Oldham East and Saddleworth (UK Parliament constituency)

Oldham East and Saddleworth is a constituency in outer Greater Manchester represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since January 2011 by Debbie Abrahams of the Labour Party.

Oldham East and Saddleworth
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Oldham East and Saddleworth in Greater Manchester
Location of Greater Manchester within England
CountyGreater Manchester[1]
Electorate72,249 (December 2010)[2]
Major settlementsOldham (part)[3]
Saddleworth[3]
Shaw and Crompton[3]
Current constituency
Created1997
Member of ParliamentDebbie Abrahams (Labour)
Number of membersOne
Created fromLittleborough & Saddleworth and Oldham Central & Royton

Boundaries and constituency profile

1997–2010: The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham wards of Crompton, Lees, St James', St Mary's, Saddleworth East, Saddleworth West, Shaw, and Waterhead, and the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale ward of Milnrow.

2010–present: The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham wards of Alexandra, Crompton, St James', St Mary's, Saddleworth North, Saddleworth South, Saddleworth West and Lees, Shaw, and Waterhead.

Oldham East and Saddleworth is the largest constituency in Greater Manchester by area,[4] and is one of three covering the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham. According to the Manchester Evening News it is "... a juxtaposition of downbeat urban terraces and the rolling Pennine hills."[4]

UK Polling Report describes it as "a constituency at the eastern side of Greater Manchester, reaching from central Oldham up into the Pennines and Saddleworth Moor".[3] It characterises East Oldham as "an area of deprived terraces and racial tensions", Shaw and Crompton as "relatively prosperous" and Saddleworth as composed of "middle-class villages and hamlets".[3]

Within its bounds are the eastern fringes of Oldham (such as Derker, Glodwick, Greenacres, and Sholver), Shaw and Crompton, Lees, and Saddleworth (the latter of which includes the rural villages of Delph, Denshaw, Diggle, Dobcross, Greenfield and Uppermill).[4] Between 1997 and 2010, Oldham East and Saddleworth incorporated the suburban town of Milnrow in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale when boundary changes placed it in the neighbouring Rochdale constituency.[5]

For the 2011 by-election The Guardian described the constituency as "[Culturally] ... a shotgun marriage [likened to] ... Coronation Street meets Last of the Summer Wine, Salford combined with Holmfirth."[6]

History

The seat was established for the 1997 general election from parts of the former Littleborough and Saddleworth and Oldham Central and Royton constituencies.[4] Oldham Central and Royton was a safe Labour seat whereas Littleborough and Saddleworth had had a Conservative MP, Geoffrey Dickens, from its creation until a 1995 close three-party fought by-election where it was lost to a Liberal Democrat. Ahead of the 1997 general election the seat was notionally Conservative, however since 1997 the seat has been a Labour/Liberal Democrat marginal.[n 1][4] Although Phil Woolas of the Labour Party (defeated candidate in the mentioned 1995 by-election) was victorious in all three general elections since, his majorities have not been substantial and the Conservative vote increased from 16% to 24%.

At the 2001 general election, the far-right British National Party gained over 5,000 votes (an 11.2% share), retaining their deposit partly as Nick Griffin stood in the neighbouring West seat.[1] Along with the BNP's showing in the neighbouring Oldham West and Royton constituency, this was interpreted as a reaction to the 2001 Oldham race riots.[7][8] At the 2005 election the BNP's share of the vote dropped to 4.9%.[1]

For the 2010 general election the seat lost the Milnrow and Newhey ward to the neighbouring Rochdale constituency and gained part of Alexandra ward from Oldham West and Royton.[5]

After losing the 2010 general election by 103 votes, Liberal Democrat candidate Elwyn Watkins submitted a petition for a hearing by an election court, claiming that campaign literature issued by his Labour opponent Phil Woolas breached the Representation of the People Act 1983 by making false statements about his personal character.[9][10] On 5 November 2010, the election court[n 2] upheld the petition and declared the election void after reporting Phil Woolas guilty of making false election statements.[11][12][13] Woolas sought a judicial review of the decision in the Administrative Division of the High Court, which upheld the decision of the Election Court in relation to two statements, whilst quashing the decision in relation to a third.[14] As a result, the 2011 Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election was needed.[15] By the time it was held, the Liberal Democrats had supported an increase in tuition fees, despite a manifesto commitment to oppose any such increase. This caused a significant drop in their polling numbers nationally, but one media report nevertheless stated the seat was "ultra-marginal between Labour and the Liberal Democrats".[3] The by-election took place on 13 January 2011 and was contested by ten candidates.[16] The Labour Party candidate Debbie Abrahams won.

