1979 Liverpool Edge Hill by-election

The Liverpool Edge Hill by-election of 1979 was a parliamentary by-election held in England on 29 March 1979 to elect a new Member of Parliament (MP) for the House of Commons constituency of Liverpool Edge Hill.

Polling in the by-election took place one day after the government of James Callaghan had lost a vote of no confidence in parliament and slightly over a month before the 1979 general election. The seat had become vacant on the death the previous December of the constituency's Labour Party MP Sir Arthur Irvine, who had held the seat since a by-election in 1947.

The result was a gain for the Liberal Party, represented by David Alton. Having made his maiden speech on 3 April, just before the house rose for the election, he was re-elected a few weeks later and from 1983 held the Mossley Hill seat until he stood down from the commons in 1997, 18 years after the by-election.

Votes

Liverpool Edge Hill by-election, 1979

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Alton	12,945	64.1	+36.8
	Labour	Bob Wareing	4,812	23.8	−28.1
	Conservative	Nicholas Ward	1,906	9.4	−11.3
	Law and Order	Joan Jonker	337	1.7	N/A
	Socialist Unity	Ann Walker	127	0.6	N/A
	Gay Liberal	Michael Taylor	40	0.2	N/A
	Democratic Monarchist, Public Safety, White Resident	Bill Boaks	32	0.2	N/A
Majority			8,133	40.3
Turnout			20,199
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing	30.2

See also

• Liverpool Edge Hill (UK Parliament constituency)
• 1947 Liverpool Edge Hill by-election
• List of United Kingdom by-elections
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Merseyside

External links

• David Alton's account of the by-election