Warrington South (UK Parliament constituency)

Warrington South
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Warrington South in Cheshire.
Location of Cheshire within England.
County	Cheshire
Electorate	81,212 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1983 (1983)
Member of Parliament	David Mowat (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Warrington, Runcorn
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	North West England

Warrington South is a borough constituency 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.

Boundaries

The constituency is one of two covering the unitary authority of Warrington, Cheshire, the other being Warrington North. It covers the parts of the town lying south of the River Mersey, including Appleton, Grappenhall and Stockton Heath, the town centre and the Penketh and Sankey areas in the west of the town. It also includes the village of Lymm.

History

The constituency was created in 1983. Prior to then, the Warrington constituency covered the central part of the town and surrounding area, while the southern fringes were in the Runcorn constituency and the surrounding area to the north was covered by the Newton constituency. The current boundaries were introduced at the 1997 general election, when the number of constituencies in Cheshire were increased and the new Weaver Vale seat was created.

Politically, Warrington South is considered the more interesting of the two Warrington seats. While Warrington North is a safe seat for the Labour Party, Warrington South is regarded as a bellwether constituency, reflecting the fate of the major parties at the national level. As such it was held by the Conservatives from 1983 until 1992 (until 1987 by the former Runcorn MP Mark Carlisle, then by Chris Butler), when it was taken by Labour's Mike Hall. Hall moved to the new Weaver Vale seat in 1997, and Helen Southworth (also of the Labour Party) represented the seat until her retirement at the 2010 election, whereby the Conservative candidate David Mowat won the seat from Labour.

On 15 June 2009, Helen Southworth MP announced that she would be retiring at the 2010 General Election, and that the Labour Party would be selecting a new Parliamentary candidate. On 9 January 2010 Nick Bent was selected as the Labour candidate.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1983	Mark Carlisle	Conservative
	1987	Chris Butler	Conservative
	1992	Mike Hall	Labour
	1997	Helen Southworth	Labour
	2010	David Mowat	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Warrington South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Mowat	19,641	35.8	+3.7
	Labour	Nick Bent	18,088	33.0	-8.3
	Liberal Democrat	Jo Crotty	15,094	27.5	+3.5
	UKIP	Derek Ashington	1,624	3.0	+1.2
	Green	Stephanie Davies	427	0.8	+0.8
Majority			1,553	2.8
Turnout			54,874	68.2	+6.7
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+6.0

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Warrington South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Helen Southworth	18,972	40.5	-8.8
	Conservative	Fiona Bruce	15,457	33.0	0.0
	Liberal Democrat	Ian Marks	11,111	23.7	+7.4
	UKIP	Gerry Kelley	804	1.7	+0.3
	Independent	Paul Kennedy	453	1.0	+1.0
Majority			3,515	7.5
Turnout			46,797	61.8	0.6
	Labour hold		Swing	-4.4

In 2006 Paul Kennedy joined the Conservative Party, becoming a Conservative Councillor on Warrington Borough Council in May 2008, representing the Hatton, Stretton & Walton Ward.

General Election 2001: Warrington South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Helen Southworth	22,419	49.3	-2.9
	Conservative	Caroline Mosley	15,022	33.0	+0.5
	Liberal Democrat	Barlow, R.J.	7,419	16.3	+3.2
	UKIP	Kelley, J.	637	1.4
Majority			7,397	16.3
Turnout			45,497	61.2
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.7

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Warrington South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Helen Southworth	28,721	52.1
	Conservative	Chris Grayling	17,914	32.5
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Walker	7,199	13.1
	Referendum Party	Gerald Kelly	1,082	2.0
	Natural Law	Steve Ross	166	0.3
Majority			10,807	19.6
Turnout			55,082	76.0
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1992: Warrington South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mike Hall	27,819	43.6	+7.8
	Conservative	Chris Butler	27,628	43.3	+1.4
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Walker	7,978	12.5	−9.7
	Natural Law	SD Benson	321	0.5	N/A
Majority			191	0.3	−5.8
Turnout			63,746	82.0	+2.4
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+3.2

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Warrington South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Chris Butler	24,809	42.0
	Labour	A Booth	21,200	35.9
	Liberal	Ian Marks	13,112	22.2
Majority			3,609	6.10
Turnout			59,121	75.21
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Warrington South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Carlisle	22,740	41.92
	Labour	D Colin-Thome	16,275	30.00
	Liberal	Ian Marks	14,827	27.33
	Ecology	Paul Kennedy	403	0.74
Majority			6,465	11.92
Turnout			54,245	74,51
	Conservative hold		Swing

Please note that the Paul Kennedy who stood in 1983 is not the same Paul Kennedy who stood in 2005.

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Cheshire