West Lancashire (UK Parliament constituency)

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West Lancashire County constituency
West Lancashire shown within Lancashire, and Lancashire shown within England
Created:	1983
MP:	Rosie Cooper
Party:	Labour
Type:	House of Commons
County:	Lancashire
EP constituency:	North West England

West Lancashire 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.

Contents 1 Boundaries 1.1 Boundary review 2 Members of Parliament 3 History 4 Election results 4.1 Elections in the 2000s 4.2 Elections in the 1990s 4.3 Elections in the 1980s 5 See also 6 Sources

[edit] Boundaries

The constituency covers most of the West Lancashire district, except for the northern parishes, 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.

[edit] Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Lancashire, the Boundary Commission for England has created a new seat in Central Lancashire, resulting in consequential changes across the county.

Only minor changes have been made to the existing seat of West Lancashire with the modified seat constructed from the following electoral wards:

• 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 seat retains the main population areas of Ormskirk and Skelmersdale, with the more rural townships heading northwest towards Southport. The district council's northern parishes of Tarleton, Rufford, Hesketh Bank and North Meols are in the South Ribble constituency.

[edit] Members of Parliament

Year		Member	Party
	1983	Ken Hind	Conservative
	1992	Colin Pickthall	Labour
	2005	Rosie Cooper	Labour

[edit] History

The constituency was formed in 1983. Prior to that, the area was covered by the former Ormskirk constituency, whose past members of Parliament had included Harold Wilson (1945-1950) and Robert Kilroy-Silk (1974-1983). Both were Labour MPs, although Ormskirk was held by the Conservative Party between 1950 and 1974.

Following the boundary changes of 1983, Kilroy-Silk moved to the new Knowsley North seat, and at the 1983 general election West Lancashire was taken by Ken Hind of the Conservatives. Hind held it until the 1992 election, when it was won by Colin Pickthall of Labour. Labour have held the seat since then, and after Pickthall stood down at the 2005 election he was replaced by Rosie Cooper.

[edit] Election results

[edit] Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: West Lancashire
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
	UK Independence	Alan Freeman	871	2.0	+2.0
	English Democrats	Stephen Garrett	525	1.2	+1.2
	Clause 28	David Braid	292	0.7	0.0
Majority			6,084	14.1
Turnout			43,155	57.7	-1.1
	Labour hold		Swing	-4.2

General Election 2001: West Lancashire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Colin Pickthall	23,404	54.5
	Conservative	Jeremy Myers	13,761	32.0
	Liberal Democrats	John Thornton	4,966	11.6
	Independent	David Hill	523	1.2
	Independent	David Braid	317	0.7
Majority			9,643	22.5
Turnout				59.0
	Labour hold		Swing

[edit] Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: West Lancashire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Colin Pickthall	33,022	60.3
	Conservative	C Varley	15,903	29.1
	Liberal Democrats	Arthur Wood	3,938	7.2
	Referendum Party	M Carter	1,025	1.9
	Natural Law	J Collins	449	0.8
	Independent	David Hill	392	0.7
Majority			17,119	31.1
Turnout			54,729	76.6
	Labour hold		Swing	+12.1

General Election 1992: West Lancashire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Colin Pickthall	30,128	47.1	+5.6
	Conservative	Ken Hind	28,051	43.9	+0.2
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Reilly	4,884	7.6	-7.2
	Green	P Pawley	546	0.9	+0.9
	Natural Law	B Morris	336	0.5	+0.5
Majority			2,077	3.2
Turnout			63,945	82.6	+2.9
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+2.7

[edit] Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: West Lancashire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ken Hind	26,500	43.7	-2.5
	Labour	Colin Pickthall	25,147	41.5	+7.7
	SDP-Liberal Alliance	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
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ken Hind	25,458	46.3
	Labour	Josie Farrington	18,600	33.8
	SDP-Liberal Alliance	Andrew Sackville	10,983	20.0
Majority			6,858	12.5
Turnout			55,041	74.4

[edit] See also

• Ormskirk (UK Parliament constituency)
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Lancashire

[edit] Sources

• Election results, 1983 - 2001

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)