City of Chester (UK Parliament constituency)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

City of Chester County constituency

City of Chester shown within Cheshire, and Cheshire shown within England
Created:	1660
MP:	Christine Russell
Party:	Labour
Type:	House of Commons
County:	Cheshire
EP constituency:	North West England

City of Chester is a 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.

1 Boundaries
- 1.1 Boundary Review
2 History
3 Members of Parliament
4 Election results
5 See also

[edit] Boundaries

The constituency covers the city of Chester, and parts of the surrounding City of Chester district, including the villages of Aldford, Capenhurst, Christleton, Guilden Sutton, Pulford and Saughall.

Much of the city of Chester itself is residential of varying characteristics, with more middle-class areas such as Upton and the large rural council estate of Blacon. However, the estate of Blacon is now owned, run and maintained by the Chester And District Housing Trust CDHT.

[edit] Boundary Review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Cheshire, the Boundary Commission for England have made minor changes to the existing arrangement as a consequence of population changes. The electoral wards used in this modified seat are;

Blacon Hall, Blacon Lodge, Boughton, Boughton Heath, Christleton, City and St Anne's, College, Curzon and Westminster, Dodleston, Handbridge and St Mary's, Hoole All Saints, Hoole Groves, Huntington, Lache Park, Mollington, Newton Brook, Newton St Michaels, Saughall, Upton Grange, Upton Westlea, and Vicars Cross, all from the City of Chester

[edit] History

Prior to 1997, Chester was a seat traditionally held by the Conservative Party, although their majorities over Labour were not always large. At the 1992 general election, the author and television personality Gyles Brandreth held Chester for the Conservatives, but only with a majority of just over 1,000.

Labour's Christine Russell gained the seat easily at the 1997 election and has held it since then, but her majority over the Conservatives was reduced to under 1,000 at the 2005 election.

[edit] Members of Parliament

	First member	First party	Second member	Second party
1660	John Ratcliffe		William Ince
1661	John Ratcliffe		Sir Thomas Smith, Bt
1673	Robert Werden	Tory	Sir Thomas Smith, Bt
1675	Robert Werden	Tory	William Williams
1679	Sir Thomas Grosvenor, Bt	Tory
1681	Roger Whitley	Whig
1685	Sir Thomas Grosvenor, Bt	Tory	Robert Werden	Tory
1689	Roger Whitley	Whig	George Mainwaring	Whig
1690	Sir Thomas Grosvenor, Bt	Tory	Sir Richard Levinge, Bt	Tory
1695			Roger Whitley	Whig
January 1698			Thomas Cowper
July 1698			Peter Shakerley	Tory
1701	Sir Henry Bunbury, Bt	Tory	Peter Shakerley	Tory
1715	Sir Henry Bunbury, Bt	Tory	Sir Richard Grosvenor, Bt
1727	Sir Thomas Grosvenor, Bt		Sir Richard Grosvenor, Bt
January 1733	Sir Thomas Grosvenor, Bt		Sir Robert Grosvenor, Bt
March 1733	Sir Charles Bunbury, Bt
1742	Philip Henry Warburton
1754	Sir Richard Grosvenor, Bt
1755	Sir Richard Grosvenor, Bt		Thomas Grosvenor
1761	Richard Wilbraham-Bootle
1790	Viscount Belgrave
1795	Viscount Belgrave		Thomas Grosvenor
1802	Richard Erle-Drax-Grosvenor
1807	John Egerton
1818	Viscount Belgrave	Tory
1826	Viscount Belgrave	Tory	Lord Robert Grosvenor	Whig
1830	Sir Philip de Malpas Grey Egerton, Bt	Conservative
1831	Foster Cunliffe-Offley
May 1832	John Finchett Maddock
December 1832	Sir John Jervis
1847	Sir John Jervis		Earl Grosvenor	Liberal
1850	William Owen Stanley
1857	Enoch Gibbon Salisbury
1859	Philip Stapleton Humberston
1865	William Henry Gladstone
1868	Henry Cecil Raikes	Conservative
1869			Norman de L'Aigle Grosvenor
1874			John George Dodson	Liberal
1880			Beilby Lawley

Constituency suspended (1880)
Voting restored (1886)

	Member	Party
1886	Robert Armstrong Yerburgh	Conservative
1906	Alfred Moritz Mond	Liberal
1910	Robert Armstrong Yerburgh	Conservative
1916	Sir Owen Cosby Philipps	Conservative
1922	Sir Charles William Cayzer	Conservative
1940	Sir Basil Nield	Conservative
1959	John Meredith Temple	Conservative
1974	Peter Morrison	Conservative
1992	Gyles Brandreth	Conservative
1997	Christine Russell	Labour

This page incorporates information from Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page.

