BBC Profile:
Boundary changes mean that this new seat is created out of wards previously part of the Newcastle upon Tyne Central and Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend constituencies. The majority of these wards are held by the Lib Dems, with only Byker and Walker providing Labour majorities. The Conservatives control no wards here.

Newcastle upon Tyne Central has been in Labour hands since 1987. But a 16,480-vote majority in 1997 had fallen to 3,982 by 2005. The Liberal Democrats have gradually increased their share and finished second in the past two elections, securing more than a third of the vote for the first time in 2005.

In Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend Labour polled 71% of the vote in 1997. However, by 2001, with the Tories slipping into third place and the Lib Dem vote steadily increasing, this was reduced to a 63% share. The Lib Dems, still in second place to Labour in 2005, managed to poll nearly a third of the vote. Nick Brown has represented Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend since 1983.

The new seat of Newcastle upon Tyne East includes the areas of Jesmond, Heaton, Byker and Walker.

Geographically the seat does not include any of the true city centre and is primarily made up of large residential areas.

The great shipbuilding industry of the Tyne, once the mainstay of the economy, is now essentially non-existent. The Swan Hunter shipyard had provided the last link to the shipping business, but closed in July 2006 after the Ministry

[More...]

BBC Profile:
Boundary changes mean that this new seat is created out of wards previously part of the Newcastle upon Tyne Central and Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend constituencies. The majority of these wards are held by the Lib Dems, with only Byker and Walker providing Labour majorities. The Conservatives control no wards here.

Newcastle upon Tyne Central has been in Labour hands since 1987. But a 16,480-vote majority in 1997 had fallen to 3,982 by 2005. The Liberal Democrats have gradually increased their share and finished second in the past two elections, securing more than a third of the vote for the first time in 2005.

In Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend Labour polled 71% of the vote in 1997. However, by 2001, with the Tories slipping into third place and the Lib Dem vote steadily increasing, this was reduced to a 63% share. The Lib Dems, still in second place to Labour in 2005, managed to poll nearly a third of the vote. Nick Brown has represented Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend since 1983.

The new seat of Newcastle upon Tyne East includes the areas of Jesmond, Heaton, Byker and Walker.

Geographically the seat does not include any of the true city centre and is primarily made up of large residential areas.

The great shipbuilding industry of the Tyne, once the mainstay of the economy, is now essentially non-existent. The Swan Hunter shipyard had provided the last link to the shipping business, but closed in July 2006 after the Ministry of Defence took an unfinished ship to a yard in Scotland for completion.

Rallings & Thrasher Notional:
Lab 17,588 (52.79%)
LD 10,601 (31.82%)
C 4,344 (13.04%)
Others 787 (2.36%)

[Less...]