Vale of York
Conservative hold

A new seat created by the Boundary Commissioners in their 1995 report, in time for the 1997 General election, the Vale is an extra safe Tory seat in North Yorkshire. It has taken territory from four other seats: Ryedale, Richmond, Harrogate and Skipton/Ripon. This is a solidly Conservative section of the broad acres, north and west of York itself, largely avoiding hills and dales and wolds as the name implies, watered (sometimes excessively) by the Nidd, Swale, Ure and Ouse, and bisected by the A1 Great North Road. There are small towns like Thirsk, Easingwold and Boroughbridge and many villages in lush farming country, with some commuters, very few council tenants and almost no ethnic minorities. The Liberal Democrats are relatively weak for a rural area, and Labour finished a distant second in the inaugural contest in 1997.

Anne McIntosh was elected in 1997 having been an MEP for North Essex and South Suffolk (or thereabouts) since 1989. As such, she not in synch with her party's current Europhobia - having called (in 1991) for a federal Europe with a single currency, foreign and defence policy and with European law taking precedence over national law (which as a barrister working in European Community Law made sense at least personally). Since 1997 she has buried - indeed reversed - much of this, attacking the Social Chapter and comparing Euro banknotes to Marks & Spencer vouchers. As a Scot (born 1954 and educated at Harrogate College and Edinburgh University) her apostasy has also seen her oppose devolution, which for Euro-federalists should be all of a piece. Though a Clarke voter in 1997, one could be forgiven for seeing in her pinch-faced, austere and intense expression a certain inner conflict.

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   Thriving Wealthy Achievers, Suburban Areas 34.12% 14.99% 227.58 Affluent Greys, Rural Communities 8.55% 2.13% 402.05 Prosperous Pensioners, Retirement Areas 0.55% 2.49% 22.16 Expanding Affluent Executives, Family Areas 10.28% 4.43% 232.34 Well-Off Workers, Family Areas 6.99% 7.27% 96.14 Rising Affluent Urbanites, Town & City Areas 0.08% 2.56% 3.09 Prosperous Professionals, Metropolitan Areas 0.00% 2.04% 0.00 Better-Off Executives, Inner City Areas 0.17% 3.94% 4.39 Settling Comfortable Middle Agers, Mature Home Owning Areas 25.06% 13.04% 192.20 Skilled Workers, Home Owning Areas 2.98% 12.70% 23.45 Aspiring New Home Owners, Mature Communities 5.90% 8.14% 72.49 White Collar Workers, Better-Off Multi Ethnic Areas 1.76% 4.02% 43.75 Striving Older People, Less Prosperous Areas 2.10% 3.19% 66.05 Council Estate Residents, Better-Off Homes 0.82% 11.31% 7.23 Council Estate Residents, High Unemployment 0.11% 3.06% 3.61 Council Estate Residents, Greatest Hardship 0.50% 2.52% 20.02 People in Multi-Ethnic, Low-Income Areas 0.00% 2.10% 0.00 Unclassified Unclassified 0.01% 0.06% 20.09

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   £0-5K 6.09% 9.41% 64.66 £5-10K 12.75% 16.63% 76.66 £10-15K 14.74% 16.58% 88.90 £15-20K 13.59% 13.58% 100.03 £20-25K 11.33% 10.39% 109.00 £25-30K 9.00% 7.77% 115.70 £30-35K 6.98% 5.79% 120.56 £35-40K 5.38% 4.33% 124.06 £40-45K 4.13% 3.27% 126.64 £45-50K 3.19% 2.48% 128.59 £50-55K 2.48% 1.90% 130.11 £55-60K 1.94% 1.47% 131.33 £60-65K 1.52% 1.15% 132.34 £65-70K 1.21% 0.91% 133.19 £70-75K 0.96% 0.72% 133.93 £75-80K 0.77% 0.57% 134.57 £80-85K 0.63% 0.46% 135.15 £85-90K 0.51% 0.37% 135.67 £90-95K 0.42% 0.31% 136.15 £95-100K 0.34% 0.25% 136.59 £100K + 1.87% 1.34% 139.09