Wirral West (UK Parliament constituency)

Wirral West is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. In 2017, with 55,377 people eligible to vote, Wirral West had the smallest electorate of any constituency in England. The current MP is Margaret Greenwood of the Labour Party.

Wirral West
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Wirral West in Merseyside
Location of Merseyside within England
CountyMerseyside
Electorate55,077 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlementsHoylake, West Kirby
Current constituency
Created1983
Member of ParliamentMargaret Greenwood (Labour)
Number of membersOne
Created fromWirral

History

The present Wirral West constituency was created in 1983, from the northern part of the former Wirral constituency. Its predecessor had traditionally elected Conservative MPs.

From 1945-76, the MP was Selwyn Lloyd, who served as Foreign Secretary during the Eden ministry and as Chancellor of the Exchequer during the Macmillan ministry, later becoming Speaker of the Commons in 1971 before being raised to the peerage in 1976. The ensuing by-election was won by David Hunt, who became the first MP for the newly created constituency of Wirral West in 1983. Hunt was a member of John Major's Cabinet, serving twice as Secretary of State for Wales and also as Secretary of State for Employment.

Hunt held the seat until 1997, when he lost to Stephen Hesford of the Labour Party. Labour narrowly retained the seat in 2005, despite a challenge from former TV presenter Esther McVey, standing as the candidate for the Conservative Party.

Hesford announced on 22 January 2010 that he would be stepping down at the next general election for family reasons. Boundary changes in 2010 meant that his majority would have been reversed and the Conservatives would have won the seat at the previous election by 569 votes. At the 2010 general election, McVey won the seat for the Conservatives with a swing of 2.3% from the Labour Party.

Wirral West has been described as a bellwether, with results in the constituency mirroring the national result at every general election since its formation in 1983 until 2015.[2][3] However at the 2015 general election, Wirral West was gained by Labour, despite the Conservatives winning the general election to form the first majority Conservative government in 23 years. This was also in spite of the Conservative Party increasing their popular vote and vote share in the constituency, with the Liberal Democrat turnout collapse benefiting Labour. Wirral West, like the nearby City of Chester, was one of the few Conservative-held marginals outside of London to be gained by Labour at that election.

Boundaries

1983–2010: The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral wards of Hoylake, Prenton, Royden, Thurstaston, and Upton.

2010–present: The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral wards of Greasby, Frankby and Irby, Hoylake and Meols, Pensby and Thingwall, Upton, and West Kirby and Thurstaston.

The constituency is one of four covering the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. It contains the towns of Hoylake and West Kirby, as well as areas such as Greasby, Thingwall, Irby, Meols, Upton Woodchurch and a small part of Heswall.

In the 2005 Boundary Commission report, Wirral West lost part of the Prenton ward to the Birkenhead constituency, and gained part of Barnston from Wirral South.

Members of Parliament
ElectionMember[4]Party
1983 David Hunt Conservative
1997 Stephen Hesford Labour
2010 Esther McVey Conservative
2015 Margaret Greenwood Labour

Elections

Elections of the 2010s
General election 2019: Wirral West[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Margaret Greenwood 20,695 48.2 -6.1
Conservative Laura Evans 17,692 41.2 -0.9
Liberal Democrats Andy Corkhill 2,706 6.3 +3.7
Green John Coyne 965 2.2 +1.3
Brexit Party John Kelly 860 2.0 N/A
Majority 3,003 7.0 -5.2
Turnout 42,918 77.3 -1.2
Labour hold Swing -2.6
General election 2017: Wirral West[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Margaret Greenwood 23,866 54.3 +9.2
Conservative Tony Caldeira 18,501 42.1 -2.1
Liberal Democrats Peter Reisdorf 1,155 2.6 -0.8
Green John Coyne 429 1.0 N/A
Majority 5,365 12.2 +11.2
Turnout 44,034 78.5 +2.9
Labour hold Swing +5.6
See also: Opinion polling in United Kingdom constituencies, 2010–15 § Wirral West
General election 2015: Wirral West[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Margaret Greenwood 18,898 45.1 +8.9
Conservative Esther McVey 18,481 44.2 +1.7
UKIP Hilary Jones 2,772 6.6 +4.3
Liberal Democrats Peter Reisdorf 1,433 3.4 -13.4
Independent David James 274 0.7 -0.1
Majority 417 0.9 N/A
Turnout 41,858 75.6 +4.1
Labour gain from Conservative Swing +3.6
General election 2010: Wirral West[9][10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Esther McVey 16,726 42.5 N/A
Labour Phil Davies 14,290 36.3 N/A
Liberal Democrats Peter Reisdorf 6,630 16.8 N/A
UKIP Philip Griffiths 899 2.3 N/A
Independent David Kirwan 506 1.3 N/A
Common Sense Party David James 321 0.8 N/A
Majority 2,436 6.2 N/A
Turnout 39,372 71.5 N/A
Conservative win (new boundaries)

