List of parliamentary constituencies in Merseyside

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The county of Merseyside created in 1974 has 15 parliamentary constituencies — (sub-classified into 12 of borough type and three of county status affecting the level of expenses permitted and status of returning officer). The area, centred on its largest city of Liverpool, has since that year elected a majority of Labour Party MPs moreover since 1997 at least 13 of 15 seats have been held or won by the party at each general election. The two other largest parties nationally in England have to date won intermittently in the two larger seats within the four in the Wirral, the peninsula facing Liverpool, and best having alternately represented the seat centred on the coastal strip in and around the leisure resort of Southport. The latter town includes Birkdale and Ainsdale beach and has not since the seat was created in 1885 sided with the Labour Party. The bulk of seats especially towards the east and the centre of Liverpool have not sided with the Conservative Party since that party actively supported the National Labour Organisation (1931-1947).

Constituencies[edit]

  † Conservative   ‡ Labour

Constituency[nb 1] Electorate[1] Majority[2][nb 2] Member of Parliament[2] Nearest opposition[2] Map
Birkenhead BC 63,762 17,705   Mick Whitley   Frank Field (Birkenhead Social Justice)
Bootle BC 74,832 34,556   Peter Dowd   Tarsilo Onuluk†
Garston and Halewood BC 76,116 31,624   Maria Eagle   Neva Novaky†
Knowsley BC 84,060 39,942   George Howarth   Rushi Millns
Liverpool, Riverside BC 80,310 37,043   Kim Johnson   Sean Malkeson†
Liverpool, Walton BC 62,628 30,520   Dan Carden   Alex Phillips†
Liverpool, Wavertree BC 63,458 27,085   Paula Barker   Catherine Mulhern†
Liverpool, West Derby BC 65,640 29,984   Ian Byrne   Tom Bradley†
Sefton Central CC 69,760 15,122   Bill Esterson   Wazz Mughal†
Southport BC 70,837 4,147   Damien Moore   Liz Savage‡
St Helens North BC 75,593 12,209   Conor McGinn   Joel Charles†
St Helens South and Whiston BC 79,058 19,122   Marie Rimmer   Richard Short†
Wallasey BC 66,310 18,322   Angela Eagle   James Baker†
Wirral South CC 57,280 6,105   Alison McGovern   Stewart Gardiner†
Wirral West CC 55,550 3,003   Margaret Greenwood   Laura Evans†

2010 boundary changes[edit]

Under the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the Boundary Commission for England decided to reduce the number of seats in Merseyside from 16 to 15, leading to significant changes. The two Knowsley seats were abolished, with a single Knowsley constituency created. Parts of Knowsley North and Sefton East were added to the new constituency of Sefton Central, which replaced Crosby, and parts of Knowsley South were added to the new constituency of Garston and Halewood, which replaced Liverpool, Garston.

Former name Boundaries 1997-2010 Current name Boundaries 2010–present
  1. Birkenhead BC
  2. Bootle BC
  3. Crosby BC
  4. Knowsley North and Sefton East CC
  5. Knowsley South CC
  6. Liverpool, Garston BC
  7. Liverpool, Riverside BC
  8. Liverpool, Walton BC
  9. Liverpool, Wavertree BC
  10. Liverpool, West Derby BC
  11. St Helens North BC
  12. St Helens South BC
  13. Southport BC
  14. Wallasey BC
  15. Wirral South CC
  16. Wirral West CC
Parliamentary constituencies in Merseyside
Parliamentary constituencies in Merseyside
  1. Birkenhead BC
  2. Bootle BC
  3. Garston and Halewood BC
  4. Knowsley BC
  5. Liverpool, Riverside BC
  6. Liverpool, Walton BC
  7. Liverpool, Wavertree BC
  8. Liverpool, West Derby BC
  9. Sefton Central CC
  10. Southport BC
  11. St Helens North BC
  12. St Helens South and Whiston BC
  13. Wallasey BC
  14. Wirral South CC
  15. Wirral West CC
Proposed Revised constituencies in Merseyside
Proposed Revised constituencies in Merseyside

Proposed boundary changes[edit]

See 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies for further details.

Following the abandonment of the Sixth Periodic Review (the 2018 review), the Boundary Commission for England formally launched the 2023 Review on 5 January 2021.[3] Initial proposals were published on 8 June 2021 and, following two periods of public consultation, revised proposals were published on 8 November 2022. The final proposals were published on 28 June 2023.

