Morecambe and Lunesdale (UK Parliament constituency)

Morecambe and Lunesdale is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by David Morris, a Conservative.[n 2]

Not to be confused with Morecambe and Lonsdale (UK Parliament constituency).

Morecambe and Lunesdale
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Morecambe and Lunesdale in Lancashire
Location of Lancashire within England
County	Lancashire
Electorate	69,254 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	Morecambe, Heysham, Carnforth and Skerton
Current constituency
Created	1950
Member of Parliament	David Morris (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Lonsdale

Constituency profile

Since 1979 the constituency has been a bellwether and includes the seaside town and many villages as well as the north bank of the City of Lancaster, which is largely Skerton. This seat brings together northern semi-rural reaches of Lancashire bisected by the M6, including seaside Silverdale and Carnforth south of the Cumbria border, the seaside resort of Morecambe and the nuclear power station/ferry port village of Heysham which provides a direct east-west service to Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland. Separating Morecambe from Lancaster is a narrow belt of parkland, houses and the White Lund industrial estate.[2]

Boundaries

Before 1950, Morecambe was in the Lancaster constituency. This seat was formerly Morecambe and Lonsdale and gained a new name and redrawn boundaries in 1983. For the General Election of that year, sections of the constituency were removed to be united with the former county of Westmorland in the Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency. For the 1983 election the electoral wards used in the creation of the new seat were:

• Alexandra, Arkholme, Bolton-le-Sands, Carnforth, Halton-with-Aughton, Harbour, Heysham Central, Heysham North, Kellet, Overton, Parks, Poulton, Silverdale, Slyne-with-Hest, Torrisholme, Victoria and Walton[3]

In boundary changes in the 2000s, only minor adjustments were made. Parliament approved the recommendations in the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster Constituencies in respect of this area, enacting only minor boundary alterations. The constituency has City of Lancaster electoral wards:

• Bolton-le-Sands, Carnforth, Halton-with-Aughton, Harbour, Heysham Central, Heysham North, Heysham South, Kellet, Overton, Poulton, Silverdale, Skerton East, Skerton West, Slyne-with-Hest, Torrisholme, Upper Lune Valley, Warton and Westgate.

History

Once a safe Conservative seat, Morecambe followed its neighbour and fellow seaside town, Blackpool, by voting Labour in the 1997 general election. The results in the general elections of 1997, 2001 and 2005 had remarkably similar majorities with virtually no swing to the Conservatives. The Conservatives gained the seat at the 2010 general election with an above average swing

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[4]	Party
	1950	constituency created as "Morecambe and Lonsdale"
	1950	Ian Fraser	Conservative
	1958 by-election	Basil de Ferranti	Conservative
	1964	Alfred Hall-Davis	Conservative
	1979	Mark Lennox-Boyd	Conservative
	1983	constituency renamed as "Morecambe and Lunesdale" after boundary changes
	1983	Mark Lennox-Boyd	Conservative
	1997	Geraldine Smith	Labour
	2010	David Morris	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Morecambe and Lunesdale[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	David Morris	23,925	52.8	+5.1
	Labour	Lizzi Collinge	17,571	38.8	−5.8
	Liberal Democrats	Owen Lambert	2,328	5.1	+1.4
	Green	Chloe Buckley	938	2.1	+1.0
	Independent	Darren Clifford	548	1.2	N/A
Majority			6,354	14.0	+10.9
Turnout			45,310	67.2	−1.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	+5.5

General election 2017: Morecambe and Lunesdale[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	David Morris	21,773	47.7	+2.2
	Labour	Vikki Singleton	20,374	44.6	+9.7
	Liberal Democrats	Matthew Severn	1,699	3.7	±0.0
	UKIP	Robert Gillespie	1,333	2.9	−9.5
	Green	Cait Sinclair	478	1.0	−2.2
Majority			1,399	3.1	−7.5
Turnout			45,657	68.3	+3.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	−3.8

