Editing Workington (section)

==Governance==
[[File:Allerdale House, Workington - geograph.org.uk - 3242024.jpg|thumb|Allerdale House]]
There are two tiers of local government covering Workington, at [[Parish council (England)|parish]] (town) and [[Unitary authorities of England|unitary authority]] level: Workington Town Council and [[Cumberland Council]]. The town council is based at the Town Hall on Oxford Street.<ref>{{cite web |title=Office staff |url=https://www.workingtontowncouncil.gov.uk/officestaff |website=Workington Town Council |access-date=19 May 2025}}</ref> Cumberland Council also has an area office in the town, at Allerdale House.<ref>{{cite web |title=Contact or visit us |url=https://www.cumberland.gov.uk/your-council/about-your-council/contact-or-visit-us |website=Cumberland House |access-date=20 May 2025}}</ref>

For national elections, Workington forms part of the [[Whitehaven and Workington]] constituency, created for the [[2024 United Kingdom general election|2024 general election]], since when it has been represented by [[Josh MacAlister]] of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Whitehaven and Workington - General election results 2024|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2024/uk/constituencies/E14001583|publisher=BBC News}}</ref> Between 1918 and 2024 there was a [[Workington (UK Parliament constituency)|Workington constituency]]. It was generally a safe Labour seat, only electing a [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] twice, in a [[1976 Workington by-election|1976 by-election]] and at the [[2019 United Kingdom general election|2019 general election]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=A vision of Britain website – general elections section |url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_multi_table_page.jsp?data_theme=T_POL&data_cube=N_POL_PARTY&u_id=12737403&c_id=10090283 |access-date=27 April 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/politics/constituencies/E14001053|title=Workington parliamentary constituency - Election 2019 - BBC News|via=www.bbc.com}}</ref> During the 2019 general election, the concept of the "[[Workington man]]" was devised by a think tank as a description for a certain type of voter that the national parties needed to target.<ref>{{Cite news |title=General Election: Who is target voter Workington Man? |work=BBC News |date=30 October 2019 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-50239341/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Workington Man is London's latest stereotype for the northern voters it neglects |newspaper=The Guardian |date=31 October 2019 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/31/workington-man-swing-voter-north-rugby-league-towns |last1=Nandy |first1=Lisa }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Workington man profile draws criticism from town residents |date=31 October 2019 |url=https://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/18005454.workington-man-profile-splits-opinion/}}</ref>

===Administrative history===
Workington was an [[ancient parish]] in the [[Historic counties of England|historic county]] of [[Cumberland]]. The parish was subdivided into five [[Township (England)|townships]], being [[Great Clifton]], [[Little Clifton]], [[Stainburn, Cumbria|Stainburn]], [[Winscales]], and a Workington township covering the part of the parish around the town itself.<ref>{{cite web |title=Workington Ancient Parish / Civil Parish |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10047948 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=19 May 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Cumberland Sheet LIII |url=https://maps.nls.uk/view/102340845 |website=National Library of Scotland |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=19 May 2025}}</ref> From the 17th century onwards, parishes were gradually given various civil functions under the [[poor laws]], in addition to their original ecclesiastical functions. In some cases, including Workington, the civil functions were exercised by each township separately rather than the parish as a whole. In 1866, the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws, and so the townships also became [[civil parish]]es.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Youngs |first1=Frederic |title=Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England: Volume II, Northern England |date=1991 |publisher=Royal Historical Society |location=London |isbn=0861931270 |page=xv}}</ref>

A body of [[improvement commissioners]] was established in 1840 to administer the town.<ref>{{cite web |title=Workington Improvement Act 1840 |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/Vict/3-4/45/contents/enacted |website=legislation.gov.uk |publisher=The National Archives |access-date=19 May 2025}}</ref> The commissioner's district was initially tightly defined around the built up area, and was enlarged a couple of times as the town grew. The commissioners' district was converted into a [[Local Government Act 1858|local government district]] with an elected local board in 1864,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=22818|page=661|date=12 February 1864}}</ref> and was then incorporated to become a [[municipal borough]] in 1888.<ref name=Kelly/><ref>{{cite book |title=Annual Report of the Local Government Board |date=1889 |page=cxxvii |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Annual_Report_of_the_Local_Government_Bo/7BUwAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PR127&printsec=frontcover |access-date=19 May 2025}}</ref>

The borough initially covered part of the Workington civil parish plus the Cloffocks, which was an [[extra-parochial area]] covering some low-lying ground between two channels of the River Derwent. Under the [[Local Government Act 1894]], parishes were no longer allowed to straddle borough boundaries, and so the parts of Workington civil parish outside the borough were made a separate parish called Workington Rural. The borough was enlarged in 1899 to take in North Side, a growing suburb north of the Derwent, which had previously been in the civil parish of [[Seaton, Cumbria|Seaton]]. The borough was enlarged again in 1934 to take in [[Harrington, Cumbria|Harrington]], Stainburn, and Workington Rural, and the boundary with Winscales was adjusted at the same time.<ref>{{cite web |title=Workington Municipal Borough |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10003404#tab02 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=19 May 2025}}</ref>

In 1899 the borough council bought a Victorian house called Field House on Oxford Street, converting it to become the Town Hall.<ref>{{cite news |title=Workington: The New Town Hall |url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0002305%2F18990923&page=5 |access-date=19 May 2025 |work=West Cumberland Times |date=23 September 1899 |location=Cockermouth |page=5}}</ref>

The borough of Workington was abolished in 1974 under the [[Local Government Act 1972]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/cockermouth.html|title=Cockermouth Registration District|publisher=UKBMD|accessdate=30 December 2021}}</ref> The area became part of the borough of [[Allerdale]] in the new county of Cumbria.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972|year=1972|number=2039|accessdate=3 March 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Names) Order 1973|year=1973|number=551|accessdate=3 March 2023}}</ref> The area of the pre-1974 borough of Workington was an [[unparished area]] from 1974 until 1982, when a new civil parish of Workington matching the pre-1974 borough was created, with its parish council taking the name Workington Town Council.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Allerdale (Parishes) Order 1982 |url=https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20221202002640mp_/https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lgbce/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/12154/allerdale-parishes-order-1982.pdf |website=Local Government Boundary Commission for England |publisher=The National Archives |access-date=24 April 2025}}</ref> Allerdale was abolished in 2023 when the new Cumberland Council was created, also taking over the functions of the abolished Cumbria County Council in the area.<ref name=2022order>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Cumbria (Structural Changes) Order 2022|year=2022|number=331|access-date=24 January 2024}}</ref>