Preston (UK Parliament constituency)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Preston Borough constituency |
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| Preston shown within Lancashire, and Lancashire shown within England | |
| Created: | 1295, 1529, 1983 |
| MP: | Mark Hendrick |
| Party: | Labour Co-operative |
| Type: | House of Commons |
| County: | Lancashire |
| EP constituency: | North West England |
Preston is a 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.
Contents |
[edit] Boundaries
The current seat of Preston was confirmed in time for the 1997 Election. The seat crossed the River Ribble to include Bamber Bridge and Walton-le-Dale from South Ribble District Council. Preston, which was then not a city, lost the north-eastern Fulwood area to Ribble Valley and the western areas of Ingol, Tanterton, Lea and Cottam to Fylde.
[edit] Boundary review
Following its review of parliamentary representation in Lancashire, the Boundary Commission for England has recommended that, in time for the next election, Preston will lose the towns of Bamber Bridge and Walton-le-Dale and gain the Preston City ward of Ingol. This means the electoral wards which are used to create the new constituency of Preston are all within the city council's boundaries.
- Ashton, Brookfield, Deepdale, Fishwick, Ingol, Larches, Moor Park, Ribbleton, Riversway, St George's, St Matthew's, Town Centre, Tulketh and University.
The ward of Lea is within the constituency of Fylde.
The wards of Fulwood are within the constituency of Wyre and Preston North
[edit] Members of Parliament
- 1983 – 1987: Stanley Thorne, Labour
- 1987 – 2000: Audrey Wise, Labour
- 2000 – present: Mark Hendrick, Labour Co-operative
[edit] History
See Preston by-election, 1946 and Preston by-election, 2000
The borough and now city of Preston has been represented by Labour MPs since 1983. The former Preston North and Preston South seats were amongst the most marginal in the country - in 1979, Robert Atkins won Preston North by 29 votes.
With the suburban and "small c" conservative Fulwood area within Ribble Valley and from 2009 Wyre and Preston North constituencies, the southern portion has awarded MPs with much healthier and secure majorities. All of Preston's representatives have been Labour, with the race for second place often more interesting than the inevitable Labour victory.
In 1997, Audrey Wise secured a majority of over 18,000. The collapse of the Conservative vote - 10 percentage points down from 1992 - was firmly with the pattern of the Tory fortunes in that year.
The death of Audrey Wise in 2000 triggered a by-election. In the Preston by-election, former MEP for the Central Lancashire constituency, with Preston at its heart, Mark Hendrick secured a victory with a 4,400 majority. The surprise of the night was the result of the fledgling Socialist Alliance, for whom Terry Cartright saved his deposit.
Less than a year later, the 2001 general election returned Mark Hendrick with a much healthier 12,200 majority, up against South Ribble councillor Graham O'Hare for the Conservatives and local Liberal Democrat leader Bill Chadwick. In real terms, all three main parties lost support from 1997 - Labour down by over 8,000 votes, Conservatives reduced by over 2,200 and LibDems 2,300 lower. One notable candidate in 2001 was David Braid, also a candidate in a number of other seats that year, who had been the "Battle for Britain" candidate in the previous year's by-election.
The 2005 general election election was notable for the changes in share of the vote of the minor parties. The first ever Respect candidate, local councillor Michael Lavalette, firmly saved his deposit with nearly 7% of the vote. The LibDems, who had chosen former Conservative County Councillor William Parkinson, had their best result since 1997. Fiona Bryce, for the Conservatives, remained in second place and saw her share of the vote remain stable despite UKIP polling over 1,000 votes. These results meant that Mark Hendrick secured another term as MP, but his vote number was 3,000 less than 2001 and 12,000 less than Audrey Wise in 1997.
Boundary changes to be put in place for the 2009 or 2010 election remove Bamber Bridge and Walton-le-Dale from the constituency, and bring in the city council ward of Ingol. The South Ribble elements are Labour/Tory dogfight wards, whilst Ingol has a LibDem/Tory preference. These moves should cancel each other out, ultimately helping Labour, but it should be remembered that local factors can be more important than boundary reviews in fighting elections.
