St Helens South (UK Parliament constituency)

St Helens South
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of St Helens South in Merseyside for the 2005 general election.
Location of Merseyside within England.
County	Merseyside
1983 (1983)–2010 (2010)
Number of members	One
Replaced by	St Helens South and Whiston
European Parliament constituency	North West England

St Helens South was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Boundaries

The constituency was one of two covering the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, the other being St Helens North. It contained the southern part of the borough including the town centre of St Helens, the south of the town, Clock Face and Rainhill.

Following recommendations made by the Boundary Commission for England, St Helens South was replaced with a new St Helens South and Whiston constituency, which will include three wards from Knowsley borough.

History

The constituency was formed in 1983, and was represented by Labour's Gerry Bermingham from then until he stood down in 2001. He was replaced by Shaun Woodward, who had defected from the Conservatives to Labour in January 2000. Woodward was deemed unlikely to retain his Witney constituency in Oxfordshire as a Labour candidate (it was subsequently won by David Cameron, now Leader of the Conservatives), and was instead selected for this safe seat. Woodward has won all three elections however lost his position in the cabinet because of the Labour party defeat to the Liberal Democrat-Conservative coalition government in the 2010 General Election .

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1983	Gerry Bermingham	Labour
	2001	Shaun Woodward	Labour
	2010	Constituency abolished: see St Helens South and Whiston

Elections

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: St Helens South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Shaun Woodward	19,345	54.5	+4.8
	Liberal Democrat	Brian Spencer	10,036	28.3	+5.2
	Conservative	Una Riley	4,602	13.0	-0.8
	UKIP	Malcolm Nightingale	847	2.4	+1.4
	Socialist Labour	Michael Perry	643	1.8	-2.6
Majority			9,309	26.2
Turnout			35,473	53.4	+2.0
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.2

General Election 2001: St Helens South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Shaun Woodward	16,799	49.7	-18.9
	Liberal Democrat	Brian Thomas Spencer	7,814	23.1	+9.7
	Conservative	Lee Rotherham	4,675	13.8	-1.1
	Socialist Alliance	Neil Thompson	2,325	6.9	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Mike Roy Perry	1,504	4.4	N/A
	UKIP	Bryan Hilton Slater	336	1.0	N/A
	Independent	Michael Murphy	271	0.8	N/A
	Independent	David Oswald Braid	80	0.2	N/A
Majority			8,985	26.6
Turnout			33,804	51.4	-15.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1992: St. Helens South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gerry Bermingham	30,391	61.0	+6.4
	Conservative	Mrs Patricia M. Buzzard	12,182	24.5	−2.3
	Liberal Democrat	Brian T. Spencer	6,933	13.9	−4.8
	Natural Law	Dr. Harriet S. Jump	295	0.6	N/A
Majority			18,209	36.6	+8.7
Turnout			49,801	73.8	+2.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.3

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies on Merseyside