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Crosby (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 53°29′28″N 3°01′44″W / 53.491°N 3.029°W / 53.491; -3.029
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

53°29′28″N 3°01′44″W / 53.491°N 3.029°W / 53.491; -3.029

Crosby
Former borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Outline map
Boundary of Crosby in Merseyside for the 2005 general election
Outline map
Location of Merseyside within England
CountyMerseyside
19502010
SeatsOne
Created fromWaterloo
Replaced bySefton Central, Bootle

Crosby was a constituency in Merseyside, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 until 2010. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

History

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Prior to 1997, the constituency was seen as a safe seat for the Conservative Party. They held the seat from its creation in 1950 until the death in 1981 of Sir Graham Page. The resulting by-election was notable as it was won by Shirley Williams, one of the "gang of four" senior members of the Labour Party who had founded the new Social Democratic Party (SDP), becoming the first SDP member to be elected. However, Williams lost the seat to the Conservative candidate Malcolm Thornton at the 1983 general election.

Thornton held the seat until the 1997 election, when he lost to Labour's Claire Curtis-Thomas who held the seat until its abolition. On 7 October 2009, it was announced that Curtis-Thomas would stand down at the 2010 general election.[1]

Boundaries

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Crosby in Lancashire, boundaries used 1974-83

1950–1955: The Borough of Crosby, and the parish of Ford in the Rural District of West Lancashire.[2]

1955–1974: The Borough of Crosby, and the Urban District of Litherland.

1974–1983: The Borough of Crosby, the Urban District of Formby, and in the Rural District of West Lancashire the parishes of Altcar, Ince Blundell, Maghull, Sefton (part), and Thornton.

1983–1997: The Metropolitan Borough of Sefton wards of Blundellsands, Harington, Manor, Molyneux, Park, Ravenmeols, Sudell, and Victoria.

1997–2010: The Metropolitan Borough of Sefton wards of Blundellsands, Church, Harington, Manor, Ravenmeols, and Victoria.

The predecessor seat to Crosby was the Waterloo constituency, which existed between 1918 and 1950. Crosby constituency covered the whole town of Crosby which includes the localities of Great Crosby, Blundellsands, Brighton-le-Sands, Seaforth, Waterloo, Little Crosby, Hightown and Thornton, as well as the town of Formby and the village of Little Altcar, all in Sefton in Merseyside. On its abolition in 2010 it was bordered to the north by the constituency of Southport, to the east by Lancashire West and Knowsley North and Sefton East, and to the south by Bootle.

Following a review by the Boundary Commission for England, the Crosby constituency was abolished at the 2010 general election. It was replaced by the new Sefton Central seat, which includes parts of the former Knowsley North and Sefton East constituency. As a result, Formby and Little Altcar are part of the new Sefton Central constituency and the town of Crosby has been divided between two constituencies, with the two electoral wards of southern Crosby, Church and Victoria, containing the urbanised bulk of the town which includes the areas of Great Crosby, Waterloo and Seaforth, being absorbed into the expanded Bootle constituency, represented by the Labour MP Joe Benton, and the two electoral wards of northern Crosby, Blundellsands and Manor, which contains residential suburban areas such as, Blundellsands, Brighton-Le-Sands, Little Crosby, Thornton, and Hightown, forming part of the new Sefton Central constituency represented by Bill Esterson, also a Labour MP.

Members of Parliament

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Election Member[3] Party Notes
1950 Malcolm Bullock Conservative Resigned October 1953
1953 by-election Graham Page Conservative Died October 1981
1981 by-election Shirley Williams SDP
1983 Malcolm Thornton Conservative
1997 Claire Curtis-Thomas Labour
2010 constituency abolished: see Sefton Central & Bootle

Elections

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Elections in the 1950s

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General election 1950: Crosby
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Harold Bullock 22,347 60.26
Labour Ronald Lewis 9,403 25.35
Liberal James Burnie 5,336 14.39
Majority 12,944 34.90
Turnout 37,086 84.50
Conservative win (new seat)
General election 1951: Crosby
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Harold Bullock 25,034 70.95
Labour Edith Edwards 10,251 29.05
Majority 14,783 41.90
Turnout 35,285 79.77
Conservative hold Swing
1953 Crosby by-election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Graham Page 18,614 68.09 −2.86
Labour Ernest Adams 7,545 27.60 −1.45
Ind. Conservative J.A. Freeman 1,180 4.32 New
Majority 11,069 40.49 −1.41
Turnout 27,339
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1955: Crosby
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Graham Page 29,161 68.00
Labour Ernest Adams 13,725 32.00
Majority 15,436 35.99
Turnout 42,886 73.70
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1959: Crosby
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Graham Page 29,801 66.90
Labour Douglas E. Brown 14,745 33.10
Majority 15,056 33.80
Turnout 44,546 77.48
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s

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General election 1964: Crosby
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Graham Page 21,538 48.63
Labour Robert Hodge 14,158 31.97
Liberal Norman Sellers 8,590 19.40 New
Majority 7,380 16.66
Turnout 44,286 76.66
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1966: Crosby
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Graham Page 21,980 54.07
Labour Alan John Whipp 18,674 45.93
Majority 3,306 8.13
Turnout 40,654 72.19
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1970s

