Sefton Central (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 53°31′23″N 2°59′06″W / 53.523°N 2.985°W

Sefton Central
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons

Outline map

Boundary of Sefton Central in Merseyside.

Outline map

Location of Merseyside within England.
County Merseyside
Electorate 67,696 (December 2010)[1]
Current constituency
Created 2010
Member of parliament Bill Esterson (Labour)
Number of members One
Created from Crosby
Knowsley North & Sefton East
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency North West England

Sefton Central is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 2010 creation by Bill Esterson, a member of the Labour Party.[n 2]

Boundaries

History of boundaries

The constituency replaced much of Crosby along with part of Knowsley North and Sefton East. The new constituency covers Merseyside northern residential suburban areas of Crosby, Blundellsands, Brighton-Le-Sands, Little Crosby, Thornton, and Hightown, Formby and Maghull and the villages and localities of Aintree, Carr Houses, Freshfield, Ince Blundell, Kennessee Green, Lady Green, Little Altcar, Lunt, Lydiate, Melling, Sefton, and Waddicar, in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton. The constituency has electoral wards:[2]

History

This seat was fought for the first time at the 2010 general election.

At the time, eleven of the constituency's twenty-one councillors were Conservatives followed by the Liberal Democrats who had ten,[n 3] whereas analysis by Rallings and Thrasher indicated that had the Sefton Central constituency existed in 2005, the result would have been: Labour 45.6%, Conservative 33.6%, LibDem 19.2%, giving a Labour majority of 4,950. Some Conservative campaign billboard posters for the Tory candidate Deborah Jones had been defaced during the 2010 election, as had been the case during the 2005 election in Crosby.[3] The Labour Party candidate's majority was 3,862 suggesting a moderate two-party swing.

Constituency profile

The constituency consists of Census Output Areas of a local government district with: a working population whose income is close to the national average and which has close to average reliance on social housing.[4] At the end of 2012 the unemployment rate in the constituency stood as 2.4% of the population claiming jobseekers allowance, compared to the regional average of 4.2%.[5] The borough contributing to the seat has a medium 28.5% of its population without a car, 25.1% of the population without qualifications and a 24.1% with level 4 qualifications or above. In terms of tenure 70.5% of homes are owned outright or on a mortgage as at the 2011 census across the district.[6]

Members of Parliament

ElectionMember[7] Party
2010 Bill Esterson Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Sefton Central[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Valerie Allen
Labour Bill Esterson
Liberal Democrat Paula Keaveney
Green Lindsay Melia
UKIP Tim Power[9]
General Election 2010: Sefton Central[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Bill Esterson 20,307 41.9 -3.7
Conservative Debi Jones 16,445 33.9 +0.4
Liberal Democrat Richard Clein 9,656 19.9 +0.7
UKIP Peter Harper 2,055 4.2 +3.5
Majority 3,862 8.0
Turnout 48,463 71.8 +11.0
Labour hold Swing +2.0

See also

Notes and references

Notes
  1. ↑ A county 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.
  3. ↑ A share of the vote based on the 2008 local election in these seven wards gave Conservative 42.3% Liberal Democrat 34.2% Labour 18.1%.
References