Wirral West (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 53°22′48″N 3°09′32″W / 53.3801°N 3.1590°W / 53.3801; -3.1590

Wirral West
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Wirral West in Merseyside
Location of Merseyside within England
County	Merseyside
Electorate	55,077 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	Hoylake, West Kirby
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of Parliament	Margaret Greenwood (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Wirral

Wirral West is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Margaret Greenwood of the Labour Party since 2015. A former bellwether seat.

History[]

Wirral West was created in 1983 from the northern part of the former Wirral constituency, which had traditionally elected Conservative MPs. Selwyn Lloyd was the predecessor constituency's MP from 1945 to 1976, serving as Foreign Secretary during the Eden ministry, Chancellor of the Exchequer during the Macmillan ministry and becoming Speaker of the Commons in 1971. Raised to the peerage in 1976, Lloyd resigned his seat and the ensuing by-election was won by David Hunt, who became the first MP for Wirral West in 1983. Hunt was a Cabinet member under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, serving as Secretary of State for Employment and twice as Secretary of State for Wales.

Hunt held the seat until 1997, when he lost to barrister Stephen Hesford of the Labour Party, but remained in Parliament as a member of the House of Lords. Hesford increased his majority in 2001 and narrowly retained the seat in 2005, despite a challenge at the latter election from former TV presenter and Conservative Esther McVey. On 22 January 2010, he announced his intention to step down at the next general election for family reasons.

New boundary changes implemented, McVey stood again and won the seat for the Conservatives at the 2010 general election, serving in the coalition government as a Work and Pensions minister during her tenure. If implemented in 2005, the 2010 boundary changes would have seen the Conservatives win the seat by 569 votes.

Wirral West had been described as a bellwether since its establishment,^[2][3] but bucked the trend at the 2015 general election when Labour's Margaret Greenwood narrowly defeated McVey, despite the Conservatives winning a parliamentary majority. Like the nearby City of Chester, it was one of the few Conservative-held marginals outside of London to be gained by Labour, who benefited from the constituency's collapse in Liberal Democrat support.

Sixth on the Conservative target list in 2017, Greenwood was comfortably re-elected to Wirral West with the highest winning vote share since the seat was first up for election in 1983. She was promoted to Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet as the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary in 2018, shadowing McVey who had returned to Parliament as the MP for Tatton. Greenwood was re-elected with a reduced vote share in 2019, and departed from the shadow cabinet upon Keir Starmer's election as Labour leader.

Boundaries[]

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

2010–present: 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[]

Elections[]

Elections in the 1980s[]

General election 1987: Wirral West^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Hunt	25,736	51.9	4.0
	Labour	Alexander Dunn	13,013	26.3	4.5
	Liberal	Allan Brame	10,015	20.2	2.2
	Green (UK)	David Burton	806	1.6	New
Majority			12,723	25.6	7.9
Turnout			49,570	77.9	4.5
Registered electors			63,597		3.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	4.3

Elections in the 1990s[]

General election 1992: Wirral West^[7][8]

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	0.2
	Natural Law	Nigel Broome	188	0.4	New
Majority			11,064	21.7	3.9
Turnout			50,948	81.6	3.7
Registered electors			62,453		1.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	2.0

General election 1997: Wirral West^[9]

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	New
Majority			2,738	5.9	N/A
Turnout			46,890	77.0	4.6
Registered electors			60,908		2.5
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	13.8

Elections in the 2000s[]

General election 2001: Wirral West^[10][11]

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	4.1
Turnout			40,475	65.0	12.0
Registered electors			62,294		2.3
	Labour hold		Swing	2.1

General election 2005: Wirral West^[12]

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	New
	Alternative	Roger Taylor	163	0.4	New
Majority			1,097	2.6	7.4
Turnout			41,233	67.5	2.5
Registered electors			61,050		2.0
	Labour hold		Swing	3.7

Elections in the 2010s[]

General election 2015: Wirral West^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Margaret Greenwood	18,898	45.1	8.8
	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
Registered electors			55,377		0.6
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	3.6

General election 2017: Wirral West^[15]

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	New
Majority			5,365	12.2	11.3
Turnout			42,951	78.6	3.0
Registered electors			55,995		1.1
	Labour hold		Swing	5.7

General election 2019: Wirral West^[16]

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	1.2
	Brexit Party	John Kelly	860	2.0	New
Majority			3,003	7.0	5.2
Turnout			42,918	77.5	1.1
Registered electors			55,550		0.8
	Labour hold		Swing	2.6

See also[]

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Merseyside

References[]