St Helens North (UK Parliament constituency)

St. Helens North
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of St. Helens North in Merseyside
Location of Merseyside within England
County	Merseyside
Electorate	75,688 (December 2010) [1]
Major settlements	St Helens, Billinge, Earlestown, Haydock, Newton-le-Willows and Rainford
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of Parliament	Conor McGinn (Labour)
Seats	One
Created from	St Helens, Newton, Ince, Ormskirk and Huyton [2]

St. Helens North is a constituency ^{[n 1]} created in 1983 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by the Labour Party's Conor McGinn, Shadow Minister without Portfolio from 4 December 2021. Between 1997 and 2015 the MP was Labour's David Watts. ^{[n 2]}

Boundaries

Map of current boundaries

1983–2010: The Metropolitan Borough of St Helens wards of Billinge and Seneley Green, Blackbrook, Broad Oak, Haydock, Moss Bank, Newton East, Newton West, Rainford, and Windle.

2010–2022: As above, subject to changes in the local authority ward structure, with Parr replacing Broad Oak, Newton East renamed Newton, and Newton West becoming Earlestown.

2022–present: Following a local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2022 ^{[3] [4]} , the Newton and Earlestown wards reverted back to Newton-le-Willows East and Newton-le-Willows West respectively.

The constituency is one of two covering the Metropolitan Borough, the other being St Helens South and Whiston. It includes the north of the town of St Helens, and Billinge, Seneley Green, Earlestown, Blackbrook, Haydock, Newton-le-Willows and Rainford.

Proposed

Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, the composition of the constituency (based on the ward structure which existed on 1 December 2020) will be unchanged from the next general election (due by January 2025). ^[5]

Following the 2022 local government boundary review, the constituency will now comprise the following wards of the Borough of St Helens from the next general election:

Billinge & Seneley Green; Blackbrook; Haydock; Moss Bank; Newton-le-Willows East; Newton-le-Willows West; Rainford; Windle; and a very small part of Sutton South East. ^[6]

History

Results of the winning party

The 2015 result made the seat the 42nd-safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority. ^[7] The constituency was created in 1983, primarily replacing parts of the St Helens and Newton constituencies. It has been won to date by candidates fielded by the Labour Party — by the former Newton MP John Evans and from 1997 by David Watts, a former council leader. As to the predominantly-contributing two seats to the present division, St Helens has been won by the party since 1935 and so too Newton. The party's two successive candidates for MP have won an absolute majority (plurality) of the votes since 1987 (inclusive).

Opposition parties

The Conservative Party fielded the runner-up candidate in 2010 and 2015. Neither the Liberal Democrats nor the Green candidate won 5% of the vote in 2015 to retain their deposits. The third place in 2015 was taken by the UKIP candidate, Smith, who narrowly gained more than the national average swing through a swing of 10.4%. ^{[n 3]}

Turnout

Turnout has ranged from 77.4% in 1992 to 52.7% in 2001.

Constituency profile

The seat includes the large town of St Helens, noted by visitors for its successful rugby league side and the nearby horseracing racecourse at Haydock Park. Despite these prominent sports venues, workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 higher than the national average of 3.8%, at 4.7% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian , which was close to the Greater Manchester and Merseyside average but higher than the regional average of 4.4%. ^[8] With the exception of the Conservative area of Rainford, virtually every other ward in the seat is safely Labour.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [9]	Party
	1983	John Evans	Labour
	1997	Dave Watts	Labour
	2015	Conor McGinn	Labour
	2022		Independent

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

Next general election: St Helens North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Baines [10]
	Liberal Democrats	Pat Moloney [11]
	Reform UK	Malcolm Webster [12]
Majority
Turnout

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: St Helens North ^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Conor McGinn	24,870	52.3	―11.4
	Conservative	Joel Charles	12,661	26.6	―0.5
	Brexit Party	Malcolm Webster	5,396	11.3	New
	Liberal Democrats	Pat Moloney	2,668	5.6	+3.0
	Green	David Van Der Burg	1,966	4.1	+1.7
Majority			12,209	25.7	―10.9
Turnout			47,561	62.9	―3.1
	Labour hold		Swing	―5.4

General election 2017: St Helens North ^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Conor McGinn	32,012	63.7	+6.7
	Conservative	Jackson Ng	13,606	27.1	+7.5
	UKIP	Peter Peers	2,097	4.2	―10.9
	Liberal Democrats	Tom Morrison	1,287	2.6	―1.8
	Green	Rachel Parkinson	1,220	2.4	―1.4
Majority			18,406	36.6	―0.8
Turnout			50,222	66.0	+4.5
	Labour hold		Swing	―0.4

