Warrington South | |
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Borough constituency | |
for the House of Commons | |
Boundary of Warrington South in Cheshire. |
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Location of Cheshire within England. |
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County | Cheshire |
Electorate | 81,212 (December 2010)[1] |
Current constituency | |
Created | 1983 |
Member of Parliament | David Mowat (Conservative) |
Number of members | One |
Created from | Warrington, Runcorn |
Overlaps | |
European Parliament constituency | North West England |
Warrington South 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 |
The constituency is one of two covering the unitary authority of Warrington, Cheshire, the other being Warrington North. It covers the parts of the town lying south of the River Mersey, including Appleton, Grappenhall and Stockton Heath, the town centre and the Penketh and Sankey areas in the west of the town. It also includes the village of Lymm.
The constituency was created in 1983. Prior to then, the Warrington constituency covered the central part of the town and surrounding area, while the southern fringes were in the Runcorn constituency and the surrounding area to the north was covered by the Newton constituency. The current boundaries were introduced at the 1997 general election, when the number of constituencies in Cheshire were increased and the new Weaver Vale seat was created.
Politically, Warrington South is considered the more interesting of the two Warrington seats. While Warrington North is a safe seat for the Labour Party, Warrington South is regarded as a bellwether constituency, reflecting the fate of the major parties at the national level. As such it was held by the Conservatives from 1983 until 1992 (until 1987 by the former Runcorn MP Mark Carlisle, then by Chris Butler), when it was taken by Labour's Mike Hall. Hall moved to the new Weaver Vale seat in 1997, and Helen Southworth (also of the Labour Party) represented the seat until her retirement at the 2010 election, whereby the Conservative candidate David Mowat won the seat from Labour.
It is interesting to note that whilst the Liberal Democrats have for some years been either the largest or the second largest party in the Town Hall, although never with an outright majority, they have always come third in all general elections since the constituency was created.
On 15 June 2009, Helen Southworth MP announced that she would be retiring at the 2010 General Election, and that the Labour Party would be selecting a new Parliamentary candidate. On 9 January 2010 Nick Bent[2] was selected as the Labour candidate.[3]
Election | Member [4] | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
1983 | Mark Carlisle | Conservative | |
1987 | Chris Butler | Conservative | |
1992 | Mike Hall | Labour | |
1997 | Helen Southworth | Labour | |
2010 | David Mowat | Conservative |
General Election 2010: Warrington South | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Conservative | David Mowat | 19,641 | 35.8 | +3.7 | |
Labour | Nick Bent | 18,088 | 33.0 | -8.3 | |
Liberal Democrat | Jo Crotty | 15,094 | 27.5 | +3.5 | |
UKIP | Derek Ashington | 1,624 | 3.0 | +1.2 | |
Green | Stephanie Davies | 427 | 0.8 | +0.8 | |
Majority | 1,553 | 2.8 | |||
Turnout | 54,874 | 68.2 | +6.7 | ||
Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | +6.0 |
General Election 2005: Warrington South | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Labour | Helen Southworth | 18,972 | 40.5 | -8.8 | |
Conservative | Fiona Bruce | 15,457 | 33.0 | 0.0 | |
Liberal Democrat | Ian Marks | 11,111 | 23.7 | +7.4 | |
UKIP | Gerry Kelley | 804 | 1.7 | +0.3 | |
Independent | Paul Kennedy | 453 | 1.0 | +1.0 | |
Majority | 3,515 | 7.5 | |||
Turnout | 46,797 | 61.8 | 0.6 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -4.4 |
In 2006 Paul Kennedy joined the Conservative Party, becoming a Conservative Councillor on Warrington Borough Council in May 2008, representing the Hatton, Stretton & Walton Ward.
General Election 2001: Warrington South | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Labour | Helen Southworth | 22,419 | 49.3 | -2.9 | |
Conservative | Caroline Mosley | 15,022 | 33.0 | +0.5 | |
Liberal Democrat | Barlow, R.J. | 7,419 | 16.3 | +3.2 | |
UKIP | Kelley, J. | 637 | 1.4 | ||
Majority | 7,397 | 16.3 | |||
Turnout | 45,497 | 61.2 | |||
Labour hold | Swing | -1.7 |
General Election 1997: Warrington South | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Labour | Helen Southworth | 28,721 | 52.1 | ||
Conservative | Chris Grayling | 17,914 | 32.5 | ||
Liberal Democrat | Peter Walker | 7,199 | 13.1 | ||
Referendum Party | Gerald Kelly | 1,082 | 2.0 | ||
Natural Law | Steve Ross | 166 | 0.3 | ||
Majority | 10,807 | 19.6 | |||
Turnout | 55,082 | 76.0 | |||
Labour hold | Swing |
General Election 1992: Warrington South[5] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Labour | Mike Hall | 27,819 | 43.6 | +7.8 | |
Conservative | Chris Butler | 27,628 | 43.3 | +1.4 | |
Liberal Democrat | Peter Walker | 7,978 | 12.5 | −9.7 | |
Natural Law | SD Benson | 321 | 0.5 | N/A | |
Majority | 191 | 0.3 | −5.8 | ||
Turnout | 63,746 | 82.0 | +2.4 | ||
Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | +3.2 |
General Election 1987: Warrington South | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Conservative | Chris Butler | 24,809 | 42.0 | ||
Labour | A Booth | 21,200 | 35.9 | ||
Liberal | Ian Marks | 13,112 | 22.2 | ||
Majority | 3,609 | 6.10 | |||
Turnout | 59,121 | 75.21 | |||
Conservative hold | Swing |
General Election 1983: Warrington South | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Conservative | Mark Carlisle | 22,740 | 41.92 | ||
Labour | D Colin-Thome | 16,275 | 30.00 | ||
Liberal | Ian Marks | 14,827 | 27.33 | ||
Ecology | Paul Kennedy | 403 | 0.74 | ||
Majority | 6,465 | 11.92 | |||
Turnout | 54,245 | 74,51 | |||
Conservative hold | Swing |
Please note that the Paul Kennedy who stood in 1983 is not the same Paul Kennedy who stood in 2005.