Colne Valley gain from Conservative Graham Riddick 0 ( 0.0%) 18,445 (32.7%) 23,285 (41.3%) 12,755 (22.6%) 0 ( 0.0%) 1,926 ( 3.4%) 73,338 56,411 (76.9%) Graham Riddick Colne Valley 7,225 (12.2%) 24,804 (42.0%) 17,579 (29.8%) 15,953 (27.0%) 0 ( 0.0%) 719 ( 1.2%) Conservative 72,891 59,055 (81.0%) -9.3% +11.5% -4.4% +0.0% +2.2% +0.6% -4.1% Colne Valley is a famous constituency name, having offered succour in its time to all three main political groupings. In the early years of this century, this valley seat nestling in the Yorkshire Pennines was held by two Labour pioneers, Victor Grayson and then Philip Snowden, the first ever Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer in the 1920s. Then, in the postwar era, its best-known MP was probably Richard Wainwright, a member of the small band of Liberals in the Commons in the 1960s and 1970s. Things changed again in the 1980s this mercurial constituency saw a great success for the Tory MP Graham Riddick, who then increased his majority in 1992 to 7,000: an unusually high figure for this marginal. Labour moved forward into second place the same year, and now offer the best chance of challenging Riddick, especially if they can persuade the electors of Colne Valley that the Liberal tradition of Wainwright is dead. A Labour gain will not be easy, though. Around 80 per cent of the housing is owner-occupied, much of it neat terraces such as featured in the TV series 'Last of the Summer Wine', which is filmed in the seat at Holmfirth. It also includes some of the most prosperous housing in Huddersfield at its eastern end. Colne Valley is a conservative place - and there is a fair chance that it will remain a Conservative one too in 1997. 2,207 5.42 9.03 60 2,436 5.98 11.17 54 9,136 22.42 11.25 199 8,872 21.77 14.70 148 2,684 6.59 10.45 63 128 0.31 2.81 11 3,119 7.65 8.01 96 7,213 17.70 15.25 116 4,228 10.37 7.13 146 491 1.20 10.17 12