| Pendle | |
| Parliament: | uk |
| Map1: | Pendle2007 |
| Map2: | EnglandLancashire |
| Year: | 1983 |
| Abolished: | 2024 |
| Type: | Borough |
| Previous: | Nelson and Colne, Skipton and Clitheroe[1] |
| Electorate: | 66,735 (December 2010)[2] |
| Region: | England |
| European: | North West England |
| Elects Howmany: | One |
Pendle was a constituency in Lancashire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. The constituency was newly created for the 1983 general election, being largely formed from the former Nelson and Colne constituency.
Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was abolished. Subject to boundary changes—expanding it into the Borough of Ribble Valley, including the town of Clitheroe—it was reformed as Pendle and Clitheroe, which was first contested at the 2024 general election.[3]
Since its formation in 1983, the Pendle constituency has been coterminous with the borough of the same name; however the constituency boundaries were redrawn in 1997, due to local government boundary changes in the 1980s.
The major urban centres in Pendle are Nelson and Colne, with smaller towns Barnoldswick and Earby added to existing ones such as Higham and Pendleside and Craven, since boundary changes in the 1970s that brought them into Pendle Borough, Lancashire from Yorkshire.
Parliament accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies calling for slight changes in the run-up to the 2010 general election, since which Pendle has the same electoral wards as the Borough:
Although in 1992 this was not a bellwether, Pendle was a key marginal with the Conservative lead over Labour being similar to the national lead in the 2010 general election. In terms of the local economy, unemployment[5] is lower than the regional average, artisan creations, tourism, manufacturing, transport, food processing, the public sector and agriculture are large sectors.[6]
| Election | Member | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | John Lee | Conservative | ||
| 1992 | Gordon Prentice | Labour | ||
| 2010 | Andrew Stephenson | Conservative | ||