[edit] Election results
| General Election 2005: Preston | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour Co-op | Mark Hendrick | 17,210 | 50.5 | -6.5 | |
| Conservative | Fiona Bryce | 7,803 | 22.9 | -0.1 | |
| Liberal Democrats | William Parkinson | 5,701 | 16.7 | +3.5 | |
| Respect | Michael Lavalette | 2,318 | 6.8 | N/A | |
| UK Independence | Ellen Boardman | 1,049 | 3.1 | N/A | |
| Majority | 9,407 | 21.6 | |||
| Turnout | 34,081 | 53.8 | +4.6 | ||
| Labour Co-op hold | Swing | -3.2 | |||
| General Election 2001: Preston | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour Co-op | Mark Hendrick | 20,540 | 57.0 | -3.8 | |
| Conservative | Graham O’Hare | 8,272 | 23.0 | +1.0 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Bill Chadwick | 4,746 | 13.2 | -1.5 | |
| Independent | Bilal Patel | 1,241 | 3.4 | N/A | |
| Green | Richard Merrick | 1,019 | 2.8 | N/A | |
| Independent (politician) | David Braid (campaigner) | 223 | 0.6 | N/A | |
| Majority | 12,268 | 34.0 | |||
| Turnout | 36,041 | 49.2 | -16.6 | ||
| Labour Co-op hold | Swing | ||||
| Preston by-election, 2000 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour Co-op | Mark Hendrick | 9,765 | 45.7 | - 15.1 | |
| Conservative | Graham O'Hare | 5,339 | 25.0 | + 3.1 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Bill Chadwick | 3,454 | 16.2 | + 1.5 | |
| Socialist Alliance | Terry Cartwright | 1,210 | 5.7 | N/A | |
| UK Independence | Gregg Beaman | 458 | 2.1 | N/A | |
| Green | John Ashforth | 441 | 2.1 | N/A | |
| Independent | Peter Garrett | 416 | 2.0 | N/A | |
| British National | Chris Jackson | 229 | 1.1 | N/A | |
| Independent (politician) | David Franklin-Braid | 51 | 0.2 | N/A | |
| Majority | |||||
| Turnout | 29.4 | ||||
| Labour Co-op hold | Swing | ||||
| General Election 1997: Preston | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Audrey Wise | 29,220 | 60.8 | ||
| Conservative | Paul Gray | 10,540 | 21.9 | ||
| Liberal Democrats | Bill Chadwick | 7,045 | 14.7 | ||
| Referendum Party | John Porter | 924 | 1.9 | N/A | |
| Natural Law | John Ashforth | 345 | 0.7 | ||
| Majority | |||||
| Turnout | |||||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
| General Election 1992: Preston | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Audrey Wise | 24,983 | 54.3 | +1.8 | |
| Conservative | S G O'Toole | 12,808 | 27.8 | -0.7 | |
| Liberal Democrats | William Chadwick | 7,897 | 17.2 | ||
| Natural Law | J Aycliffe | 341 | 0.7 | ||
| Majority | 12,175 | 26.5 | +2.5 | ||
| Turnout | 46,029 | 71.7 | +0.7 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
| General Election 1987: Preston | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Audrey Wise | 23,341 | 52.5 | 5.8 | |
| Conservative | R T Chandran | 12,696 | 28.5 | -3.3 | |
| Liberal | J P Wright | 8,452 | 19.0 | ||
| Majority | 10,645 | 24.0 | +9.1 | ||
| Turnout | 44,489 | 71.0 | -0.8 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
| General Election 1983: Preston | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Stanley Thorne | 21,810 | 46.7 | ||
| Conservative | T N Huntley | 17,832 | 31.8 | ||
| Social Democrat | M J Connolly | 10,039 | 21.5 | ||
| Majority | 6,978 | 14.9 | |||
| Turnout | 46,681 | 71.8 | |||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
