St Helens North (UK Parliament constituency)

St. Helens North is a constituency[n 1] created in 1983 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by the Labour Party's Conor McGinn. Between 1997 and 2015 the MP was Labour's David Watts.[n 2]

St. Helens North
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of St. Helens North in Merseyside
Location of Merseyside within England
CountyMerseyside
Electorate75,688 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlementsSt Helens, Billinge, Earlestown, Haydock, Newton-le-Willows and Rainford
Current constituency
Created1983
Member of ParliamentConor McGinn (Labour)
Number of membersOne
Created fromSt Helens, Newton, Ince, Ormskirk and Huyton[2]

Boundaries

1983–2010: The Metropolitan Borough of St Helens wards of Billinge and Seneley Green, Blackbrook, Broad Oak, Haydock, Moss Bank, Newton East, Newton West, Rainford, and Windle.

2010–present: As above, less Broad Oak, plus Earlestown; Newton replaced Newton East and West wards.

The constituency is one of two covering the Metropolitan Borough, the other being St Helens South and Whiston. It includes the north of the town of St Helens, and Billinge, Seneley Green, Earlestown, Blackbrook, Haydock, Newton-le-Willows and Rainford.

History
Results of the winning party

The 2015 result made the seat the 42nd-safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority.[3] The constituency was created in 1983, primarily replacing parts of the St Helens and Newton constituencies. It has been won to date by candidates fielded by the Labour Party — by the former Newton MP John Evans and from 1997 by David Watts, a former council leader. As to the predominantly-contributing two seats to the present division, St Helens has been won by the party since 1935 and so too Newton. The party's two successive candidates for MP have won an absolute majority (plurality) of the votes since 1987 (inclusive).

Opposition parties

The Conservative Party fielded the runner-up candidate in 2010 and 2015. Neither the Liberal Democrats nor the Green candidate won 5% of the vote in 2015 to retain their deposits. The third place in 2015 was taken by the UKIP candidate, Smith, who narrowly gained more than the national average swing through a swing of 10.4%.[n 3]

Turnout

Turnout has ranged from 77.4% in 1992 to 52.7% in 2001.

Constituency profile

The seat includes the large town of St Helens, noted by visitors for its successful rugby league side and the nearby horseracing racecourse at Haydock Park. Despite these prominent sports venues, workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 higher than the national average of 3.8%, at 4.7% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian, which was close to the Greater Manchester and Merseyside average but higher than the regional average of 4.4%.[4] With the exception of the Conservative area of Rainford, virtually every other ward in the seat is safely Labour.

Members of Parliament
ElectionMember[5]Party
1983 John Evans Labour
1997 Dave Watts Labour
2015 Conor McGinn Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s
General election 2019: St Helens North[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Conor McGinn 24,870 52.3 11.4
Conservative Joel Charles 12,661 27.0 0.1
Brexit Party Malcolm Webster 5,396 11.0 N/A
Liberal Democrats Pat Moloney 2,668 5.6 3.0
Green David Van Der Burg 1,966 4.1 1.7
Majority 12,209 25.3 10.7
Turnout 47,561 62.9 3.1
Labour hold Swing 5.7
General election 2017: St Helens North[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Conor McGinn 32,012 63.7 +6.7
Conservative Jackson Ng 13,606 27.1 +7.4
UKIP Peter Peers 2,097 4.2 −10.9
Liberal Democrats Tom Morrison 1,287 2.6 −1.9
Green Rachel Parkinson 1,220 2.4 −1.4
Majority 18,406 36.6 −0.8
Turnout 50,222 66.0 +4.5
Labour hold Swing −0.4
General election 2015: St Helens North[8][9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Conor McGinn 26,378 57.0 +5.3
Conservative Paul Richardson 9,087 19.6 −2.7
UKIP Ian Smith 6,983 15.1 +10.4
Liberal Democrats Denise Aspinall 2,046 4.4 −15.8
Green Elizabeth Ward 1,762 3.8 +3.8
Majority 17,291 37.4 +8.0
Turnout 46,256 61.5 +1.7
Labour hold Swing +4.0
General election 2010: St Helens North[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour David Watts 23,041 51.7 −8.2
Conservative Paul V. Greenall 9,940 22.3 +3.4
Liberal Democrats John L. Beirne 8,992 20.2 −1.1
UKIP Gary Robinson 2,100 4.7 +1.7
Socialist Labour Stephen Whatham 483 1.0 N/A
Majority 13,101 29.4
Turnout 44,556 59.8 +2.0
Labour hold Swing −6.2

Elections in the 2000s
General election 2005: St Helens North[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour David Watts 22,329 56.9 −4.2
Liberal Democrats John L. Beirne 8,367 21.3 +3.7
Conservative Paul J. Oakley 7,410 18.9 +0.1
UKIP Sylvia Hall 1,165 3.0 N/A
Majority 13,962 35.6
Turnout 39,271 57.8 +5.1
Labour hold Swing −4.0
General election 2001: St Helens North[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour David Watts 22,977 61.1 −3.8
Conservative Simon Pearce 7,076 18.8 +1.5
Liberal Democrats John L. Beirne 6,609 17.6 +4.8
Socialist Labour Stephen Whatham 939 2.5 +0.8
Majority 15,901 42.3
Turnout 37,601 52.7 −16.2
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1990s
General election 1997: St Helens North[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour David Watts 31,953 64.9 +11.3
Conservative Pelham J.C. Walker 8,536 17.3 −11.2
Liberal Democrats John L. Beirne 6,270 12.7 −0.4
Referendum David Johnson 1,276 2.6 N/A
Socialist Labour Ron Waugh 833 1.7 N/A
UKIP Richard D. Rubin 363 0.7 N/A
Majority 23,417 47.6
Turnout 49,231 68.9
Labour hold Swing
General election 1992: St. Helens North[14][15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour John Evans 31,930 57.9 +4.3
Conservative Brendan Anderson 15,686 28.5 +1.2
Liberal Democrats John L. Beirne 7,224 13.1 −6.0
Natural Law Anne Lynch 287 0.5 N/A
Majority 16,244 29.5 +3.1
Turnout 55,127 77.4 +1.1
Labour hold Swing +1.5

Elections in the 1980s
General election 1987: St Helens North[16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour John Evans 28,989 53.7 +5.7
Conservative Melinda Libby 14,729 27.3 −3.1
Liberal Neil Derbyshire 10,300 19.1 −2.6
Majority 14,260 26.4
Turnout 54,018 76.3 +4.0
Labour hold Swing +4.4
General election 1983: St Helens North[17]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour John Evans 25,334 47.9 N/A
Conservative Anthony Rhodes 16,075 30.4 N/A
Liberal Neil Derbyshire 11,525 21.7 N/A
Majority 9,259 17.5 N/A
Turnout 52,934 74.5 N/A
Labour win (new seat)
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See also
  • List of Parliamentary constituencies on Merseyside

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.
  3. UKIP's swing nationally was +9.5% in 2015
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. "'St Helens North', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  3. List of Labour MPs elected in 2015 by % majority UK Political.info. Retrieved 2017-01-29
  4. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
  5. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 1)
  6. "Statement of persons nominated" (PDF).
  7. "St Helens North parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
  8. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  9. "St Helens North". BBC News. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  10. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  11. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  12. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  13. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  14. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  15. "UK General Election results April 1992". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
  16. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  17. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
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