Editing Wakefield (section)

==Governance==
[[File:The (new) Town Hall, Wood Street, Wakefield.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Wakefield Town Hall]]]]
Wakefield was anciently a market and parish town in the Agbrigg division of the [[wapentake]] of [[Agbrigg and Morley]] in the [[West Riding of Yorkshire]]. It became a parliamentary borough with one Member of Parliament after the [[Reform Act 1832]]. In 1836 the Wakefield [[poor law union|Poor Law Union]] was formed following the [[Poor Law Amendment Act]] 1834 with an elected board of guardians.<ref>{{harvnb|Taylor|2008|p=23 }}</ref> The town was incorporated as a [[municipal borough]] with elected councillors in 1848 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835.<ref>{{harvnb|Taylor|2008|p=25 }}</ref>

Wakefield was the ''de facto'' seat of regional government in Yorkshire for two centuries and became the county headquarters of the West Riding County Council created by the [[Local Government Act 1888]].<ref>{{harvnb|Taylor|2008|p=41 }}</ref> After Wakefield was elevated to a diocese in 1888, Wakefield council sought city status which was granted the same year.<ref>{{harvnb|Beckett|2005|pp=39,40 }}</ref> Wakefield became a [[county borough]] in 1913.<ref>{{harvnb|Freeman|1966|p=173 }}</ref> In 1974, under the terms of the [[Local Government Act 1972]], the county borough became defunct as it merged with surrounding local authorities to become the [[City of Wakefield]] district.

Today the city is the headquarters of [[Wakefield Metropolitan District Council]], [[Yorkshire Ambulance Service]] and [[West Yorkshire Police]].<ref name="AboutWakefield">{{cite web |title=AboutWakefield |url=http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/AboutWakefield/aboutdistrict.htm |publisher=Wakefield Council |access-date=18 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100110004759/http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/AboutWakefield/aboutdistrict.htm |archive-date=10 January 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="lgyh">{{cite web |title=Local Government Yorkshire and Humber |url=http://www.lgyh.gov.uk/ |publisher=Local Government Yorkshire and Humber |year=2009 |access-date=22 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513150259/http://www.lgyh.gov.uk/ |archive-date=13 May 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Since 1987, the district council has been based in [[County Hall, Wakefield|County Hall]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/CultureAndLeisure/HistoricWakefield/Buildings/CountyHall/default.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100130184945/http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/CultureAndLeisure/HistoricWakefield/Buildings/CountyHall/default.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 January 2010 |title=County Hall |publisher=Wakefield Council |access-date=15 August 2019}}</ref>

Wakefield is covered by four electoral wards (Wakefield East, Wakefield North, Wakefield South and Wakefield West) of the Wakefield Metropolitan District Council. Each ward elects three councillors to the 63-member metropolitan district council, Wakefield's local authority. In 2015 all the councillors elected for Wakefield East, North and West were members of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] and the councillors for Wakefield South represent the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Your Councillors by Ward |url=http://mg.wakefield.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?FN=WARD&VW=LIST&PIC=0 |publisher=Wakefield Council |access-date=25 May 2015 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130616071144/http://mg.wakefield.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?FN=WARD&VW=LIST&PIC=0 |archive-date=16 June 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{update inline|date=April 2022|reason=Have been more recent elections}}

The parliamentary seat of [[Wakefield (UK Parliament constituency)|Wakefield]] had been held by the Labour Party continuously from 1932 until the [[2019 United Kingdom general election|2019 general election]], when the Conservative Party's [[Imran Ahmad Khan]] defeated the incumbent [[Mary Creagh]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/election-2019-50772224 |title=Labour lose Wakefield after 87 years |work=BBC News |date=13 December 2019 |access-date=30 December 2019 |archive-date=1 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200101122801/https://www.bbc.com/news/election-2019-50772224 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Conservative Party expelled Khan from the party on 11 April 2022, following a conviction of sexual assault.<ref>{{cite news |title=Imran Ahmad Khan expelled from Conservative party |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/11/imran-ahmad-khan-expelled-from-conservative-party |access-date=11 April 2022 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=11 April 2022 |archive-date=17 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220417161419/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/11/imran-ahmad-khan-expelled-from-conservative-party |url-status=live }}</ref> He announced three days after his conviction that he would be resigning as an MP, and left his post on 3 May, triggering the [[2022 Wakefield by-election]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/14/imran-ahmad-khan-resigns-after-child-sexual-assault-conviction |title=MP Imran Ahmad Khan resigns after conviction for child sexual assault |date=14 April 2022 |website=The Guardian |access-date=22 May 2022 |archive-date=31 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531105711/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/14/imran-ahmad-khan-resigns-after-child-sexual-assault-conviction |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Hinton |first=Megan |title=Imran Ahmad Khan quits as Wakefield MP after sexually assaulting 15-year-old boy |url=https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/imran-ahmad-khan-quits-as-wakefield-mp/ |access-date=3 May 2022 |work=[[LBC]] |date=3 May 2022 |archive-date=3 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503143106/https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/imran-ahmad-khan-quits-as-wakefield-mp/ |url-status=live }}</ref> which was held on 23 June and won by Labour's [[Simon Lightwood]].

The Wakefield South ward covering Sandal, Kettlethorpe, Agbrigg and Belle Vue, is in the [[Hemsworth (UK Parliament constituency)|Hemsworth constituency]], represented by the Labour party's [[Jon Trickett]] since 1996. He was re-elected in May 2010,<ref>{{cite news |title=Election 2010 – Hemsworth |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/constituency/c13.stm |url-status=live |publisher=BBC News |access-date=9 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823072615/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/constituency/c13.stm |archive-date=23 August 2017}}</ref> and returned in 2015 with 51.3% of the vote.<ref name="Hemsworth 2015">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000740 |title=Hemsworth Parliamentary constituency |access-date=25 May 2015 |work=BBC News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150513153247/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000740 |archive-date=13 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> The seat has been held by the Labour Party since its creation in 1918.