York, City of
Labour hold

At the beginning of the 1990s York was in Conservative hands, although Conal Gregory held it as the party's most vulnerable seat, with a majority obtained in 1987 of just 147 votes. By the beginning of this century Labour's Hugh Bayley was in situ with a majority of 20,523. He had achieved this with two huge leaps. In 1992 Gregory suffered the second heaviest defeat of any sitting Conservative MP, by 6,342 votes, and the Conservative vote plummeted by another 14.5pc in 1997. York may be a grand city, with its walled centre, the second great church of provincial England, and the richest of histories as encapsulated in the Jorvik Museum and in the living memories of the streets and buildings, but it is also a well known railway centre and industrial and manufacturing metropolis for engineering, leather, chemicals, and of course chocolate, cocoa and confectionery. The Rowntree connection hints at a radical tradition too, for this is a place here Quakerism is important, and education, with its fine schools (St Peter's, Bootham . . . ) and one of the most outstanding and attractive of the 1960s universities. It witnesses Liberal Democrat success in local but not national elections, and now ranks as a very safe Labour constituency.

Hugh Bayley, a junior Social Security Minister and a former PPS to Frank Dobson, is a successfully niche-marketed-if-unobtrusive politician with an academic background in health economics. Elected for York at his second attempt in 1992, he was born in 1952 and before attending Bristol and York Universities, was - like an oddly numerous group of Labour MPs - educated at Haileybury (the list includes Clement Attlee, Christopher Mayhew, Geoffrey de Freitas, and - currently - Barry Gardiner). Before doing research into care of the old at York University, he was a Nalgo officer, and a TV producer specialising in the Third World.

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   Thriving Wealthy Achievers, Suburban Areas 4.75% 14.99% 31.69 Affluent Greys, Rural Communities 0.00% 2.13% 0.00 Prosperous Pensioners, Retirement Areas 2.36% 2.49% 95.06 Expanding Affluent Executives, Family Areas 1.69% 4.43% 38.28 Well-Off Workers, Family Areas 2.22% 7.27% 30.51 Rising Affluent Urbanites, Town & City Areas 0.32% 2.56% 12.54 Prosperous Professionals, Metropolitan Areas 0.24% 2.04% 11.64 Better-Off Executives, Inner City Areas 7.87% 3.94% 199.68 Settling Comfortable Middle Agers, Mature Home Owning Areas 11.98% 13.04% 91.91 Skilled Workers, Home Owning Areas 20.15% 12.70% 158.63 Aspiring New Home Owners, Mature Communities 10.28% 8.14% 126.27 White Collar Workers, Better-Off Multi Ethnic Areas 14.43% 4.02% 358.90 Striving Older People, Less Prosperous Areas 4.58% 3.19% 143.89 Council Estate Residents, Better-Off Homes 12.57% 11.31% 111.11 Council Estate Residents, High Unemployment 2.30% 3.06% 75.18 Council Estate Residents, Greatest Hardship 4.13% 2.52% 163.81 People in Multi-Ethnic, Low-Income Areas 0.00% 2.10% 0.00 Unclassified Unclassified 0.11% 0.06% 172.40

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   £0-5K 11.77% 9.41% 125.01 £5-10K 20.72% 16.63% 124.59 £10-15K 19.40% 16.58% 117.01 £15-20K 14.58% 13.58% 107.36 £20-25K 10.15% 10.39% 97.70 £25-30K 6.91% 7.77% 88.84 £30-35K 4.69% 5.79% 81.01 £35-40K 3.21% 4.33% 74.20 £40-45K 2.23% 3.27% 68.31 £45-50K 1.57% 2.48% 63.22 £50-55K 1.12% 1.90% 58.81 £55-60K 0.81% 1.47% 54.98 £60-65K 0.59% 1.15% 51.62 £65-70K 0.44% 0.91% 48.68 £70-75K 0.33% 0.72% 46.08 £75-80K 0.25% 0.57% 43.77 £80-85K 0.19% 0.46% 41.71 £85-90K 0.15% 0.37% 39.86 £90-95K 0.12% 0.31% 38.20 £95-100K 0.09% 0.25% 36.70 £100K + 0.41% 1.34% 30.14