UK Explained

Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley

Represented in Parliament by Yvette Cooper (Labour). Here is who won the last general election here, and a few numbers about the area.

Your MP at a glance

Yvette Cooper, Labour. Open their full page →

These describe the record. They do not say why an MP voted or claimed as they did.

How Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley compares

Every dot is one of the 631 areas that have figures. The large red dot is this area; green dots are areas like it.

TYPICAL FULL-TIME PAY, A WEEK

This area is 447 of 631 for pay, counting from the highest.

UK £767This area £712£400£1,100
PEOPLE CLAIMING UNEMPLOYMENT-RELATED BENEFITS

Higher than 406 areas and lower than 242.

UK 3.9%This area 3.7%0.0%12.0%

Areas like this one

The three areas with the closest pay and claimant rate. This says nothing about politics or geography.

AreaWeekly payClaimants
Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley£7123.7%
Redditch£7133.7%
Portsmouth North£7063.7%
Stoke-on-Trent South£7173.6%
United Kingdom£7673.9%

Printable one-page briefing

Who lives in Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley

From the 2021 Census, next to the figure for England and Wales as a whole. Census day was 21 March 2021, so some things will have changed.

About the areaThis areaEngland and WalesCompared
Number of people100,90159,597,740 in total
Aged under 1619%18%about the same
Aged 65 and over18%19%about the same
Adults with a degree or higher22%34%12 points lower
Households that own their home64%62%1 points higher
Households renting from a council or housing association22%17%5 points higher
Households renting privately14%20%6 points lower

Source: ONS, Census 2021 (England and Wales), via the UK Data Service statistics portal. Fetched 2026-10-04. These describe who lives here. They do not explain how anyone votes.

WINNER, 2024
Yvette Cooper

Labour

MAJORITY
6,630

votes ahead of second place

TURNOUT
48%

of people who could vote did

Yvette Cooper won with 48% of the votes, and John Thomas (Reform UK) came second with 29%.

Votes for each party

Labour48% · 17,089
Reform UK29% · 10,459
Conservative15% · 5,406
Green Party5% · 1,651
Liberal Democrat3% · 1,213
Social Democratic Party0% · 139
Every candidate
CandidatePartyVotesShare
Yvette CooperLabour17,08947.5%
John ThomasReform UK10,45929.1%
Laura WeldonConservative5,40615.0%
Olli WatkinsGreen Party1,6514.6%
Jamie NeedleLiberal Democrat1,2133.4%
Trevor LakeSocial Democratic Party1390.4%

2024 General Election, on today’s boundaries. Source: House of Commons Library via the Members API.

Your area at a glance

Typical pay for full-time workers who live here
£712 a week
This areaUK: £767 a week

Median gross weekly pay, 2025. Source: ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.

Working-age people claiming unemployment-related benefits
3.7%
This areaUK: 3.9%

Share of people aged 16 to 64, August 2026. Source: ONS and DWP claimant count.

At a general election each area elects one MP, and the candidate with the most votes wins, even without more than half. The area figures describe the people who live here. They do not show whether any MP or vote is the cause.

Updated 4 Oct 2026