West Lancashire (UK Parliament constituency)
53°33′36″N 2°49′05″W / 53.560°N 2.818°W
West Lancashire | |
---|---|
County constituency for the House of Commons | |
County | Lancashire |
Electorate | 73,028 (December 2010)[1] |
Current constituency | |
Created | 1983 |
Member of Parliament | Rosie Cooper (Labour) |
Seats | One |
Created from | Ormskirk and Ince |
West Lancashire is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Rosie Cooper, a member of the Labour Party.[n 2]
Boundaries
1983-1997: The District of West Lancashire wards of Aughton Park, Aughton Town Green, Bickerstaffe, Birch Green, Burscough, Derby, Digmoor, Downholland, Halsall, Hesketh-with-Becconsall, Knowsley, Lathom, Moorside, Newburgh, North Meols, Rufford, Scarisbrick, Scott, Skelmersdale North, Skelmersdale South, Tanhouse, Tarleton, Upholland North, and Upholland South.
1997-2010: The District of West Lancashire wards of Aughton Park, Aughton Town Green, Bickerstaffe, Birch Green, Burscough, Derby, Digmoor, Downholland, Halsall, Knowsley, Lathom, Moorside, Newburgh, Parbold, Scarisbrick, Scott, Skelmersdale North, Skelmersdale South, Tanhouse, Upholland North, Upholland South, and Wrightington.
2010-present: The District of West Lancashire wards of Ashurst, Aughton and Downholland, Aughton Park, Bickerstaffe, Birch Green, Burscough East, Burscough West, Derby, Digmoor, Halsall, Knowsley, Moorside, Newburgh, Parbold, Scarisbrick, Scott, Skelmersdale North, Skelmersdale South, Tanhouse, Upholland, and Wrightington.
The constituency covers the borough of the same name except for the northern parishes,[n 3] which are in the South Ribble constituency. The main towns in the constituency are the historic market town of Ormskirk and the new town of Skelmersdale. The third largest settlement is Burscough which is also surrounded by rural townships and villages and is close to the resort of Southport, just outside the modern administrative county.
History
The seat was established under the third periodic review of Westminster constituencies of 1983 following the first such review, after the Representation of the People Act 1918, in 1945. The new seat took in parts of the former ones of Ormskirk[n 4] and Ince.
- Political history
Both forerunner seats were last represented by Labour MPs, with Ince having been served by only four such members since 1906, however with Ormskirk having a mixed and longer history as a more marginal seat.
The first member, Ken Hind held the seat for two terms as a Conservative, winning the first election in the landslide Conservative result of 1983. In 1992, the seat was won by Colin Pickthall of the Labour Party who then gained a majority of 17,119 votes in 1997 and was succeeded by Rosie Cooper in 2005. The 2010 result was more marginal, a 9.0% majority, but not within the 50 most narrowly won seats for Cooper's party.[2]
Constituency profile
As outlined in geography in the boundaries section above, the seat is primarily green-buffered settlements. West Lancashire is home to a significant proportion of those working at managerial and professional levels and an above average retired age quotient,[3] as such the local economy is allied to the international successes of nearby industrial and world trading sectors, primarily Liverpool and its trading estates in Merseyside as well as the economy of Greater Manchester. The new town of Skelmersdale is strongly Labour, whereas Ormskirk and the surrounding rural and agricultural towns and villages are more inclined to vote Conservative.[4] Since 2012, both jurisdictions have seen UKIP making substantial electoral gains. Although UKIP only had paper candidates in Aughton and Ormskirk in the 2010 general election, they finished second behind Labour in two Skelmersdale council elections, as well as second behind only the Conservatives in Aughton.[5]
Workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 3.5% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.[6]
Members of Parliament
Election | Member[7] | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | 1983 | Ken Hind | Conservative |
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | | 1992 | Colin Pickthall | Labour |
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | | 2005 | Rosie Cooper | Labour |
Elections
Elections in the 2010s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Rosie Cooper | 32,030 | 58.9 | +9.6 | |
Conservative | Samuel Currie | 20,341 | 37.4 | +5.0 | |
Liberal Democrats | Jo Barton | 1,069 | 2.0 | −0.6 | |
Green | Nate Higgins | 680 | 1.3 | −1.9 | |
War Veterans Pro-Traditional Family | David Braid | 269 | 0.5 | +0.2 | |
Majority | 11,689 | 21.5 | +4.7 | ||
Turnout | 54,503 | 74.41 | |||
Labour hold | Swing | +2.3 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Rosie Cooper | 24,474 | 49.3 | +4.1 | |
Conservative | Paul Greenall | 16,114 | 32.4 | −3.7 | |
UKIP | Jack Sen1 | 6,058 | 12.2 | +8.5 | |
Green | Ben Basson | 1,582 | 3.2 | +2.2 | |
Liberal Democrats | Daniel Lewis | 1,298 | 2.6 | −10.9 | |