General election 2015: Morecambe and Lunesdale[7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	David Morris	19,691	45.5	+4.0
	Labour	Amina Lone	15,101	34.9	−4.6
	UKIP	Steven Ogden	5,358	12.4	+8.1
	Liberal Democrats	Matthew Severn	1,612	3.7	−9.6
	Green	Phil Chandler	1,395	3.2	+1.8
	Independent	Michael Dawson	85	0.2	+0.2
Majority			4,590	10.6	+8.6
Turnout			43,242	65.0	+2.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	+4.3

General election 2010: Morecambe and Lunesdale[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	David Morris	18,035	41.5	+4.2
	Labour	Geraldine Smith	17,169	39.5	−9.5
	Liberal Democrats	Les Jones	5,791	13.3	−0.3
	UKIP	Nigel Brown	1,843	4.2	N/A
	Green	Chris Coates	598	1.4	N/A
Majority			866	2.0	−9.5
Turnout			43,436	62.1	+0.7
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	−6.9

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Morecambe and Lunesdale[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Geraldine Smith	20,331	48.8	−0.8
	Conservative	James Airey	15,563	37.4	+0.1
	Liberal Democrats	Alex Stone	5,741	13.8	+4.6
Majority			4,768	11.5	−0.8
Turnout			41,635	61.4	+0.3
	Labour hold		Swing	−0.4

General election 2001: Morecambe and Lunesdale[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Geraldine Smith	20,646	49.6	+0.7
	Conservative	David Nuttall	15,554	37.3	+0.6
	Liberal Democrats	Christopher Cotton	3,817	9.2	−2.2
	UKIP	Greg Beaman	935	2.2	N/A
	Green	Cherith Adams	703	1.7	N/A
Majority			5,092	12.3	+0.1
Turnout			41,655	61.1	−11.2
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Morecambe and Lunesdale[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Geraldine Smith	24,061	48.9	N/A
	Conservative	Mark Lennox-Boyd	18,096	36.7	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	June Greenwell	5,614	11.4	N/A
	Referendum	Ian Ogilvie	1,313	2.7	N/A
	Natural Law	David Walne	165	0.3	N/A
Majority			5,965	12.2	N/A
Turnout			49,249	72.3	N/A
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+19.1

General election 1992: Morecambe and Lunesdale[13][14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Mark Lennox-Boyd	22,507	50.9	−1.8
	Labour	Jean Yates	10,998	24.9	+2.4
	Liberal Democrats	Anthony Saville	9,584	21.7	−3.2
	MB Independent	Mark Turner	916	2.1	N/A
	Natural Law	Richard Marriott	205	0.5	N/A
Majority			11,509	26.0	−1.8
Turnout			44,210	78.3	+2.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	−2.1

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Morecambe and Lunesdale[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Mark Lennox-Boyd	22, 327	52.7	−3.9
	SDP	June Greenwell	10,542	24.9	−0.3
	Labour	David Smith	9, 535	22.5	+4.8
Majority			11,785	27.7
Turnout			42,404	76.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1983: Morecambe and Lunesdale[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Mark Lennox-Boyd	21,968	56.6	N/A
	SDP	Tom Clare	9,774	25.2	N/A
	Labour	Abbott Bryning	6,882	17.7	N/A
	Independent	Irene Woods	208	0.5	N/A
Majority			12,194	31.4	N/A
Turnout			38,832	72.9	N/A
	Conservative win (new seat)

Morecambe and Lonsdale election results, 1950–79

Further information: Morecambe and Lonsdale (UK Parliament constituency)

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Lancashire

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.

References

1. "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
2. "OpenStreetMap". openstreetmap.org.
3. Crewe, Ivor (1983). British Parliamentary constituencies - a statistical compendium. faber and faber. ISBN 0-571-13236-7.
4. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 3)
5. "Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll: Morecambe and Lunesdale Constituency" (PDF). Lancaster City Council. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
6. "Morecambe & Lunesdale parliamentary constituency". BBC News: Election 2017. 9 June 2017.
7. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
8. "Morecambe & Lunesdale". BBC News. Archived from the original on 11 May 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
9. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
10. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
11. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
12. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
13. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
14. "UK General Election results April 1992". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
15. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
16. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.