Members of Parliament
ElectionMember[17] Party Notes
1997 Phil Woolas Labour
2011 By-election Debbie Abrahams Labour Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2016-2018)

Elections

Elections in the 2010s
General election 2019: Oldham East and Saddleworth[18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Debbie Abrahams 20,088 43.5 -11.0
Conservative Tom Lord 18,585 40.3 +3.2
Brexit Party Paul Brierley 2,980 6.5 N/A
Liberal Democrats Sam Al-Hamdani 2,423 5.2 +1.6
Proud of Oldham & Saddleworth Paul Errock 1,073 2.3 N/A
Green Wendy Olsen 778 1.7 N/A
Independent Amoy Lindo 233 0.5 N/A
Majority 1,503 3.2 -14.1
Turnout 46,160 64.0 -1.2
Labour hold Swing
General election 2017: Oldham East and Saddleworth[19]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Debbie Abrahams 25,629 54.5 +15.1
Conservative Kashif Ali 17,447 37.1 +11.2
UKIP Ian Bond 2,278 4.8 -14.4
Liberal Democrats Jonathan Smith 1,683 3.6 -9.3
Majority 8,182 17.4 +3.9
Turnout 47,037 65.3 +3.5
Labour hold Swing +2.0
General election 2015: Oldham East and Saddleworth[20][21]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Debbie Abrahams 17,529 39.4 +7.5
Conservative Sajjad Hussain 11,527 25.9 −0.5
UKIP Peter Klonowski 8,557 19.2 +15.4
Liberal Democrats Richard Marbrow 5,718 12.9 −18.8
Green Miranda Meadowcroft 1,152 2.6 N/A
Majority 6,002 13.5 +13.3
Turnout 44,483 61.8 +0.6
Labour hold Swing +4.0
By-election, 2011: Oldham East and Saddleworth[12][16][22][23][24]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Debbie Abrahams 14,718 42.1 +10.2
Liberal Democrats Elwyn Watkins 11,160 31.9 +0.3
Conservative Kashif Ali 4,481 12.8 −13.6
UKIP Paul Nuttall 2,029 5.8 +1.9
BNP Derek Adams 1,560 4.5 −1.2
Green Peter Allen 530 1.5 N/A
Monster Raving Loony Nick "The Flying Brick" Delves 145 0.4 N/A
English Democrat Stephen Morris 144 0.4 N/A
Pirate Loz Kaye 96 0.3 N/A
Bus-Pass Elvis David Bishop 67 0.1 N/A
Majority 3,558 10.2 +10.0
Turnout 34,930 48.0 −13.1
Labour hold Swing +4.95
General election 2010: Oldham East and Saddleworth[25][26]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Phil Woolas 14,186 31.9 −10.7
Liberal Democrats Elwyn Watkins 14,083 31.6 −0.5
Conservative Kashif Ali 11,773 26.4 +8.7
BNP Alwyn Stott 2,546 5.7 +0.8
UKIP David Bentley 1,720 3.9 +1.8
Christian Gulzar Nazir 212 0.5 N/A
Majority 103 0.3 −10.1
Turnout 44,520 61.2 +4.4
Labour hold Swing −5.1

