Wirral South (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 53°20′03″N 3°02′00″W / 53.3342°N 3.0334°W / 53.3342; -3.0334

Wirral South
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Wirral South in Merseyside.
Location of Merseyside within England.
County	Merseyside
Electorate	56,238 (December 2010)^[1]
Major settlements	Heswall, Bebington
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of parliament	Alison McGovern (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Wirral Bebington & Ellesmere Port
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	North West England

Wirral South is a constituency^{[n 1]} in Merseyside represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Alison McGovern of the Labour Party.^{[n 2]}

History

In 1983 Wirral South arose for election following the national boundary review by taking over parts of two seats that were abolished to create it: Wirral and Bebington and Ellesmere Port, held by the Conservative Party since 1923 and 1979 respectively.

Political history

Barry Porter (Con) won the seat the first time when it was fought and at the next two general elections. He had ousted the Labour party candidate from Bebington and Ellesmere Port in 1979 which he held until the election in 1983. Following the death of Porter in late 1996, a by-election was held in February 1997, the last by-election of that Parliament, held a matter of weeks before the general election was called. It was won by Ben Chapman (Lab), who held the seat until retiring following controversy over his expenses.^[2] Labour narrowly managed to hold on in the 2010 general election.

Boundaries

Since its creation in 1983, the constituency has consisted of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral wards of Bebington, Bromborough, Clatterbridge, Eastham, and Heswall.

The constituency is one of four covering the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, covering the south of the borough. It contains the towns of Heswall and Bebington (both wards) and the villages of Bromborough (also a ward), Eastham, Brimstage and Thornton Hough.

Constituency profile

Workless claimants who were registered jobseekers, which is a proportion of total unemployed claimants, were in November 2012 much lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.3% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian. This was also lower than the regional average.^[3]

2015 general election

The terms of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 mandated that the election was held on 7 May 2015. Alison McGovern was the sitting Member of Parliament for the Labour Party. The Conservative Party selected John Bell. Bell had previously stood for election in Clwyd South (2010)^[4] and Delyn (2005).^[5] He had also stood twice to be a Welsh Assembly Member.^[6]^[7] He stood in a local council by-election in 2011, for Wrexham County Council.^[8]

Members of Parliament

	Member^[9]	Party	Notes
1983	Barry Porter	Conservative	Died in office November 1996
1997 by-election	Ben Chapman	Labour
2010	Alison McGovern	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

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General Election 2015: Wirral South^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Alison McGovern	20,165	48.2	+7.4
	Conservative	John Bell	15,566	37.2	−2.2
	UKIP	David Scott	3,737	8.9	+5.7
	Liberal Democrat	Elizabeth Jewkes	1,474	3.5	−13.0
	Green	Paul Cartlidge	895	2.1	+2.1
Majority			4,599	11.0
Turnout			41,837	73.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.9

General Election 2010: Wirral South^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Alison McGovern	16,276	40.79	−1.7
	Conservative	Jeff Clarke	15,745	39.46	+6.3
	Liberal Democrat	Jamie Saddler	6,611	16.57	−5.0
	UKIP	David Anthony Scott	1,274	3.19	+1.6
Majority			531	1.3	−8.1
Turnout			39,906	71.1	+3.4
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.0

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Wirral South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Ben Chapman	16,892	42.5	−4.9
	Conservative	Carl Robert Cross	13,168	33.2	−1.6
	Liberal Democrat	Simon Andrew Holbrook	8,568	21.6	+3.8
	UKIP	David Anthony Scott	616	1.6	N/A
	Independent	Laurence Cresswell Jones	460	1.2	N/A
Majority			3,724	9.4	−3.2
Turnout			39,704	67.5	+1.9

General Election 2001: Wirral South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Ben Chapman	18,890	47.4	−3.5
	Conservative	Tony Paul Millard	13,841	34.8	−1.6
	Liberal Democrat	Philip Norman Gilchrist	7,087	17.8	+7.4
Majority			5,049	12.6	−2.0
Turnout			39,818	65.6	−15.4
	Labour hold		Swing	−1.0

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Wirral South^[12]^[13]^[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Ben Chapman	24,499	50.9	+19.7
	Conservative	Les Byrom	17,495	36.4	−14.4
	Liberal Democrat	Philip Norman Gilchrist	5,018	10.4	−2.7
	Referendum	Donald Wilcox	768	1.6	N/A
	People's Labour	Jane Nielsen	264	0.5	N/A
	Natural Law	Geoffrey Mead	51	0.1	−0.2
Majority			7,004	14.6	−1.7
Turnout			48,095	81.0	−1.3
	Labour hold		Swing	+17.6

