Stockton North

The constituency was created for the 1983 general election, partially replacing the former Stockton-on-Tees constituency. The outgoing MP for Stockton-on-Tees was Bill Rodgers, who had held the seat since 1962. He had been a Labour Party member until 1981, when he left to found the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The 1983 election was the first since Rodgers had left the Labour Party, and he was narrowly defeated by Labour's Frank Cook. Cook held the seat with majorities between 16% and 48% until the 2010 general election, when after 27 years as the MP he was de-selected by his local party. Cook chose to run again however, as an independent candidate. Cook polled less than 5% of the vote,…