Knowsley (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 53°27′40″N 2°49′41″W / 53.461°N 2.828°W

Knowsley
County constituency
for the House of Commons

Outline map

Boundary of Knowsley in Merseyside.

Outline map

Location of Merseyside within England.
County Merseyside
Electorate 79,334 (December 2010)[1]
Current constituency
Created 2010
Member of parliament George Howarth (Labour)
Number of members One
Created from Knowsley South,
Knowsley North and Sefton East
Huyton
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency North West England

Knowsley is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 2010 creation by George Howarth of the Labour Party.[n 2]

History

Created for the 2010 general election (during the Boundary Commission for England's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies[2]), the area returned the second highest share of the vote seen by a candidate for the Labour Party, of 70.9%, behind the 72.0% achieved in Liverpool Walton.

Boundaries

The new constituency covers a large part of the metropolitan borough, main settlements being Huyton and Kirkby. It replaced most of the previous Knowsley South constituency, as well as the parts of Knowsley North and Sefton East in the Knowsley borough. Distant parts from the centre of the metropolitan borough are covered by the new St Helens South and Whiston and Garston and Halewood constituencies.

The seat has electoral wards:

Constituency profile

Before its first election in 2010 it was believed to present the safest seat in the country, with an estimated Labour majority of 24,333.[3]

The constituency mainly consists of low-income social housing and ex-social housing built to decant the residents displaced by post-war slum clearance in Liverpool. It includes Huyton to the south (once represented by Harold Wilson) and Kirkby to the north. Between them is the green space of Knowsley Hall and Park, the ancestral home of the Earls of Derby and the site of Knowsley Safari Park. In 2010, The Guardian summarized the area as "One of the most deprived areas in the country. The new parliamentary constituency folds in Knowsley North and Knowsley South."[4]

Members of Parliament

Election Member[5] Party
2010 George Howarth Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Knowsley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
UKIP Louise Bours[6]
Conservative Alice Bramall
Liberal Democrat Carl Cashman
Green Vikki Gregorich
Labour George Howarth
General Election 2010: Knowsley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour George Howarth* 31,650 70.87 -0.9
Liberal Democrat Flo Clucas 5,964 13.35 -0.4
Conservative David Dunne 4,004 8.97 -2.3
BNP Steven Greenhalgh 1,895 4.24 +2.2
UKIP Anthony Rundle 1,145 2.56 +2.6
Majority 25,690 57.5
Turnout 44,654 56.1 +2.3
Labour hold Swing -0.2%
* Served as an MP in the 2005–2010 Parliament

See also

Notes and references

Notes
  1. ↑ A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
  2. ↑ As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
References
  1. ↑ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  2. ↑ Knowsley Boundary Commission for England
  3. ↑ http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/jan/22/new-parliamentary-constituencies-westminster-election The Guardian (22 January 2010); "Altered Constituencies Data"
  4. ↑ "Knowsley". guardian.co.uk.
  5. ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "K" (part 2)
  6. ↑ http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/2015guide/knowsley/