The commission has proposed that Merseyside be combined with Cheshire as a sub-region of the North West Region, with the creation of two cross-county boundary constituencies of Ellesmere Port and Bromborough, and Widnes and Halewood, which avoids the need for a constituency which spans the River Mersey. As a consequence, Garston and Halewood would be abolished and Liverpool Garston re-established, and Wirral South would be abolished, with its contents being redistributed to Birkenhead, Ellesmere Port and Bromborough, and Wirral West. Four wards in the Lancashire borough of West Lancashire would be included in Southport.[4][5]

The following constituencies are proposed:

Containing electoral wards from Knowsley

Containing electoral wards from Liverpool

Containing electoral wards from St Helens

Containing electoral wards from Sefton

Containing electoral wards from Wirral

Results history[edit]

Primary data source: House of Commons research briefing - General election results from 1918 to 2019[6]

2019[edit]

The number of votes cast for each political party who fielded candidates in constituencies comprising Merseyside in the 2019 general election were as follows:

Party Votes % Change from 2017 Seats Change from 2017
Labour 463,371 65.2% Decrease6.0% 14 0
Conservative 143,431 20.2% Decrease1.2% 1 0
Liberal Democrats 39,591 5.6% Increase1.3% 0 0
Brexit 33,392 4.7% new 0 0
Greens 19,371 2.7% Increase1.2% 0 0
Others 11,443 1.6% 0.0% 0 0
Total 710,599 100.0 15

Percentage votes[edit]

Election year 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015 2017 2019
Conservative 35.0 28.9 29.0 19.7 20.1 19.4 21.1 18.1 21.4 20.2
Labour 39.9 47.4 51.4 61.9 58.7 53.8 52.3 61.7 71.2 65.2
Liberal Democrat1 23.7 23.3 16.9 14.4 17.8 22.9 20.8 5.5 4.3 5.6
Green Party - * * * * * 0.3 3.6 1.5 2.7
UKIP - - - * * * 3.2 10.3 1.1 *
Brexit Party - - - - - - - - - 4.7
Other 1.4 0.3 2.7 3.9 3.4 3.9 2.2 0.8 0.5 1.6

11983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance

* Included in Other

Seats[edit]

Election year 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015 2017 2019
Conservative 5 4 4 0 0 0 1 0 1 1
Labour 11 11 12 15 15 15 13 14 14 14
Liberal Democrat1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0
Total 17 17 17 16 16 16 15 15 15 15

11983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance

Maps[edit]


Historic representation by party[edit]

A cell marked → (with a different colour background to the preceding cell) indicates that the previous MP continued to sit under a new party name.

  Birkenhead Social Justice   Change UK   Conservative   Independent   Labour   Liberal   Liberal Democrats

Constituency 1983 86 1987 88 90 90 91 1992 97 1997 2001 2005 07 2010 2015 2017 18 19 19 2019
Knowsley South Hughes O'Hara
Birkenhead Field Whitley
Bootle Roberts Carr Benton Dowd
Knowsley North / and Sefton East (1997) / Knowsley (2010) Kilroy-Silk Howarth
Liverpool Garston / Garston & Halewood (2010) Loyden M. Eagle
Liverpool Riverside Parry Ellman Johnson
Liverpool Walton Heffer Kilfoyle Rotheram Carden
Liverpool Broadgreen / Liverpool Wavertree (1997) Fields Kennedy Berger Barker
Liverpool West Derby Wareing Twigg Byrne
St Helens North Evans Watts McGinn
St Helens South / and Whiston (2010) Bermingham Woodward Rimmer
Wallasey Chalker A. Eagle
Wirral South Porter Chapman McGovern
Crosby / Sefton Central (2010) Thornton Curtis-Thomas Esterson
Wirral West Hunt Hesford McVey Greenwood
Southport Percival Fearn Banks Fearn Pugh Moore
Liverpool Mossley Hill Alton

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ BC denotes borough constituency, CC denotes county constituency.
  2. ^ The majority is the number of votes the winning candidate receives more than their nearest rival.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Baker, Carl; Uberoi, Elise; Cracknell, Richard (28 January 2020). "General Election 2019: full results and analysis". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ^ a b c "Constituencies A-Z - Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  3. ^ "2023 Review | Boundary Commission for England". boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  4. ^ "Boundary shake-up to bring changes on Merseyside". BBC News. 8 June 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  5. ^ "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume one: Report | Boundary Commission for England". boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk. paras 763-814. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  6. ^ Watson, Christopher; Uberoi, Elise; Loft, Philip (17 April 2020). "General election results from 1918 to 2019".