By-election 1997: Wirral South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Ben Chapman	22,767	52.6	+18.0
	Conservative	Leslie Byrom	14,879	34.4	−16.5
	Liberal Democrat	Helen Frances Clucas	4,357	10.1	−3.0
	UKIP	Richard North	410	0.9	N/A
	Independent	Harold Bence	184	0.4	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Michael Cullen	156	0.4	N/A
	Disillusioned Conservative	Phillip Gott	148	0.3	N/A
	Independent	Roger Taylor	132	0.3	N/A
	Independent - anti tobacco donation	Anthony Samuelson	124	0.3	N/A
	Natural Law	Geoffery Mead	52	0.1	−0.2
	21st Century Foresters	Colin Palmer	44	0.1	N/A
	Independent - Thalidomide Action Group	Frederick Astbury	40	0.1	N/A
Majority			7,888	18.2	+1.9
Turnout			60,512	71.5	−10.8
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+17.2

General Election 1992: Wirral South^[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Barry Porter	25,590	50.8	+0.6
	Labour	Helen Southworth	17,407	34.6	+6.6
	Liberal Democrat	Edward T. Cunniffe	6,581	13.1	−8.7
	Green	Nigel Birchenough	584	1.2	N/A
	Natural Law	George Griffiths	182	0.4	N/A
Majority			8,183	16.3	−5.9
Turnout			50,344	82.3	+2.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	−3.0

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Wirral South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Barry Porter	24,821	50.2	−3.5
	Labour	John Steven Swarbrooke	13,858	28.0	+5.4
	Liberal	Philip Norman Gilchrist	10,779	21.8	−1.9
Majority			10,963	22.2
Turnout			62,251	79.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Wirral South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Barry Porter	24,766	53.7	N/A
	Social Democratic	Peter James Michael Hollingworth	10,928	23.7	N/A
	Labour	Keith Samuel Jeffrey Rimmer	10,411	22.6	N/A
Majority			13,838	30.0	N/A
Turnout			60,864	75.8	N/A
	Conservative win (new seat)

Notes and references

Notes

↑ A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
↑ 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.

References

↑ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
↑ "Ben Chapman becomes first Labour MP to stand down over expenses". Chapman Resigns. London: The Guardian. 21 May 2009. Retrieved 2011-01-10.
↑ Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
↑ BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/constituency/w22.stm. Missing or empty |title= (help)
↑ BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/vote2005/html/180.stm. Missing or empty |title= (help)
↑ http://www.senedd.assemblywales.org/mgElectionAreaResults.aspx?ID=4
↑ "BBC NEWS, Welsh Assembly Election 2007, Clwyd South". BBC News.
↑ http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/assets/pdfs/electoral/declaration_result_marchwiel_june11.pdf
↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 4)
↑ "Wirral South". BBC News. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
↑ "BBC NEWS – Election 2010 – Wirral South". BBC News.
↑ "Politics Resources". Election 1997. Politics Resources. 1 May 1997. Retrieved 2011-01-10.
↑ C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, p.177 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995)
↑ Swings are calculated relative to the 1992 election result, not the by-election result.
↑ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-06.

Constituencies in North West England (75)

Labour (51)	Ashton-under-Lyne Barrow and Furness Birkenhead Blackburn Blackley and Broughton Blackpool South Bolton North East Bolton South East Bootle Burnley Bury South Chorley City of Chester Copeland Denton and Reddish Ellesmere Port and Neston Garston and Halewood Halton Heywood and Middleton Hyndburn Knowsley Lancaster and Fleetwood Leigh Liverpool Riverside Liverpool Walton Liverpool Wavertree Liverpool West Derby Makerfield Manchester Central Manchester Gorton Manchester Withington Oldham East and Saddleworth Oldham West and Royton Preston Rochdale St Helens North St Helens South and Whiston Salford and Eccles Sefton Central Stalybridge and Hyde Stockport Stretford and Urmston Wallasey Warrington North West Lancashire Wigan Wirral South Wirral West Workington Worsley and Eccles South Wythenshawe and Sale East

Conservative (22)	Altrincham and Sale West Blackpool North and Cleveleys Bolton West Bury North Carlisle Cheadle Congleton Crewe and Nantwich Eddisbury Fylde Hazel Grove Macclesfield Morecambe and Lunesdale Pendle Penrith and The Border Ribble Valley Rossendale and Darwen South Ribble Tatton Warrington South Weaver Vale Wyre and Preston North

Liberal Democrats (2)	Southport Westmorland and Lonsdale

North West England European constituency: Conservative (2) Labour (3) UKIP (3)

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