North West Durham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 12 December 2019 by Richard Holden of the Conservative Party. Constituency profile The constituency is in the north west of County Durham, in the North East England region. It currently consists of the western part of the former Derwentside district (including Consett and Lanchester) and the northern part of the former Wear Valley district (including Weardale, Crook and Willington). The majority of the electorate live in former mining or steel towns, where Labour traditionally have polled higher than other parties, with the remainder in rural farms and villages throughout valleys cleft from the eastern, rocky part of the Pennines. History 1885–1918 The constituency was first created for the 1885 general election by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 as one of eight new single-member divisions of the county of Durham, replacing the two 2-member seats of North Durham and South Durham. It was centred on two main communities, Consett and Lanchester. It was abolished in 1918 with the creation of Consett as a separate constituency. Lanchester was transferred to an enlarged Barnard Castle seat and Tanfield was added to the new constituency of Blaydon. 1950–present On its recreation under the Representation of the People Act 1948, North-West Durham absorbed the abolished Spennymoor seat, with the exception of the town of Spennymoor itself (which was added in 1974). It also regained Lanchester, together with Weardale, from the now abolished Barnard Castle. As a result of the periodic review of parliamentary constituencies following the re-organisation of local government under the Local Government Act 1972, the seat underwent a major redistribution for the 1983 general election: the town of Consett was regained from the abolished constituency thereof, and Brandon and Spennymoor were transferred to City of Durham and Sedgefield respectively. The boundaries were now similar to the first version of the constituency. Boundaries 1885-1918 The Sessional Division of Lanchester and Consett; and the Parishes of Edmondbyers and Hunstanworth See map on Vision of Britain website. (NB Boundary Commission proposed name was "Lanchester") 1950–1974 The Urban Districts of Brandon and Byshottles, Crook and Willington, and Tow Law; and the Rural Districts of Lanchester and Weardale. 1974–1983 The Urban Districts of Brandon and Byshottles, Crook and Willington, Spennymoor, and Tow Law; the Rural Districts of Lanchester and Weardale; and the parish of Brancepeth in the Rural District of