Sefton Central (UK Parliament constituency)

Sefton Central is a constituency represented by Bill Esterson of the Labour Party since 2010.[n 1] [n 2]

Sefton Central
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Sefton Central in Merseyside
Location of Merseyside within England
CountyMerseyside
Electorate67,696 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlementsCrosby and Formby
Current constituency
Created2010
Member of ParliamentBill Esterson (Labour)
Number of membersOne
Created fromCrosby
Knowsley North & Sefton East

Boundaries
History of boundaries

The constituency was created for the 2010 general election, replacing 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.[3]

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.[4] The Labour Party candidate's majority was 3,862 suggesting a moderate two-party swing.[3]

The area covered by this seat and its immediate predecessor Crosby was historically a strong area for the Conservatives. However, since Labour gained that seat in the 1997 election, they have held it with fairly comfortable margins for 20 years. In 2015, an 8.1% swing to Labour saw them take the area with their biggest ever majority of 11,846 votes (24.2%),[3] in accordance with the significant swing to Labour in Merseyside compared to 2010; this margin was surpassed in 2017, as Labour won more than 60% of the vote in the seat and a majority of over 30% for the first time. This suggests that since 2010, Sefton Central has changed from a key marginal between the major parties to a Labour safe seat.

Constituency profile

The constituency has a working population whose income is close to the national average, and close to average reliance on social housing.[5] At the end of 2012, the unemployment rate in the constituency stood as 2.4% of the population claiming Jobseeker's Allowance, compared to the regional average of 4.2%.[6] The borough contributing to the seat has a medium 28.5% of its population without a car, 25.1% of the population without any 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 UK Census across the district.[7]

Members of Parliament
ElectionMember[8] Party
2010 Bill Esterson Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s
General election 2019: Sefton Central[9][10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Bill Esterson 29,254 57.5 –5.5
Conservative Wazz Mughal 14,132 27.8 –5.3
Liberal Democrats Keith Cawdron 3,386 6.7 +4.0
Brexit Party Paul Lomas 2,425 4.8 N/A
Green Alison Gibbon 1,261 2.5 +1.2
Liberal Angela Preston 285 0.6 N/A
Renew Carla Burns 137 0.3 N/A
Majority 15,122 29.7 –0.3
Turnout 50,880 72.9 –2.5
Labour hold Swing –0.1
General election 2017: Sefton Central[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Bill Esterson 32,830 63.0 +9.3
Conservative Jade Marsden 17,212 33.0 +3.4
Liberal Democrats Daniel Lewis 1,381 2.7 –1.6
Green Mike Carter 656 1.3 –1.2
Majority 15,618 30.0 +5.8
Turnout 52,079 75.5 +3.1
Labour hold Swing +2.9
General election 2015: Sefton Central[12][13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Bill Esterson 26,359 53.8 +11.9
Conservative Valerie Allen 14,513 29.6 –4.3
UKIP Tim Power 4,879 10.0 +5.7
Liberal Democrats Paula Keaveney 2,086 4.3 –15.7
Green Lindsay Melia 1,184 2.4 +2.4
Majority 11,846 24.2 +16.2
Turnout 49,021 72.4 +0.6
Labour hold Swing +8.1
General election 2010: Sefton Central[14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Bill Esterson 20,307 41.9 –3.7
Conservative Debi Jones 16,445 33.9 +0.4
Liberal Democrats 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
  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. The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 2007, Office of Public Sector Information
  3. Election history for Sefton Central, UK Parliament, n.d., retrieved 19 August 2020
  4. Sefton Central Tory candidate billboards defaced BBC News website, April 30, 2010. Accessed 30 December 2011
  5. "Local statistics - Office for National Statistics". www.ons.gov.uk.
  6. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
  7. "2011 census interactive maps". Archived from the original on January 29, 2016.
  8. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 2)
  9. "Statement of persons nominated 2019".
  10. "Sefton Central parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". Retrieved 2019-12-13.
  11. "General Election 2017: who is standing for election". Liverpool Echo. 11 May 2017.
  12. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  13. "Sefton Central". BBC News. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  14. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
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