Liverpool Riverside (UK Parliament constituency)

Liverpool, Riverside
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Liverpool, Riverside in Merseyside.
Location of Merseyside within England.
County	Merseyside
Electorate	73,406 (December 2010)[1]
Current constituency
Created	1983 (1983)
Member of Parliament	Louise Ellman (Labour Co-op)
Number of members	One
Created from	Liverpool Toxteth, Liverpool Scotland Exchange
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	North West England

Liverpool Riverside is a borough 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 History 3 Members of Parliament 4 Elections 4.1 Elections in the 2010s 4.2 Elections in the 2000s 4.3 Elections in the 1990s 4.4 Elections in the 1980s 5 See also 6 Notes and references

Boundaries

The constituency is one of five covering the city of Liverpool. It covers the central area of the city, including some of the famous sights of the city such as the Royal Liver Building and Albert Dock, as well as the localities of Aigburth, Canning, Chinatown, Dingle, Kirkdale, Part of Mossley Hill, St Michael's Hamlet, Toxteth, and Vauxhall. It also contains both the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Merseyside, the Boundary Commission for England has created a modified Riverside constituency. An original proposal to create an unprecedented cross-Mersey constituency was dropped by the Commission due to lack of support.

The electoral wards used to form the modified Riverside seat are:

• Central, Greenbank, Kirkdale, Mossley Hill, Princes Park, Riverside, and St Michael’s.

History

The constituency was created in 1983 merging most of the former Liverpool Scotland Exchange and Liverpool Toxteth constituencies. In their provisional recommendations, the Boundary Commission originally suggested calling the constituency Liverpool Abercromby. The name was changed during the local enquiry process, during which an alternate name of Liverpool Cathedrals was also proposed.^[2]

It has always been held by the Labour Party; from 1983 until 1997 by Robert Parry (formerly MP for one of the predecessor seats from 1974), and since then by Louise Ellman. It is a safe seat covering a deprived urban area. In both the 2001 and 2005 general elections it had the lowest turnout of all constituencies in the UK.^[3]

In the 2005 general election, there was a considerable swing (+8.1%) to the Liberal Democrats, however Labour were still comfortably ahead. Also in 2005, Liverpool Riverside was one of the few seats where the Green Party retained its deposit, scoring just over 5% of the vote.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [4]	Party
	1983	Robert Parry	Labour
	1997	Louise Ellman	Labour Co-op

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Liverpool Riverside[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Louise Ellman	22,998	59.3	+0.0
	Liberal Democrat	Richard Marbrow	8,825	22.7	-0.6
	Conservative	Kegang Wu	4,243	10.9	+1.9
	Green	Tom Crone	1,355	3.5	-1.7
	BNP	Peter Stafford	706	1.8	+1.8
	UKIP	Patricia Ann Gaskell	674	1.7	+0.1
Majority			14,173	36.5
Turnout			38,801	52.1	+9.4
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.3

Elections in the 2000s

The turnout compared to the 2001 election had risen by 7.4% to 41.5% (an above average increase). However, this was still the lowest throughout the United Kingdom which averaged 61.3% with a 1.2% increase.

General Election 2005: Liverpool Riverside
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Louise Ellman	17,951	57.6	-13.8
	Liberal Democrat	Richard Marbrow	7,737	24.8	+8.1
	Conservative	Gabrielle Howatson	2,843	9.1	+0.7
	Green	Peter Cranie	1,707	5.5	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Beth Marshall	498	1.6	N/A
	UKIP	Ann Irving	455	1.5	N/A
Majority			10,214	32.7	-17.7
Turnout			31,191	41.5	+7.4
	Labour hold		Swing

In the 2001 election it had a turnout of 34.1% which was the lowest of the United Kingdom. The average turnout in that year was 59.2%.

General Election 2001: Liverpool Riverside
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Louise Ellman	18,201	71.4
	Liberal Democrat	Richard Marbrow	4,251	16.7
	Conservative	Judith Edwards	2,142	8.4
	Socialist Alliance	Cathy Wilson	909	3.6
Majority			13,950	54.7
Turnout			25,503	34.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Liverpool Riverside
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Louise Ellman	26,858	70.4
	Liberal Democrat	Beatrice Fraenkel	5,059	13.3
	Conservative	David Sparrow	3,635	9.5
	Socialist (GB)	Cathy Wilson	776	2.0
	Liberal	David Green	594	1.6
	Referendum Party	George Skelly	586	1.5
	ProLife Alliance	Heather Neilson	277	0.7
	Independent	David Braid	179	0.5
	Natural Law	Geoffey Gay	171	0.5
Majority			21,799	54.7
Turnout			38,135	51.6
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1992: Liverpool Riverside[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Parry	20,550	75.9	+2.7
	Conservative	Dr. Andrew Zsigmond	3,113	11.5	−2.3
	Liberal Democrat	Mohammed Akbar Ali	2,498	9.3	−2.0
	Green	Lawrence Brown	738	2.7	N/A
	Natural Law	John Collins	169	0.6	N/A
Majority			17,437	64.4	+5.0
Turnout			27,068	54.6	−4.8
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.5

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Liverpool Riverside
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Parry	25,505	73.2	+8.3
	Conservative	S Fitzsimmons	4, 816	13.8	-6.0
	Social Democrat	B S Chahal	3, 912	11.3	-2.7
	Communist	Dr. Katherine A Gardner	601	1.7	+1.0
Majority			20, 689	59.4
Turnout			34, 834	65.3
	Labour hold		Swing	+7.5

General Election 1983: Liverpool Riverside
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Parry	24, 978	64.9
	Conservative	T Morrison	7, 600	19.8
	Social Democrat	P Zentner	5, 381	14.0
	Communist	J C Blevin	261	0.7
	Workers Revolutionary	D Latchford	234	0.6
Majority			17, 378	45.2
Turnout			38, 454	62.4
	Labour hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies on Merseyside

Notes and references

Constituencies in North West England (75) Labour (47) Ashton-under-Lyne Barrow and Furness Birkenhead Blackburn Blackley and Broughton Blackpool South Bolton North East Bolton South East Bolton West Bootle Bury South Chorley Copeland Denton and Reddish Ellesmere Port and Neston Garston and Halewood Halton Heywood and Middleton Hyndburn Knowsley Leigh Liverpool Riverside Liverpool Walton Liverpool Wavertree Liverpool West Derby Makerfield Manchester Central Manchester Gorton 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 Workington Worsley and Eccles South Wythenshawe and Sale East Conservative (22) Altrincham and Sale West Blackpool North and Cleveleys Bury North Carlisle City of Chester Congleton Crewe and Nantwich Eddisbury Fylde Lancaster and Fleetwood Macclesfield Morecambe and Lunesdale Pendle Penrith and The Border Ribble Valley Rossendale and Darwen South Ribble Tatton Warrington South Weaver Vale Wirral West Wyre and Preston North Liberal Democrats (6) Burnley Cheadle Hazel Grove Manchester Withington Southport Westmorland and Lonsdale North West England European constituency: Conservative (3) Labour (2) UKIP (1) Liberal Democrats (1) BNP (1)