Elections in the 2000s
General election 2005: Oldham East and Saddleworth[27]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Phil Woolas 17,968 41.4 +2.8
Liberal Democrats Tony Dawson 14,378 33.2 +0.6
Conservative Keith Chapman 7,901 18.2 +2.1
BNP Michael Treacy 2,109 4.9 −6.3
UKIP Valerie Nield 873 2.0 +0.5
Independent Philip O'Grady 138 0.3 N/A
Majority 3,590 8.3 +2.3
Turnout 43,367 57.3 −3.7
Labour hold Swing +1.1
General election 2001: Oldham East and Saddleworth[28]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Phil Woolas 17,537 38.6 −3.1
Liberal Democrats Howard Sykes 14,811 32.6 −2.8
Conservative Craig Heeley 7,304 16.1 −3.6
BNP Michael Treacy 5,091 11.2 N/A
UKIP Barbara Little 677 1.5 N/A
Majority 2,726 6.0 −0.3
Turnout 45,420 61.0 −13.0
Labour hold Swing +0.13

Elections in the 1990s
General election 1997: Oldham East and Saddleworth[28]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Phil Woolas 22,546 41.7 N/A
Liberal Democrats Chris Davies 19,157 35.4 N/A
Conservative John Hudson 10,666 19.7 N/A
Referendum Douglas Findlay 1,116 2.0 N/A
Socialist Labour John Smith 470 0.9 N/A
Natural Law Ian Dalling 146 0.3 N/A
Majority 3,389 6.3 N/A
Turnout 54,101 73.92 N/A
Labour win (new seat)

Chris Davies was MP for the former Littleborough and Saddleworth seat since the 1995 by-election.

See also

Notes and references
Notes
  1. The phrase comes from the estimated size of the winner's majority.
  2. Determined by High Court of England and Wales Judges Mr Justice Nigel Teare and Mr Justice Griffith Williams
References
  1. "Oldham East & Saddleworth: Constituency – Telegraph". London: Ukpolitics.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  2. "Electorate Figures – Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  3. "UKPollingreport – Constituency Guide » Oldham East and Saddleworth". Ukpollingreport.co.uk. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  4. "Oldham East and Saddleworth – Manchester Evening News". Menmedia.co.uk. 1 April 2010. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  5. "Greater Manchester: New Constituencies Ward Breakdown". Electoralcalculus.co.uk. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  6. Michael White (7 January 2011). "Oldham byelection race remains too close to call | Politics". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  7. "BNP makes its mark in Oldham". the Guardian. 8 June 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  8. "'Something has gone wrong in Oldham,' MP warns, following surprise BNP vote". The Irish Times. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  9. "Losing candidate challenges Oldham election result". BBC. 28 May 2010. Retrieved 28 May 2010.
  10. Election Petition submitted to the High Court – Part 1, Part 2 Archived 18 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine and Part 3. Parts 2 and 3 includes copies of the election literature challenged. (Oldham Council website. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  11. "Watkins v Woolas 2010 EWHC 2702 (QB)". British and Irish Legal Information Institute. 5 November 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
  12. Oldham East and Saddleworth UK Polling Report
  13. Judges order election re-run in ex-minister's seat BBC News. 2010-11-05
  14. "R on the application of Woolas v The Parliamentary Election Court and others (2010) EWHC 3169 (Admin)". British and Irish Legal Information Institute. 3 December 2010. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
  15. "Judges order election re-run in ex-minister's seat". BBC. 5 November 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
  16. "Ten Candidates To Fight By-Election". Saddleworth News. 23 December 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  17. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "O"
  18. Sansome, Jessica; Otter, Saffron (14 November 2019). "All the Greater Manchester General Election 2019 candidates". men. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  19. "Oldham East & Saddleworth parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
  20. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  21. "Election 2015 – Oldham East & Saddleworth". BBC News. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  22. "BNP's Nick Griffin in bid for Phil Woolas' Oldham seat". thejc.com. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  23. "Three on Labour's Saddleworth Shortlist". Saddleworth News. 10 December 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  24. "Official Monster Raving Loony Party Homepage". Omrlp.com. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  25. "Election 2010 – Oldham East & Saddleworth". BBC News. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  26. "UK General Election results May 2010". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 24 September 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2010.
  27. "UK General Election results May 2005". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 24 December 2010.
  28. "Oldham East & Saddleworth, 1997 and 2001". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 24 December 2010.

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