Although this seat is in the centre of one of the few worked coal fields left in the country, mining within the constituency has never amounted to much economically.
Rather, Doncaster is a mixed town of many industries, including textiles and light engineering, and also a major shopping, service and transport and communications centre for the surrounding region. The town is well under two hours from London by rail, and situated very close to the M1 and M18 motorways, providing it with excellent transport links.
Labour's 1997 victory was emphatic, but until boundary changes in 1983 tipped the seat firmly in Labour's direction it had been a marginal constituency.