Hyndburn is an example of the 1997 phenomenon of Labour winning huge majorities in traditional marginals. Before its creation in 1983 when the seat was known as Accrington, Labour had held this perennial marginal since 1945. 1983 saw a change of name to Hyndburn which proved to be unlucky for the party as the Conservative candidate Ken Hargreaves took the seat by 21 votes after no fewer than six recounts. Mr Hargreaves managed to cling on until 1992 when he was ousted by Greg Pope with a typically slim margin of 2,031.
Hyndburn, located in east Lancashire, is a seat made up of a number of small ex-textile towns: Great Harwood, Clayton-le-Moors, Rishton, Church and Accrington which bears the division’s former name.
After the passing of the textile industry the industrial base of the constituency has diversified with tourism playing an increasingly important role; the seat has tried to capitalise on its mill heritage, and also the popularity of the nearby Pennines among hill walkers and ramblers. Its best-known town is Accrington, famed for its football team Accrington Stanley, who still play today at the town’s Crown Ground.