South Ribble (UK Parliament constituency)

South Ribble
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of South Ribble in Lancashire.
Location of Lancashire within England.
County	Lancashire
Electorate	75,116 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1983 (1983)
Member of Parliament	Lorraine Fullbrook (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Preston South
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	North West England

South Ribble is a county constituency in Lancashire, England represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

History

The seat of South Ribble was created for the 1983 general election, following the local government changes in the 1970s which saw the creation of a South Ribble borough council.

Former Preston North MP Robert Atkins won the South Ribble constituency in 1983 and fought the seat in every election up to the 1997 general election, when Labour's David Borrow gained the seat with nearly 26,000 votes. This figure is 2,000 less than Robert Atkins' victory in 1983. From the 1997 "landslide year" until 2010, David Borrow's vote total and majority consistently shrunk with a swing back to the Conservatives at every election: despite in 2005, UKIP nominating a candidate for the first time, and taking just over 1,200 votes. Borrow finally lost South Ribble in 2010 on a large swing to the Conservatives to the current Member of Parliament, Lorraine Fullbrook.

Boundaries

Due to its population figures, the borough of South Ribble and its parliamentary constituency have never shared the same boundaries, but the towns of Leyland and Penwortham have always featured at the centre of the constituency. For the 1997 general election the eastern towns of Bamber Bridge and Walton-le-Dale were moved to the Preston constituency, whilst recent boundary changes in 2010 have moved South Ribble further south and south-west into the Croston and Bretherton areas of Chorley.

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Lancashire prior to the 2010 general election, the Boundary Commission for England created a new constituency of Wyre and Preston North in the central part of the county. As a knock-on consequence of this, Ribble Valley has taken wards from south of the River Ribble for the first time causing alterations to the existing South Ribble constituency.

The new South Ribble constituency moved further south and south-west, and is formed from wards of three districts - South Ribble, West Lancashire and Chorley.

• From Chorley: Eccleston and Mawdesley, and Lostock.
• From South Ribble: Broad Oak, Charnock, Earnshaw Bridge, Golden Hill, Howick and Priory, Kingsfold, Leyland Central, Leyland St. Ambrose, Leyland St. Marys, Little Hoole and Much Hoole, Longton and Hutton West, Lowerhouse, Middleforth, Moss Side, New Longton and Hutton East, Seven Stars, Whitefield.
• From West Lancashire: Hesketh-with-Becconsall, North Meols, Rufford and Tarleton.

Proposed changes

As part of the nation-wide Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which commenced in 2011 the Boundary Commission for England has proposed making minor amendments to the current South Ribble seat. The new boundaries would largely reverse the changes made prior to 2010, returning Farington and Lostock Hall into the seat.

Members of Parliament

Year		Member	Party
	1983	Robert Atkins	Conservative
	1997	David Borrow	Labour
	2010	Lorraine Fullbrook	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: South Ribble
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lorraine Fullbrook	23,396	45.5	+7.1
	Labour	David Borrow	17,842	34.7	−9.6
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Fisher	7,271	14.1	−0.6
	UKIP	David Duxbury	1,895	3.7	+1.5
	BNP	Rosalind Gauci	1,054	2.0	+2.0
Majority			5,554	10.8	+6.2
Turnout			51,458	67.9	+4.4
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+8.1

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: South Ribble
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Borrow	20,428	43.0	−3.4
	Conservative	Lorraine Fullbrook	18,244	38.4	+0.3
	Liberal Democrat	Mark Alcock	7,634	16.1	+0.6
	UKIP	Kenneth Jones	1,205	2.5	N/A
Majority			2,184	4.6	−3.7
Turnout			47,511	63.0	+0.5
	Labour hold		Swing	−1.9

General Election 2001: South Ribble
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Borrow	21,386	46.4	−0.4
	Conservative	Adrian Owens	17,584	38.1	+0.5
	Liberal Democrat	Mark Alcock	7,150	15.5	+4.9
Majority			3,802	8.3	−0.9
Turnout			46,120	62.5	−14.6
	Labour hold		Swing	−0.5

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: South Ribble
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Borrow	25,856	46.8	+12.0
	Conservative	Robert Atkins	20,772	37.6	−12.3
	Liberal Democrat	Tim Farron	5,879	10.6	−4.2
	Referendum Party	Mark Adams	1,475	2.7	N/A
	Liberal	Nigel Ashton	1,127	2.0	N/A
	Natural Law	Bibette Leadbetter	122	0.2	−0.2
Majority			5,084	9.2	−5.8
Turnout			55,231	77.1
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+12.1

General Election 1992: South Ribble
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Atkins	30,828	47.5	+0.3
	Labour	Dr. Geoffrey W.T. Smith	24,855	38.3	+5.2
	Liberal Democrat	Simon Nicholas Jones	8,928	13.8	−6.0
	Natural Law	Dr. Decter Ronald	269	0.4	+0.4
Majority			5,973	9.2	−4.9
Turnout			64,880	83.0	+3.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	−2.5

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: South Ribble
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Atkins	28,133	47.2
	Labour	Dave Roebuck	19,703	33.1
	Liberal	J Holleran	11,746	19.7
Majority			8,430	14.1
Turnout				82.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1983: South Ribble
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Atkins	27,625	48.8
	Labour	Frank Duffy	14,966	26.5
	Liberal	Robert Walker	13,960	24.7
Majority			12,659	22.3
Turnout				7801
	Conservative hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Lancashire