Liverpool Edge Hill (UK Parliament constituency)

Liverpool Edge Hill
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
1918 (1918)–1983 (1983)
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Liverpool Mossley Hill

Liverpool Edge Hill was a borough constituency within the city and metropolitan borough of Liverpool, in the English county of Merseyside, centred around Edge Hill. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system.

The constituency was created in 1918 and abolished in 1983.

History

There were two by-elections in Liverpool Edge Hill, following the deaths of its incumbent Members of Parliament. At the 1947 by-election, Labour held the seat with a reduced majority, but the 1979 by-election saw a large swing against Labour who lost the seat to the Liberal David Alton — a defeat which foreshadowed Labour's defeat in the 1979 general election.

When the constituency was abolished for the 1983 general election, half of its territory was included in the new Liverpool Mossley Hill constituency, where Alton was re-elected.

Michael Howard, later leader of the Conservative Party, was twice a candidate in the constituency, in the general elections of 1966 and 1970. During that time he started to support Liverpool FC.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	William Watson Rutherford	Conservative
	1923	John Henry Hayes	Labour
	1931	Sir Hugo Rutherford, Bt	Conservative
	1935	Alexander Critchley	Conservative
	1945	Richard Clitherow	Labour
	1947 by-election	Arthur Irvine	Labour
	1979 by-election	David Alton	Liberal
1983		constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1940s

Liverpool Edge Hill by-election, 1947
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur Irvine	10,827	52.1	−12.8
	Conservative	J. R. Bevins	8,874	42.6	+7.5
	Liberal	Sir H. W. Young	910	4.4	N/A
	Ind. Labour Party	David Gibson	154	0.7	N/A
	Independent	C. Foster	48	0.2	N/A
Majority			1,953	9.5	−20.3
Turnout			20,813	62.7	−3.4
	Labour hold		Swing	+10.2

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Liverpool Edge Hill
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur Irvine	21,834	50.9	−1.3
	Conservative	E. Errington	18,830	43.9	+1.3
	Liberal	J. Bowen	2,247	5.2	+0.8
Majority			3,001	7.0	−2.5
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Liverpool Edge Hill
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur Irvine	22,906	53.9	+3.0
	Conservative	H. M. Steward	19,569	46.1	+2.2
Majority			3,337	7.8	−0.4
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964:Liverpool, Edge Hill
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Arthur Irvine	19,221	59.04
	Conservative	N S Jamieson	13,335	40.96

Elections in the 1970s

Liverpool Edge Hill by-election, 1979
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Alton	12,945	64.1	+36.8
	Labour	Bob Wareing	4,812	23.8	−28.1
	Conservative	Nicholas Ward	1,906	9.4	−11.3
	Law and Order	Joan Jonker	337	1.7	N/A
	Socialist Unity	Ann Walker	127	0.6	N/A
	Gay Liberal	Michael Taylor	40	0.2	N/A
	Independent	Bill Boaks	32	0.2	N/A
Majority			8,133	40.3
Turnout			20,199
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing	30.2

1979 General election: Liberal hold.

See also

• Liverpool Edge Hill by-election, 1947
• Liverpool Edge Hill by-election, 1979

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 1)