Wirral West (UK Parliament constituency)
Wirral West is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. In 2017, with 55,377 people eligible to vote, Wirral West had the smallest electorate of any constituency in England. The current MP is Margaret Greenwood of the Labour Party.History
The present Wirral West constituency was created in 1983, from the northern part of the former Wirral constituency. Its predecessor had traditionally elected Conservative MPs.
From 1945-76, the MP was Selwyn Lloyd, who served as Foreign Secretary during the Eden ministry and as Chancellor of the Exchequer during the Macmillan ministry, later becoming Speaker of the Commons in 1971 before being raised to the peerage in 1976. The ensuing by-election was won by David Hunt, who became the first MP for the newly created constituency of Wirral West in 1983. Hunt was a member of John Major's Cabinet, serving twice as Secretary of State for Wales and also as Secretary of State for Employment.
Hunt held the seat until 1997, when he lost to Stephen Hesford of the Labour Party. Labour narrowly retained the seat in 2005, despite a challenge from former TV presenter Esther McVey, standing as the candidate for the Conservative Party.
Hesford announced on 22 January 2010 that he would be stepping down at the next general election for family reasons. Boundary changes in 2010 meant that his majority would have been reversed and the Conservatives would have won the seat at the previous election by 569 votes. At the 2010 general election, McVey won the seat for the Conservatives with a swing of 2.3% from the Labour Party.
Wirral West has been described as a bellwether, with results in the constituency mirroring the national result at every general election since its formation in 1983 until 2015. However at the 2015 general election, Wirral West was gained by Labour, despite the Conservatives winning the general election to form the first majority Conservative government in 23 years. This was also in spite of the Conservative Party increasing their popular vote and vote share in the constituency, with the Liberal Democrat turnout collapse benefiting Labour. Wirral West, like the nearby City of Chester, was one of the few Conservative-held marginals outside of London to be gained by Labour at that election.Boundaries
1983–2010: The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral wards of Hoylake, Prenton, Royden, Thurstaston, and Upton.
2010–present: The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral wards of Greasby, Frankby and Irby, Hoylake and Meols, Pensby and Thingwall, Upton, and West Kirby and Thurstaston.
The constituency is one of four covering the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. It contains the towns of Hoylake and West Kirby, as well as areas such as Greasby, Thingwall, Irby, Meols, Upton and Woodchurch.
In the 2005 Boundary Commission report, Wirral West lost part of the Prenton ward to the Birkenhead constituency, and gained part of Barnston from Wirral South.Members of Parliament
Elections
Elections of the 2000s
Elections of the 1980s
