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 constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by David Mowat, a Conservative.

Boundaries

Overview

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 and has electoral wards:

• Appleton; Bewsey & Whitecross; Grappenhall & Thelwall; Great Sankey: North and South wards; Halton, Stretton & Walton; Latchford: East and West wards; Lymm; Penketh & Cuerdley; Stockton Heath; and Whittle Hall

Forerunners

The constituency was created in 1983 before which the Warrington constituency covered the central part of the town and its immediate surrounds, while the southern fringes were in the Runcorn constituency and certain close northern settlements now in Warrington North were covered by the Newton constituency.

1997-2005

The original boundaries were revised at the 1997 general election, the Fourth Periodic Review nationally, when the number of constituencies in Cheshire were increased and the new Weaver Vale seat was created.

2010-present

The current boundaries were introduced at the 2010 General Election, the Fifth Periodic Review, and involved the reuniting of previously split council wards. The inner wards of Bewsey & Whitecross and Fairfield & Howley, were reunited, with the former being put into the Warrington South seat and the latter being moved to the North. The fast-growing Whittle Hall ward in the west of the town was also reunited and placed into Warrington South.

The new boundaries were considered to be slightly more favourable to the Labour party according to an academic, non-partisan election analysis

Proposed revisions for 2015 Election

The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 required the Boundary Commission to redraw the existing Parliamentary constituency boundaries to ensure that all constituencies had an electorate within a certain range. This required the extensive redrawing of boundaries across England which, while respecting where possible the status quo, no longer had to show adherence to current intra-county boundaries.

In Autumn 2011, the Commission published its proposals for a new "Warrington South" constituency. The proposal would have split the existing constituency between three constituencies loosely based on the existing seats of Warrington South, Warrington North and Halton. Wards from the edge of Runcorn, within the existing Weaver Vale constituency would have been brought into Warrington South, whilst Whittle Hall and the Great Sankey wards would have been moved to the North. The Penketh & Cuerdley ward would have been moved into a new "Widnes & Runcorn" seat.

After an extensive consultation, the Commission revised its initial proposal and published a revised proposal which would see the Warrington South seat remain largely unchanged, although it would extend slightly further west than current to include a ward on the edge of Widnes.

The new boundaries will not come into force before the 2015 election as Liberal Democrat MPs refused to support their implementation during an enabling vote in the House of Commons.

History

Political History

Warrington South is considered the more volatile of the two Warrington seats. While Warrington North is a safe seat for the Labour Party, Warrington South is often a bellwether and is regarded as a "marginal" constituency (a term which derives from marginal, insecure majorities) and it has been won by the largest party in each Parliament at every election with the exception of 1992, when it was taken by Labour's Mike Hall. Hall moved to the new Weaver Vale seat in 1997, but the seat was retained for the Labour party by Helen Southworth who represented the seat until her retirement at the 2010 election and successor candidate's defeat.

Prominent Frontbenchers

Despite its short history, this seat was served by a former Secretary of State for Education during part of the Thatcher ministry, Mark Carlisle, who before the seat's creation had represented Runcorn.

2010 Election

On 15 June 2009, Helen Southworth announced her intention to retire the next year. Largely because of its close result in 2005, the seat was considered to be one of the key seats which the Conservative Party would have to win in order to become the largest party in Parliament. The BBC ranked Warrington South as the 85th most marginal seat.

The Liberal Democrats had also identified Warrington South as a target seat. On election day the Liberal Democrat party held 22 of the 30 Borough Council seats in the wards which made up the constituency. The importance of the Warrington South seat was underlined when Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat party leader, chose to visit the constituency the morning after the first of the televised "leaders' debates", which he had been widely perceived as having won.

While all three parties made strenuous efforts to win the seat, it was the Conservative candidate David Mowat who was elected, although fewer than 5,000 votes separated all three parties.

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

Constituency profile

Warrington is a historic and industrious town which grew significantly in economy and in population in the 20th century. Workless claimants who were registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 3.3% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian. This contrasted with Warrington North at 4.3% of its population

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

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	Roger J. Barlow	7,419	16.3	+3.2
	UKIP	Joan Kelley	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 J. Walker	7,978	12.5	−9.7
	Natural Law	Stephen D. 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	+0.1
	Labour	A.E. Booth	21,200	35.9	+5.9
	Liberal	Ian G. Marks	13,112	22.2	−5.1
Majority			3,609	6.1
Turnout			59,121	75.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	−2.9

General Election 1983: Warrington South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Carlisle	22,740	41.9	N/A
	Labour	Dr D.G. Colin-Thomé	16,275	30.0	N/A
	Liberal	Ian G. Marks	14,827	27.3	N/A
	Ecology	N. Chantrell	403	0.7	N/A
Majority			6,465	11.9	N/A
Turnout			54,245	74.5	N/A
	Conservative win (new seat)

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Cheshire

Notes and references

Notes

References