City of Chester (UK Parliament constituency)


The City of Chester is a constituency created in 1545 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Chris Matheson of the Labour Party.

Boundaries

The constituency covers the English city of Chester on the border of Wales and parts of the surrounding Cheshire West and Chester unitary authority, including the villages of: Aldford, Capenhurst, Christleton, Guilden Sutton, Mollington, Newtown, Pulford and Saughall.
Much of the city of Chester itself is residential of varying characteristics, with more middle-class areas such as Upton and the large rural former council estate of Blacon which is, except where purchased under the right to buy; owned and managed by the local housing association, Chester And District Housing Trust.

Boundary review

1918–1950: The County Borough of Chester, the Urban District of Hoole, and the Rural District of Chester.
1950–1974: As prior but with redrawn boundaries.
1974–1983: The County Borough of Chester, and the Rural District of Chester. Hoole Urban District had been absorbed by the County Borough of Chester in 1954, but the constituency boundaries remained unchanged.
1983–1997: The City of Chester wards of Blacon Hall, Boughton, Boughton Heath, Christleton, College, Curzon, Dee Point, Dodleston, Grosvenor, Hoole, Newton, Plas Newton, Sealand, Upton Grange, Upton Heath, Vicars Cross, and Westminster.
1997–2010: The City of Chester wards of Blacon Hall, Boughton, Boughton Heath, Christledon, College, Curzon, Dee Point, Dodleston, Grosvenor, Hoole, Mollington, Newton, Plas Newton, Saughall, Sealand, Upton Grange, Upton Heath, Vicars Cross, and Westminster.
2010–present: The City of Chester wards of Blacon Hall, Blacon Lodge, Boughton, Boughton Heath, Christleton, City and St Anne's, College, Curzon and Westminster, Dodleston, Handbridge and St Mary's, Hoole All Saints, Hoole Groves, Huntington, Lache Park, Mollington, Newton Brook, Newton St Michael's, Saughall, Upton Grange, Upton Westlea, and Vicars Cross.

History

;Pre 1918
As part of a county palatine with a parliament of its own until the early-sixteenth century, Chester was not enfranchised until an Act of 1543 since which it returned two MPs to Parliament as a parliamentary borough until the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 was passed; when the representation was reduced to one MP. For most of the nineteenth century, the seat was held by the Whigs and the Liberals until 1900 when results were initially in line with the landslide victories of the first decade of the century and then more marginal.
;Since 1918
From 1910-1997, Chester returned Conservative Party MPs. At most elections, majorities were in relative terms medium but the party's MPs won marginal majorities at the 1929 general election over the Liberal candidate and at the 1992 general election over the Labour candidate, when the Conservatives had a small parliamentary majority.
Christine Russell of the Labour Party gained the seat easily from Gyles Brandreth at the 1997 general election after 87 years of Conservative control, and retained it until 2010. Her majority over the Conservatives had been reduced to under 1,000 votes at the 2005 general election.
Stephen Mosley of the Conservatives gained the seat from Labour at the 2010 general election. However, Mosley narrowly lost his seat five years later to Chris Matheson of the Labour Party in 2015 by 93 votes. The 2015 general election result gave the constituency the most marginal majority of Labour's 232 seats won that year. Matheson was re-elected at the 2017 general election, with a significantly increased majority of 9,176 votes, it was one the largest swings to Labour in the election and is no longer considered a marginal seat. At 56.8% it is the highest share of the vote that Labour has ever had in the constituency.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1545 to 1660

MPs 1660–1880

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000640

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1940s

Elections in the 1930s

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1910s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections 1832-1900

Succession of Earl Grosvenor to the peerage as Marquess of Westminster.