Blackpool North and Fleetwood (UK Parliament constituency)

Blackpool North and Fleetwood
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Blackpool North and Fleetwood in Lancashire for the 2005 general election.
Location of Lancashire within England.
County	Lancashire
1997 (1997)–2010 (2010)
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Blackpool North and Cleveleys, Lancaster and Fleetwood
Created from	Wyre, Blackpool North

Blackpool North and Fleetwood was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From 1997 to 2010, it elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Boundaries

The so-called "Golden Mile" of Blackpool and the fishing port of Fleetwood were paired in this seat. Those against the move at the time tried to argue that Fleetwood was a genteel place that had little, if anything, in common with the noisy neighbour to the south; then, as now, the Boundary Commission disagreed with the idea that Blackpool was a "den of vice", as one local Fleetwood newspaper claimed.

This seat was abolished for the 2010 general election, when Fleetwood was linked with Lancaster to create a new seat of Lancaster and Fleetwood. Meanwhile, the town of Thornton Cleveleys was split to create Blackpool North and Cleveleys.

Blackpool is a Unitary Authority but does not have enough electors to create one or two valid constituencies on its own without using electoral wards from Lancashire.

Proposed re-creation

As part of the nation-wide Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which commenced in 2011, the Boundary Commission for England has proposed re-creating a modified version of 'Blackpool North and Fleetwood'. It would link six electoral wards of Blackpool with Thornton-Cleveleys and Fleetwood.

Members of Parliament

Year		Member	Party
	1997	Joan Humble	Labour
	2010	constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Blackpool North and Fleetwood
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joan Humble	20,620	47.6	-3.2
	Conservative	Gavin Williamson	15,558	35.9	-1.4
	Liberal Democrat	Steven Bate	5,533	12.8	+3.1
	UKIP	Roy Hopwood	1,579	3.6	+1.4
Majority			5,062	11.7	-1.8
Turnout			43,290	57.7	+0.5
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.9

General Election 2001: Blackpool North & Fleetwood
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joan Humble	21,610	50.8	-1.4
	Conservative	Alan Vincent	15,889	37.3	+1.8
	Liberal Democrat	Steven Bate	4,132	9.7	+1.1
	UKIP	Colin Porter	950	2.2	N/A
Majority			5,721	13.5	-3.2
Turnout			42,581	57.2	-14.4
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.6

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Blackpool North and Fleetwood
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joan Humble	28,051	52.1
	Conservative	Harold Elletson	19,105	35.5
	Liberal Democrat	Beverley Hill	4,600	8.6
	Referendum Party	Roy Hopwood	1,704	3.2
	BNP	Jon Ellis	288	0.5
Majority			8,946	16.7
Turnout			53,748	71.7
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Lancashire