Manchester Withington (UK Parliament constituency)

Manchester, Withington
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Manchester, Withington in Greater Manchester.
Location of Greater Manchester within England.
County	Greater Manchester
Electorate	73,656 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1918 (1918)
Member of Parliament	John Leech (Liberal Democrat)
Number of members	One
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	North West England

Manchester, Withington is a parliamentary constituency in the city of Manchester. It returns one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system. The current MP is John Leech of the Liberal Democrats, first elected at the 2005 general election.

Boundaries

The current Manchester wards in the constituency are Burnage, Chorlton, Chorlton Park, Didsbury East, Didsbury West, Old Moat and Withington.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Greater Manchester in the 2000s, the Boundary Commission for England made minor changes to the Withington constituency, creating a modified seat from the same electoral wards as above, with the new boundaries following any minor alterations made to the shapes of the wards.

History

A seat with a large student population, Manchester Withington was once a Conservative stronghold. It even resisted being gained by Labour in its massive landslide victories in 1945 and 1966. However, although Margaret Thatcher helped the Conservative majority grow in two elections, in 1987 the seat turned red for the first time and remained so until 2005 when it was gained by the Liberal Democrats, a reaction by many student voters opposing Labour's policy of top-up fees. The Conservatives have since dropped into third place and the Lib Dems have taken many of the former Labour votes.

Members of Parliament

John Leech is the current Liberal Democrat MP for the constituency. He was elected at the 2005 general election, defeating the Labour incumbent Keith Bradley who had held the seat since 1987.

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Alfred Deakin Carter	Conservative
	1922	Dr. Thomas Watts	Conservative
	1923	Ernest Darwin Simon	Liberal
	1924	Sir Thomas Watts	Conservative
	1929	Ernest Darwin Simon	Liberal
	1931	Edward Fleming	Conservative
	1950	Frederick Cundiff	Conservative
	1951	Sir Robert Cary, Bt	Conservative
	Feb 1974	Fred Silvester	Conservative
	1987	Keith Bradley	Labour
	2005	John Leech	Liberal Democrat

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Manchester Withington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	John Leech	20,110	44.6	+2.4
	Labour	Lucy Powell	18,216	40.5	-0.4
	Conservative	Chris Green	5,005	11.1	+0.7
	Green	Brian Candeland	798	1.8	-2.5
	UKIP	Robert Gutfreund-Walmsley	698	1.5	+0.4
	Independent	Yasmin Zalzala	147	0.3	-0.1
	Independent	Marcus Farmer	57	0.1	+0.1
Majority			1,894	4.1
Turnout			45,075	62.2	+6.8
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing	+1.4

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Manchester, Withington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	John Leech	15,872	42.4	+20.4
	Labour	Keith Bradley	15,205	40.6	-14.3
	Conservative	Karen Bradley	3,919	10.5	-4.8
	Green	Brian Candeland	1,595	4.3	-0.1
	UKIP	Robert Gutfreund-Walmsley	424	1.1
	Independent	Ivan Benett	243	0.6
	Independent	Yasmin Zalzala	152	0.4
	Their Party	Richard Reed	47	0.1
Majority			667	1.8
Turnout			37,459	55.3	+3.4
	Liberal Democrat gain from Labour		Swing	+17.3

General Election 2001: Manchester, Withington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Keith Bradley	19,239	54.9
	Liberal Democrat	Yasmin Zalzala	7,715	22.0
	Conservative	Julian Samways	5,349	15.3
	Green	Michelle Valentine	1,539	4.4
	Socialist Alliance	John Clegg	1,208	3.4
Majority			11,524	32.9
Turnout				51.9

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Manchester, Withington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Keith Bradley	27,103	61.56	+8.9
	Conservative	J Smith	8,522	19.4	-11.9
	Liberal Democrat	Y Zalzala	6,000	13.6	0.6
	Referendum Party	M Sheppard	1,079	2.5	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	S Caldwell	614	1.4	N/A
	Socialist (GB)	J White	376	0.9	N/A
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	S Kingston	181	0.4	N/A
	Natural Law	M Gaskell	152	0.4	+0.1
Majority			18,581	42.2
Turnout				65.82
	Labour hold		Swing	+10.4

General Election 1992: Manchester, Withington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Keith Bradley	23,962	52.7	+9.7
	Conservative	EN Farthing	14,227	31.3	−5.0
	Liberal Democrat	PG Hennell	6,457	14.2	−5.6
	Green	BA Candeland	725	1.6	+0.6
	Natural Law	CE Menhinick	128	0.3	N/A
Majority			9,735	21.4	+14.7
Turnout			45,499	71.3	−5.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+7.3

Election in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Manchester, Withington Manchester County Borough wards of Chorlton cum Hardy, Didsbury, Withington
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Fleming	30,881	46.4
	Labour	R. Edwards	22,634	34.0
	Liberal	Leonard Behrens	13,107	19.7
Majority			8,247	12.4
Turnout				74.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater Manchester