Calder Valley

Calder Valley is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Craig Whittaker of the Conservative Party.BoundariesSince the constituency's creation in 1983 it has comprised the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale wards of Brighouse, Calder Valley, Elland, Greetland and Stainland, Hipperholme and Lightcliffe, Luddendenfoot, Rastrick, Ryburn, and Todmorden.The constituency covers most of the upland metropolitan district of Calderdale in West Yorkshire including the town of Todmorden which was formerly split in half between Lancashire and Yorkshire.HistoryThe constituency was created in 1983, primarily from the former seat of Sowerby as well as parts of Brighouse and Spenborough. Historically a bellwether seat between Labour and the Conservatives, in the 2010 general election the seat became the closest three-way marginal in the north of England, with less than 1,000 votes between the Labour and Liberal Democrat Candidates in terms of 2nd and 3rd place, although with a significant Conservative majority for 1st place. In 2015 Labour regained significant vote share with the Liberal Democrats falling back, but the seat was retained by the Conservatives in line with national trends maintaining the bellwether status.