Crosby (UK Parliament constituency)

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Crosby
Borough constituency

Crosby shown within Merseyside, and Merseyside shown within England
Created: 1950
MP: Claire Curtis-Thomas
Party: Labour
Type: House of Commons
County: Merseyside
EP constituency: North West England

Crosby 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

[edit] Boundaries

The constituency covers the localities of Great Crosby, Waterloo, Little Crosby, Hightown and Formby, all in Sefton on Merseyside. It is bordered in the north by Southport, in the east by West Lancashire and Knowsley North and Sefton East, and in the south by Bootle.

Following a review by the Boundary Commission for England, the Crosby constituency will be abolished at the next general election. It will be replaced by the new Sefton Central seat, which will also include parts of the existing Knowsley North and Sefton East constituency. Waterloo and parts of Great Crosby will move into the Bootle constituency, and Maghull and Lydiate will move into Sefton Central.

[edit] History

The predecessor seat to Crosby was the Waterloo constituency, which existed between 1918 and 1950. Prior to 1997, the constituency was seen as a safe seat for the Conservative Party. They held the seat from its creation in 1950 until the death in 1981 of Sir Graham Page. The resulting by-election was notable as it was won by Shirley Williams, one of the "gang of four" senior members of the Labour Party who had founded the new Social Democratic Party (SDP), becoming the first SDP member to be elected. However, Williams lost the seat to the Conservative candidate Malcolm Thornton at the 1983 general election.

Thornton held the seat until the 1997 election, when he lost to Labour's Claire Curtis-Thomas. Although this victory was seen as a somewhat surprising result, she has held the seat since then.

[edit] Member of Parliament

  • Constituency created (1950)
Year Member Party
1950 Malcolm Bullock Conservative
1953 Graham Page Conservative
1981 Shirley Williams Social Democratic
1983 Malcolm Thornton Conservative
1997 Claire Curtis-Thomas Labour

[edit] Election results

General Election 2005: Crosby
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Claire Curtis-Thomas 17,463 48.2 -6.9
Conservative Debi Jones 11,623 32.1 -0.4
Liberal Democrat Jim Murray 6,298 17.4 +6.3
UK Independence John Whittaker 454 1.3 +1.3
Communist Geoffrey Bottoms 199 0.5 +0.5
Clause 28 David Braid 157 0.4 +0.4
Majority 5,840 16.1
Turnout 36,194 66.7 +1.6
Labour hold Swing 3.2
General Election 2001: Crosby
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Claire Curtis-Thomas 20,327 55.1 +4.1
Conservative Robert Collinson 11,974 32.5 -2.3
Liberal Democrat Tim Drake 4,084 11.1 -0.4
Socialist Labour Mark Holt 481 1.3 N/A
Majority 8,353 22.6
Turnout 36,866 65.1 -12.1
Labour hold Swing -3.2
General Election 1997: Crosby
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Claire Curtis-Thomas 22,549 51.1
Conservative Malcolm Thornton 15,367 34.8
Liberal Democrat Paul McVey 5,080 11.5
Referendum Party John Gauld 813 1.8 N/A
Liberal John Marks 233 0.5
Natural Law William Hite 99 0.2
Majority 7,182 16.3
Turnout 44,141 77.2
Labour gain from Conservative Swing -18.1

[edit] See also

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 | 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 | Crewe and Nantwich | 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: Conservative (4) | Labour (3) | Liberal Democrats (1) | UKIP (1)