Wentworth
Labour hold

The country house at Wentworth, converted into an adult education centre, is untypical of this working class and heavily Labour seat in South Yorkshire which is named after it. It is not geographically central, tucked away in the far north west corner of the seat, nor is it redolent of the predominant culture, which is that of coal. The communities of Rawmarsh (aptly named), Wickersley, Bramley and Brampton, the colliery village for the pit of Cortonwood, whose closure more than anything else stimulated the great and ultimately unsuccessful miners strike of 1984. Though not far from William Hague's birthplace, this seat is the opposite in many ways of his current division of Richmond in rural North Yorkshire, not least in its political preferences. It just shows what a multifarious commonwealth an independent republic of Yorkshire would be. One is inclined to wonder who the president of such a chimerical entity would be; not Mr Hague for sure, and not Mr Arthur Scargill either. Leaving aside the claims of Mr Geoffrey Boycott, if it has to be a politician one suspects that in 2001, if held to be eligible and if willing, Tony Blair would end up being chosen.

John Healey, a TUC apparatchik, was elected in 1997 after a last-minute selection in a seat supposedly pencilled-in for ex-Tory MP Alan Howarth, or the Blairite favourite Yvette Cooper. Born 1960, with a perhaps incongruous public school (St. Peter's York) and Cambridge (Christ's College) education, he had risen by 2000 as PPS to Gordon Brown after performing as a loyal proponent of the minimum wage and introduced his own bill on improving employee rights. He also wants medals for Suez Canal Zone veterans.

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   Thriving Wealthy Achievers, Suburban Areas 3.91% 14.99% 26.06 Affluent Greys, Rural Communities 0.06% 2.13% 2.96 Prosperous Pensioners, Retirement Areas 0.71% 2.49% 28.45 Expanding Affluent Executives, Family Areas 1.89% 4.43% 42.72 Well-Off Workers, Family Areas 10.92% 7.27% 150.17 Rising Affluent Urbanites, Town & City Areas 0.79% 2.56% 30.96 Prosperous Professionals, Metropolitan Areas 0.00% 2.04% 0.00 Better-Off Executives, Inner City Areas 0.00% 3.94% 0.00 Settling Comfortable Middle Agers, Mature Home Owning Areas 11.21% 13.04% 85.95 Skilled Workers, Home Owning Areas 22.93% 12.70% 180.50 Aspiring New Home Owners, Mature Communities 19.29% 8.14% 236.91 White Collar Workers, Better-Off Multi Ethnic Areas 0.00% 4.02% 0.00 Striving Older People, Less Prosperous Areas 5.98% 3.19% 187.87 Council Estate Residents, Better-Off Homes 17.36% 11.31% 153.48 Council Estate Residents, High Unemployment 1.93% 3.06% 62.89 Council Estate Residents, Greatest Hardship 3.02% 2.52% 119.80 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 12.50% 9.41% 132.76 £5-10K 20.90% 16.63% 125.64 £10-15K 19.18% 16.58% 115.69 £15-20K 14.33% 13.58% 105.53 £20-25K 9.98% 10.39% 96.04 £25-30K 6.80% 7.77% 87.49 £30-35K 4.63% 5.79% 79.92 £35-40K 3.17% 4.33% 73.26 £40-45K 2.20% 3.27% 67.43 £45-50K 1.55% 2.48% 62.33 £50-55K 1.10% 1.90% 57.85 £55-60K 0.79% 1.47% 53.90 £60-65K 0.58% 1.15% 50.42 £65-70K 0.43% 0.91% 47.34 £70-75K 0.32% 0.72% 44.60 £75-80K 0.24% 0.57% 42.15 £80-85K 0.18% 0.46% 39.95 £85-90K 0.14% 0.37% 37.97 £90-95K 0.11% 0.31% 36.18 £95-100K 0.09% 0.25% 34.56 £100K + 0.37% 1.34% 27.38