Independent | David Braid | 150 | 0.3 | −0.1 | |
Majority | 8,360 | 16.8 | +7.8 | ||
Turnout | 49,676 | 70.0 | +6.2 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +3.9 |
1: After nominations were closed, Sen was suspended from UKIP after sending an allegedly anti-semitic tweet to Liverpool Wavertree Labour candidate Luciana Berger. His name still appeared on ballot papers with the UKIP party name.[11]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Rosie Cooper | 21,883 | 45.1 | −2.9 | |
Conservative | Adrian Owens | 17,540 | 36.2 | +2.2 | |
Liberal Democrats | John Gibson | 6,573 | 13.6 | −0.5 | |
UKIP | Damon Noone | 1,775 | 3.7 | +1.6 | |
Green | Peter Cranie | 485 | 1.0 | N/A | |
Section 28 | David Braid | 217 | 0.4 | −0.3 | |
Majority | 4,343 | 9.0 | |||
Turnout | 48,473 | 63.8 | +6.1 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −2.6 |
Elections in the 2000s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Rosie Cooper | 20,746 | 48.1 | −6.4 | |
Conservative | Alf Doran | 14,662 | 34.0 | +2.0 | |
Liberal Democrats | Richard Kemp | 6,059 | 14.0 | +2.4 | |
UKIP | Alan Freeman | 871 | 2.0 | N/A | |
English Democrat | Stephen Garrett | 525 | 1.2 | N/A | |
Clause 28 | David Braid | 292 | 0.7 | 0.0 | |
Majority | 6,084 | 14.1 | |||
Turnout | 43,155 | 57.7 | −1.1 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −4.2 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Colin Pickthall | 23,404 | 54.5 | −5.8 | |
Conservative | Jeremy Myers | 13,761 | 32.0 | +2.9 | |
Liberal Democrats | John Thornton | 4,966 | 11.6 | +4.4 | |
Independent | David Hill | 523 | 1.2 | +0.5 | |
Independent | David Braid | 317 | 0.7 | N/A | |
Majority | 9,643 | 22.4 | |||
Turnout | 42,971 | 58.8 | −15.8 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −4.4 |
Elections in the 1990s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Colin Pickthall | 33,022 | 60.3 | +13.2 | |
Conservative | Chris J. Varley | 15,903 | 29.1 | −14.8 | |
Liberal Democrats | Arthur R. Wood | 3,938 | 7.2 | −0.4 | |
Referendum | Michael Carter | 1,025 | 1.9 | N/A | |
Natural Law | John D. Collins | 449 | 0.8 | +0.3 | |
Independent | David Hill | 392 | 0.7 | N/A | |
Majority | 17,119 | 31.1 | |||
Turnout | 54,729 | 74.6 | −8.0 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +12.1 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Colin Pickthall | 30,128 | 47.1 | +5.6 | |
Conservative | Ken Hind | 28,051 | 43.9 | +0.2 | |
Liberal Democrats | Peter F. Reilly | 4,884 | 7.6 | −7.2 | |
Green | Philip J. Pawley | 546 | 0.9 | N/A | |
Natural Law | Bevin H. Morris | 336 | 0.5 | N/A | |
Majority | 2,077 | 3.2 | +1.0 | ||
Turnout | 63,945 | 82.6 | +2.9 | ||
Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | +2.7 |
Elections in the 1980s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Ken Hind | 26,500 | 43.7 | −2.5 | |
Labour | Colin Pickthall | 25,147 | 41.5 | +7.7 | |
SDP | Robert Jermyn | 8,972 | 14.8 | −5.2 | |
Majority | 1,353 | 2.2 | −10.3 | ||
Turnout | 60,619 | 79.7 | +5.3 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | −5.1 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Ken Hind | 25,458 | 46.3 | N/A | |
Labour | Josie Farrington | 18,600 | 33.8 | N/A | |
SDP | Andrew D. Sackville | 10,983 | 20.0 | N/A | |
Majority | 6,858 | 12.5 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 55,041 | 74.4 | N/A | ||
Conservative win (new seat) |
See also
Notes and references
- Notes
- ^ A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
- ^ As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
- ^ Tarleton, Rufford, Hesketh Bank and North Meols
- ^ Its MPs had included twice Prime Minister Harold Wilson (Lab) (1945–1950) and Robert Kilroy-Silk (1974–1983) (after 1983 Kilroy-Silk won the western successor to the Ormskirk seat, Knowsley North).
Somewhat marginal, Ormkirk was served by four Conservatives in the intervening years.
- References
- ^ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
- ^ General Election Results from the Electoral Commission
- ^ 2011 Census
- ^ http://www.ukipwestlancashire.com
- ^ UKIP West Lancs Website
- ^ Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
- ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 1)
- ^ http://www.westlancs.gov.uk/media/530800/statement-of-persons-nominated.pdf
- ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ^ "Lancashire West". BBC News. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
- ^ UKIP candidate Jack Sen suspended over Jewish slur tweet - BBC News, 1 May 2015
- ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
{{cite web}}
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/|archive-url=
timestamp mismatch; 26 July 2013 suggested (help) - ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/constituency/f09.stm
- ^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "UK General Election results April 1992". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
- ^ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.