home Owning Areas 8.80% 12.70% 69.26 Aspiring New Home Owners, Mature Communities 3.84% 8.14% 47.21 White Collar Workers, Better-Off Multi Ethnic Areas 0.85% 4.02% 21.11 Striving Older People, Less Prosperous Areas 2.34% 3.19% 73.42 Council Estate Residents, Better-Off Homes 10.77% 11.31% 95.20 Council Estate Residents, High Unemployment 2.94% 3.06% 95.89 Council Estate Residents, Greatest Hardship 3.45% 2.52% 137.12 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 8.54% 9.41% 90.74 £5-10K 15.47% 16.63% 93.02 £10-15K 15.93% 16.58% 96.07 £15-20K 13.57% 13.58% 99.93 £20-25K 10.78% 10.39% 103.72 £25-30K 8.31% 7.77% 106.89 £30-35K 6.33% 5.79% 109.20 £35-40K 4.79% 4.33% 110.63 £40-45K 3.63% 3.27% 111.26 £45-50K 2.76% 2.48% 111.21 £50-55K 2.11% 1.90% 110.61 £55-60K 1.62% 1.47% 109.59 £60-65K 1.25% 1.15% 108.24 £65-70K 0.97% 0.91% 106.66 £70-75K 0.75% 0.72% 104.90 £75-80K 0.59% 0.57% 103.02 £80-85K 0.47% 0.46% 101.08 £85-90K 0.37% 0.37% 99.10 £90-95K 0.30% 0.31% 97.11 £95-100K 0.24% 0.25% 95.13 £100K + 1.12% 1.34% 83.19