West Lancashire (UK Parliament constituency)

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Coordinates: 53°33′36″N 2°49′05″W / 53.560°N 2.818°W / 53.560; -2.818

West Lancashire
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Outline map
Boundary of West Lancashire in Lancashire
Outline map
Location of Lancashire within England
CountyLancashire
Electorate73,028 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlementsOrmskirk, Skelmersdale and Burscough
Current constituency
Created1983
Member of ParliamentRosie Cooper (Labour)
Number of membersOne
Created fromOrmskirk 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 boundaries remained unchanged.

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 Ormskirk[n 4] and Ince, both abolished by that point.

Political history

Both forerunner seats were last represented by Labour MPs, with Ince having been served by only four such members since 1906. However, Ormskirk had a mixed and longer history as a more marginal seat.

The seat's 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, with a 9.0% majority, but was 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
1983 Ken Hind Conservative
1992 Colin Pickthall Labour
2005 Rosie Cooper Labour

Elections[]

Elections in the 2010s[]

General election 2019: West Lancashire[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Rosie Cooper 27,458 52.1 ―6.8
Conservative Jack Gilmore 19,122 36.3 ―1.1
Liberal Democrats Simon Thomson 2,560 4.9 +2.9
Brexit Party Marc Stanton 2,275 4.3 New
Green John Puddifer 1,248 2.4 +1.1
Majority 8,336 15.8 ―5.7
Turnout 52,663 72.03 ―2.4
Labour hold Swing ―2.9
General election 2017: West Lancashire[9]
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 +4.6
Turnout 54,103 74.41 +4.4
Labour hold Swing +2.3
General election 2015: West Lancashire[10][11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Rosie Cooper 24,474 49.3 +4.2
Conservative Paul Greenall 16,114 32.4 ―3.8
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 ―11.0
Independent David Braid 150 0.3 ―0.1
Majority 8,360 16.9 +7.9
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.[12]

General election 2010: West Lancashire[13][14]
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 New
Clause 28 David Braid 217 0.4 ―0.3
Majority 4,343 8.9 ―5.2
Turnout 48,473 63.8 +6.1
Labour hold Swing ―2.6

Elections in the 2000s[]

General election 2005: West Lancashire[15]
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 New
English Democrat Stephen Garrett 525 1.2 New
Clause 28 David Braid 292 0.7 0.0
Majority 6,084 14.1 ―8.4
Turnout 43,155 57.7 ―1.1
Labour hold Swing ―4.2
General election 2001: West Lancashire[16]
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 New
Majority 9,643 22.5 ―8.7
Turnout 42,971 58.8 ―15.8
Labour hold Swing ―4.4

Elections in the 1990s[]

General election 1997: West Lancashire[17]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Colin Pickthall 33,022 60.3 +10.9
Conservative Chris J. Varley 15,903 29.1 ―13.3
Liberal Democrats Arthur R. Wood 3,938 7.2 +0.2
Referendum Michael Carter 1,025 1.9 New
Natural Law John D. Collins 449 0.8 +0.3
Independent David Hill 392 0.7 New
Majority 17,119 31.2 +24.4
Turnout 54,729 74.6 ―8.0
Labour hold Swing +12.1
General election 1992: West Lancashire[18][19]
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 New
Natural Law Bevin H. Morris 336 0.5 New
Majority 2,077 3.2 N/A
Turnout 63,945 82.6 +2.9
Labour gain from Conservative Swing +2.7

Elections in the 1980s[]

General election 1987: West Lancashire[20]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ken Hind 26,500 43.7 ―2.6
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
General election 1983: West Lancashire[21]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ken Hind 25,458 46.3
Labour Josie Farrington 18,600 33.8
SDP Andrew D. Sackville 10,983 20.0
Majority 6,858 12.5
Turnout 55,041 74.4
Conservative win (new seat)

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ Tarleton, Rufford, Hesketh Bank and North Meols
  4. ^ 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[]

  1. ^ "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.
  2. ^ "Electoral Commission - Previous UK general elections". www.electoralcommission.org.uk. Archived from the original on 19 July 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  3. ^ "Local statistics - Office for National Statistics". neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 11 February 2003. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 14 June 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ "UKIP West Lancs Website". ukipwestlancashire.com. Archived from the original on 14 June 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  6. ^ Rogers, Simon; Evans, Lisa (17 November 2010). "Unemployment: the key UK data and benefit claimants for every constituency". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  7. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 1)
  8. ^ "Statement of persons nominated 2019" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 November 2019. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  9. ^ "Election of a Member of Parliament for West Lancashire" (PDF). 11 May 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 July 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  10. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  11. ^ "Lancashire West". BBC News. Archived from the original on 10 May 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  12. ^ "UKIP candidate Jack Sen suspended over Jewish slur tweet". BBC News. 1 May 2015. Archived from the original on 3 May 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  13. ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  14. ^ "BBC News - Election 2010 - Constituency - Lancashire West". news.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  15. ^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  16. ^ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  17. ^ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  18. ^ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  19. ^ "UK General Election results April 1992". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 8 May 2015. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
  20. ^ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  21. ^ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

Sources[]

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