Oldham West and Royton (UK Parliament constituency)

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Oldham West and Royton Borough constituency
Oldham West and Royton shown within Greater Manchester, and Greater Manchester shown within England
Created:	1997
MP:	Michael Meacher
Party:	Labour
Type:	House of Commons
County:	Greater Manchester
EP constituency:	North West England

Oldham West and Royton 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 2 Name 3 History 4 Members of Parliament 5 Election results 6 Notes 7 See also

[edit] Boundaries

The constituency is one of three covering the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham. It covers most of the western part of the borough, including Chadderton and Royton, but not Failsworth which is in the Ashton-under-Lyne constituency.

[edit] Name

In July 2006 fourteen representations were received by the Boundary Commission for England, which called for the inclusion of Chadderton in the name of the Oldham West and Royton parliamentary constituency. Many of the objectors pointed out that Chadderton was much larger and more populous than Royton.

However the commission rejected the proposed alternative name (Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton) because it was too long and they did not believe that there was a significant amount of support for a name change.^[1]

[edit] History

The present constituency was formed in 1997, from parts of the former Oldham Central and Royton and Oldham West constituencies. It is a safe seat for the Labour Party, having been held by Michael Meacher since the 1997 general election. Meacher had previously been the MP for Oldham West since 1970.

The constituency gained a level of notoriety at the 2001 general election when the leader of the far-right British National Party (BNP), Nick Griffin, stood as a candidate. Griffin received over 6,500 votes (a 16.4% share), beating the Liberal Democrats to third place, and finishing narrowly behind the Conservatives in second. This was widely interpreted to be a reaction to the serious race riots that had occurred in Oldham (and other northern towns) a few months earlier. Because of the heightened tension, the Returning Officer took the decision not to allow any candidates to make speeches after the declaration of the results. This led to Griffin and fellow BNP candidate Michael Treacy, who ran in the neighbouring constituency of Oldham East and Saddleworth, symbolically gagging themselves on the platform wearing T-shirts bearing the slogan "Gagged for Telling the Truth".^[2]

In the immediate aftermath of the riots, the BNP have received considerable support in the two wards of Royton North and Royton South. However, the BNP share of the vote has sharply declined since then, with BNP and former BNP candidates coming in third or fourth in Royton North and other Oldham West and Royton Wards. ^[3]

At the 2005 election, the BNP's share of the vote declined (although they still retained their deposit), and Labour's Michael Meacher still won comfortably.

There has never been a BNP councillor in the constituency, nor on Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council as a whole.

[edit] Members of Parliament

• 1997 – present: Michael Meacher, Labour

[edit] Election results

General Election 2005: Oldham West and Royton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Meacher	18,452	49.1	-2.1
	Conservative	Sean Moore	7,998	21.3	+3.6
	Liberal Democrat	Stuart Bodsworth	7,519	20.0	+7.6
	British National Party	Anita Corbett	2,606	6.9	-9.5
	UK Independence	David Short	987	2.6	+2.6
Majority			10,454	27.8
Turnout			37,562	53.3	-4.3
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.8

General Election 2001: Oldham West and Royton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Meacher	20,441	51.2	-7.6
	Conservative	Duncan Reed	7,076	17.7	-5.7
	British National Party	Nick Griffin	6,552	16.4	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Marc Ramsbottom	4,975	12.4	+0.6
	Green	David Roney	918	2.3	N/A
Majority			13,365	33.5
Turnout			39,962	57.6	-8.5
	Labour hold		Swing

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Final Recommendations for Parliamentary Counstituency Boundaries in Greater Manchester, Boundary Commission for England, published July 19, 2006. URL accessed October 24, 2006.
2. ^ BNP: Under the Skin, BBC News. URL accessed December 11, 2006.
3. ^ [1], Oldham Council Election Results 2008.

[edit] See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater Manchester

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)