General election 2015: St Helens North ^{[15] [16]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Conor McGinn	26,378	57.0	+5.3
	Conservative	Paul Richardson	9,087	19.6	―2.7
	UKIP	Ian Smith	6,983	15.1	+10.4
	Liberal Democrats	Denise Aspinall	2,046	4.4	―15.8
	Green	Elizabeth Ward	1,762	3.8	New
Majority			17,291	37.4	+8.0
Turnout			46,256	61.5	+1.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.0

General election 2010: St Helens North ^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Watts	23,041	51.7	―8.2
	Conservative	Paul V. Greenall	9,940	22.3	+3.4
	Liberal Democrats	John L. Beirne	8,992	20.2	―1.1
	UKIP	Gary Robinson	2,100	4.7	+1.7
	Socialist Labour	Stephen Whatham	483	1.0	New
Majority			13,101	29.4	―6.2
Turnout			44,556	59.8	+2.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: St Helens North ^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Watts	22,329	56.9	―4.2
	Liberal Democrats	John L. Beirne	8,367	21.3	+3.7
	Conservative	Paul J. Oakley	7,410	18.9	+0.1
	UKIP	Sylvia Hall	1,165	3.0	New
Majority			13,962	35.6	―6.7
Turnout			39,271	57.8	+5.1
	Labour hold		Swing	―4.0

General election 2001: St Helens North ^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Watts	22,977	61.1	―3.8
	Conservative	Simon Pearce	7,076	18.8	+1.5
	Liberal Democrats	John L. Beirne	6,609	17.6	+4.9
	Socialist Labour	Stephen Whatham	939	2.5	+0.8
Majority			15,901	42.3	―5.3
Turnout			37,601	52.7	―16.2
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: St Helens North ^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Watts	31,953	64.9	+7.0
	Conservative	Pelham J.C. Walker	8,536	17.3	―11.2
	Liberal Democrats	John L. Beirne	6,270	12.7	―0.4
	Referendum	David Johnson	1,276	2.6	New
	Socialist Labour	Ron Waugh	833	1.7	New
	UKIP	Richard D. Rubin	363	0.7	New
Majority			23,417	47.6	+18.2
Turnout			49,231	68.9	―8.5
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1992: St. Helens North ^{[21] [22]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Evans	31,930	57.9	+4.2
	Conservative	Brendan Anderson	15,686	28.5	+1.2
	Liberal Democrats	John L. Beirne	7,224	13.1	―6.0
	Natural Law	Anne Lynch	287	0.5	New
Majority			16,244	29.4	+3.0
Turnout			55,127	77.4	+1.1
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.5

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: St Helens North ^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Evans	28,989	53.7	+5.8
	Conservative	Melinda Libby	14,729	27.3	―3.1
	Liberal	Neil Derbyshire	10,300	19.1	―2.6
Majority			14,260	26.4	+8.9
Turnout			54,018	76.3	+1.8
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.4

General election 1983: St Helens North ^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Evans	25,334	47.9
	Conservative	Anthony Rhodes	16,075	30.4
	Liberal	Neil Derbyshire	11,525	21.7
Majority			9,259	17.5
Turnout			52,934	74.5
	Labour win (new seat)

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Merseyside

Notes

1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
2. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
3. UKIP's swing nationally was +9.5% in 2015

References

1. "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
2. "'St Helens North', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
3. LGBCE. "St Helens | LGBCE". www.lgbce.org.uk. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
4. "The St Helens (Electoral Changes) Order 2021".
5. "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 1 Part 5 North West region.
6. "New Seat Details - St Helens North". www.electoralcalculus.co.uk. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
7. "Labour Members of Parliament 2015". UK Political.info. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018.
8. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
9. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 1)
10. "David Baines 'honoured' to be Labour's St Helens North candidate". St Helens Star. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
11. "Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidates". Mark Pack . Retrieved 3 February 2024.
12. "St Helens North Constituency". Reform UK . Retrieved 3 February 2024.
13. "Statement of persons nominated" (PDF).
14. "St Helens North parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
15. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
16. "St Helens North". BBC News. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
17. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
18. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
19. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
20. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
21. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
22. "UK General Election results April 1992". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
23. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
24. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

53°29′10″N2°42′50″W / 53.486°N 2.714°W / 53.486; -2.714