[edit] Election results

General Election 2005: City of Chester
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Christine Russell	17,459	38.9	-9.6
	Conservative	Paul Offer	16,542	36.8	+3.7
	Liberal Democrats	Mia Jones	9,818	21.9	+7.2
	UK Independence	Allan Weddell	776	1.7	-0.3
	English Democrats	Ed Abrams	308	0.7	+0.7
Majority			917	2.0
Turnout			44,903	64.3	+0.5
	Labour hold		Swing	-6.7

General Election 2001: City of Chester
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Christine Russell	21,760	48.5	-4.5
	Conservative	David Jones	14,866	33.1	-1.1
	Liberal Democrats	Tony Dawson	6,589	14.7	+5.2
	UK Independence	Allan Weddell	899	2.0	N/A
	Independent (politician)	George Rogers	763	1.7	+1.4
Majority			6,894	15.4
Turnout			44,877	63.8	-14.7
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1997: City of Chester
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Christine Russell	29,806	53.0	+11.0
	Conservative	Gyles Brandreth	19,253	34.2
	Liberal Democrats	David Simpson	5,353	9.5
	Referendum Party	R. Mullen	1,487	2.6	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	I Sanderson	204	0.4
	West Cheshire College In Crisis	J Gerrard	154	0.3
Majority			10,553	18.2
Turnout				78.4
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1992: City of Chester
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gyles Brandreth	23,411	44.1
	Labour	D.E. Robinson	22,310	42.0
	Liberal Democrats	J.G. Smith	6,867	12.9
	Green	M.T. Barker	448	0.8
	Natural Law	S.R.H. Cross	98	0.2
Majority			1,101	2.1
Turnout			53,134	83.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

[edit] See also

List of Parliamentary constituencies in Cheshire

Constituencies in North West England
Labour	Ashton-under-Lyne \| Barrow and Furness \| Birkenhead \| Blackburn \| Blackpool North and Fleetwood \| Blackpool South \| Bolton North East \| Bolton South East \| Bolton West \| Bootle \| Burnley \| Bury North \| Bury South \| Carlisle \| Chorley \| City of Chester \| Copeland \| Crewe and Nantwich \| Crosby \| Denton and Reddish \| Eccles \| Ellesmere Port and Neston \| Halton \| Heywood and Middleton \| Hyndburn \| Knowsley North and Sefton East \| Knowsley South \| Leigh \| Liverpool Garston \| Liverpool Riverside \| Liverpool Walton \| Liverpool Wavertree \| Liverpool West Derby \| Makerfield \| Manchester Blackley \| Manchester Central \| Manchester Gorton \| Morecambe and Lunesdale \| Oldham East and Saddleworth \| Oldham West and Royton \| Pendle \| Preston \| Rossendale and Darwen \| Salford \| South Ribble \| St Helens North \| St Helens South \| Stalybridge and Hyde \| Stockport \| Stretford and Urmston \| Wallasey \| Warrington North \| Warrington South \| Weaver Vale \| West Lancashire \| Wigan \| Wirral South \| Wirral West \| Workington \| Worsley \| Wythenshawe and Sale East
Conservative	Altrincham and Sale West \| Congleton \| Eddisbury \| Fylde \| Lancaster and Wyre \| Macclesfield \| Penrith and The Border \| Ribble Valley \| Tatton
Liberal Democrat	Cheadle \| Hazel Grove \| Manchester Withington \| Rochdale \| Southport \| Westmorland and Lonsdale
North West European constituency: Labour (3) \| Conservative (3) \| Liberal Democrats (2) \| UKIP (1)