David Miliband

A one-time mining and shipbuilding town at the mouth of the River Tyne, the area has lately been hit by unemployment rates three times the national average. South Shields has responded to the deterioration of these industries by encouraging other new light industry to locate here.

Known for its river, its mines and the sea, South Shields is the only constituency never to have returned a Conservative MP since the first Reform Act of 1832.