Elections of the 2000s
General election 2005: Wirral West[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Stephen Hesford 17,543 42.5 -4.7
Conservative Esther McVey 16,446 39.9 +2.7
Liberal Democrats Jeffrey Clarke 6,652 16.1 +0.5
UKIP John Moore 429 1.0 N/A
Alternative Party Roger Taylor 163 0.4 N/A
Majority 1,097 2.7 -6.7
Turnout 41,233 67.5 +2.5
Labour hold Swing -3.7
General election 2001: Wirral West[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Stephen Hesford 19,105 47.2 +2.3
Conservative Chris Lynch 15,070 37.2 -1.8
Liberal Democrats Simon Holbrook 6,300 15.6 +2.9
Majority 4,035 10.0 +4.2
Turnout 40,475 65.0 -12.2
Labour hold Swing

Elections of the 1990s
General election 1997: Wirral West[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Stephen Hesford 21,035 44.9 +13.9
Conservative David Hunt 18,297 39.0 -13.7
Liberal Democrats John Thornton 5,945 12.7 -1.9
Referendum Derek Wharton 1,613 3.4 N/A
Majority 2,738 5.8 N/A
Turnout 46,890 77.2 -4.6
Labour gain from Conservative Swing +13.8
General election 1992: Wirral West[14][15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Hunt 26,852 52.7 +0.8
Labour Helen Stephenson 15,788 31.0 +4.7
Liberal Democrats John Thornton 7,420 14.6 -5.6
Green Garnette Bowler 700 1.4 -0.3
Natural Law Nigel Broome 188 0.4 N/A
Majority 11,064 21.7 -4.0
Turnout 50,948 81.6 +3.6
Conservative hold Swing -2.0

Elections of the 1980s
General election 1987: Wirral West[16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Hunt 25,736 51.9 -3.9
Labour Alexander Dunn 13,013 26.3 +4.5
Liberal Allan Brame 10,015 20.2 -2.2
Green David Burton 806 1.6 N/A
Majority 12,723 25.6 +3.8
Turnout 63,597 77.9 +4.5
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1983: Wirral West[17]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Hunt 25,276 55.8
Liberal Stephen Mulholland 10,125 22.4
Labour John McCabe 9,855 21.8
Majority 15,151 33.4
Turnout 61,646 73.4
Conservative hold Swing

See also

Notes and references
  1. "Electorate Figures – Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  2. Joe Thomas (2015-04-22). "General election 2015: 'Kingmaker' Wirral West voters hold keys to Downing Street". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 2015-05-12.
  3. Harry Lambert (2015-04-20). "What are the top seats to watch in the election?". New Statesman. Retrieved 2015-05-12.
  4. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 4)
  5. "Statement of Persons Nominated,Wirral West" (PDF). Wirral Council. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  6. "Statement of Persons Nominated,Wirral West" (PDF). Wirral Council. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  7. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  8. "Wirral West". BBC News. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  9. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  10. "Latest news - www.wirral.gov.uk". www.wirral.gov.uk.
  11. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  12. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  13. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  14. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  15. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
  16. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  17. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.