BISHOP AUCKLAND

You could say this is Labour heartland. It has returned a Labour MP from every General Election since 1935, so it should be time for change.

result from 2005 General Election

Labour Helen Goodman 19,065 50.0 -8.8
Liberal Democrat Chris Foote-Wood 9,018 23.7 +8.0
Conservative Richard Bell 8,736 22.9 +0.2
UKIP Margaret Hopson 1,309 3.4 +3.4
Majority 10,047 26.4
Turnout 38,128 56.5 -0.7
Labour hold Swing -8.4

Labours share has dropped from the 1997 high of 65% mix of sheep in the area to 50% and is expected to fall in further come the next election.

CLICK HERE for more of a background on the area.

Current MP: Helen Goodman(Labour)
Barbara Harrison (Conservative)
Mark Wilkes (Liberal Democrat)
Adam Walker (BNP)

Now so far there has been no mention of a UKIP candidate and this could be good for the BNP if they don't have another party to split the 1,300 votes they got, and in 1997 the referendum party got 2,100 so this is a good area for the euro sceptic vote grabber.

The 2009 euro results for County Durham, Durham does cover 5 seats so can not be specific to Bishop Auckland. But still it is good to see at least 10,000 people vote for the BNP.