Wirral (UK Parliament constituency)

Wirral
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
1885 (1885)–1983 (1983)
Number of members	one

Wirral was a county constituency which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

Located in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, the constituency was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the 1983 general election. The successor constituencies were Ellesmere Port and Neston, Wirral South and Wirral West.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Edward Cotton-Jodrell	Conservative
	1900	Joseph Hoult	Conservative
	1906	William Lever	Liberal
	Jan 1910	Gershom Stewart	Conservative
	1923	Stephen Roxby Dodds	Liberal
	1924	John Grace	Conservative
	1931	George Christopher Clayton	Conservative
	1935	Alan Crosland Graham	Conservative
	1945	Selwyn Lloyd	Conservative
	1971		Speaker
	1976 by-election	David Hunt	Conservative
	1983	constituency abolished: see Wirral South and Wirral West

Election results

General Election 1979: Wirral
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Hunt	44,519	59.0
	Labour	C. Ryder	21,188	28.1
	Liberal	R. Barnett	9,769	12.9
Majority			23,331	30.9
Turnout				77.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Wirral by-election, 1976
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Hunt	34,675
	Labour	Adrian Bailey	10,562
	Liberal	Michael Gayford	5,914
	English National	Frank Hansford-Miller	466
	Independent Conservative	Hilary Miller	307
Majority			24,112
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Speaker		Swing

General Election October 1974: Wirral
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Speaker	Selwyn Lloyd	35,705	50.8
	Labour	P. R. Thomas	22,217	31.6
	Liberal	Michael Gayford	12,345	17.6
Majority			13,488	19.2
Turnout				75.5
	Speaker hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Wirral
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Speaker	Selwyn Lloyd	38,452	51.2
	Labour	A. J. Whipp	22,605	30.1
	Liberal	Michael Gayford	14,123	18.8
Majority			15,847	21.1
Turnout				81.5
	Speaker gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1970: Wirral
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Selwyn Lloyd	38,655	55.1
	Labour	R. G. Paterson	22,197	31.7
	Liberal	G. Jones	9,276	13.2
Majority			16,458	23.5
Turnout				74.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd edition ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X. 
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 4)

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Tiverton	Constituency represented by the Chancellor of the Exchequer 1960–1962	Succeeded by Barnet
Preceded by Southampton Itchen	Constituency represented by the Speaker 1971–1976	Succeeded by Cardiff West