Before the Reform Act 1832, relatively wealthy people (forty-shilling freeholders) of the whole county could attend elections when there was an opposition candidate.

Before 2019 it was a Labour Party stronghold, although the then MP Dennis Skinner's share of the popular vote dropped to 50% in the 2010 election from a high of 77.5% (see below), amongst social and boundary changes.

Its economy faced struggles after the last closures in the early 1990s of the coal pits upon which the area thrived for many years.

The majority of voters in the area voted in favour of Brexit during the 2016 referendum; this was the preferred outcome of the then local MP Dennis Skinner.

This considerable turn out in favour of Brexit resulted in Reform UK to include it in its priority list of constituencies for the 2024 General Election.