Hexham (UK Parliament constituency)

Hexham is a constituency in Northumberland represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Guy Opperman, a Conservative.Constituency profileThis large seat reaches to the Pennines and traverses Hadrians Wall which runs almost due east–west through England, includes substantial agricultural holdings, forestry, wood processing, food, minerals, and manufactured hardware industries and has been held by the Conservative Party and rarely with only marginal majorities since 1924. In the midst of the northwest of the area is Kielder Water and running between this area and the middle of the seat is the southern portion of Kielder Forest, and in the west, the attractions of the precipitous Haltwhistle Burn, Viaduct and Castle. SSE of Hexham is the Derwent Reservoir. Aside from the geographical highlights as set out above this area also houses a portion of Newcastle's commuting middle-class; Hexham was the only Conservative seat in the North East between 1997–2010, and the only one in Northumberland from 1973 until the Conservatives won Berwick-upon-Tweed in 2015. Despite this middle-class population there are some more working-class areas of the seat, with Prudhoe frequently returning Labour councillors and having similar demographics to neighbouring parts of Blaydon, a safe Labour seat. There is also some deprivation in rural areas particularly around Haltwhistle.