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General election 1970: Crosby
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Graham Page 24,042 56.71 +2.64
Labour Peter J. Carswell 18,350 43.29 −2.64
Majority 5,692 13.42 +5.28
Turnout 42,392 71.44 −0.75
Conservative hold Swing
1970 notional result on 1974-1983 boundaries: Crosby
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative 35,200 63.77
Labour 20,000 36.23
Majority 15,200 27.54
Turnout 55,200
Conservative hold Swing
General election February 1974: Crosby
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Graham Page 32,519 52.19 −11.58
Labour Sean Hughes 16,949 27.20 −9.03
Liberal Geoffrey Woodcock 12,842 20.61 New
Majority 15,570 24.99 −2.55
Turnout 62,310 80.07
Conservative hold Swing
General election October 1974: Crosby
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Graham Page 29,764 51.51 −0.68
Labour Margaret J. Hignett 17,589 30.44 +3.24
Liberal Anthony Hill 10,429 18.05 −2.56
Majority 12,175 21.07 −3.92
Turnout 57,782 73.51 −6.56
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1979: Crosby
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Graham Page 34,768 56.95 +5.44
Labour Tony Mulhearn 15,496 25.38 −5.06
Liberal Anthony Hill 9,302 15.24 −2.81
Ecology Peter Hussey 1,489 2.44 +2.44
Majority 19,272 31.56 +10.49
Turnout 61,055 75.18 +1.67
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1980s

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1981 Crosby by-election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SDP Shirley Williams 28,118 49.07 +33.83
Conservative John Butcher 22,829 39.84 −17.11
Labour John Backhouse 5,450 9.51 −15.87
Ecology Richard Small 480 0.83 −1.61
Raving Loony Tarquin Biscuitbarrel 223 0.39 New
Independent Tom Keen 99 0.17 New
Democratic Monarchist, Public Safety, White Resident Bill Boaks 36 0.06 New
Independent John Kennedy 31 0.05 New
Independent Donald Potter 31 0.05 New
Majority 5,289 9.23 N/A
Turnout 57,297 69.3 −5.9
SDP gain from Conservative Swing
General election 1983: Crosby[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Malcolm Thornton 30,604 47.2
SDP Shirley Williams 27,203 42.0
Labour Robert Waring 6,611 10.2
Ecology Peter Hussey 415 0.6
Majority 3,401 5.2 N/A
Turnout 64,833 77.9
Conservative gain from SDP Swing
General election 1987: Crosby[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Malcolm Thornton 30,836 46.2 −1.0
SDP Anthony Donovan 23,989 35.9 −6.1
Labour Christopher Cheetham 11,992 18.0 +7.8
Majority 6,847 10.3 +5.1
Turnout 66,817 79.6 +1.7
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1990s

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General election 1992: Crosby[6][7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Malcolm Thornton 32,267 47.4 +1.2
Labour Maria Eagle 17,461 25.7 +7.7
Liberal Democrats Helen Flo Clucas 16,562 24.3 −11.6
Liberal John Marks 1,052 1.5 N/A
Green Sean Brady 559 0.8 New
Natural Law N.L. Paterson 152 0.2 New
Majority 14,806 21.7 +11.4
Turnout 68,053 82.5 +2.9
Conservative hold Swing −3.2
General election 1997: Crosby[8][9][10][11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Claire Curtis-Thomas 22,549 51.1 +22.3
Conservative Malcolm Thornton 15,367 34.8 −13.9
Liberal Democrats Paul McVey 5,080 11.5 −8.5
Referendum John Gauld 813 1.8 New
Liberal John Marks 233 0.5 −1.0
Natural Law William Hite 99 0.2 0.0
Majority 7,182 16.3 N/A
Turnout 44,141 77.2
Labour gain from Conservative Swing +18.1

Elections in the 2000s

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General election 2001: Crosby[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Claire Curtis-Thomas 20,327 55.1 +4.0
Conservative Robert Collinson 11,974 32.5 −2.3
Liberal Democrats Tim Drake 4,084 11.1 −0.4
Socialist Labour Mark Holt 481 1.3 New
Majority 8,353 22.6 +6.3
Turnout 36,866 65.1 −12.1
Labour hold Swing +3.2
General election 2005: Crosby[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Claire Curtis-Thomas 17,463 48.2 −6.9
Conservative Debi Jones 11,623 32.1 −0.4
Liberal Democrats Jim Murray 6,298 17.4 +6.3
UKIP John Whittaker 454 1.3 New
Communist Geoffrey Bottoms 199 0.5 New
Clause 28 Children's Protection Christian Democrats David Braid 157 0.4 New
Majority 5,840 16.1 −6.5
Turnout 36,194 66.7 +1.6
Labour hold Swing −3.2

See also

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Notes and references

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  1. ^ MP resigns over 'ludicrous hours' BBC News, Retrieved 7 October 2009
  2. ^ Craig, F.W.S., ed. (1972). Boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 1985-1972. Chichester, Sussex: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 0-900178-09-4.
  3. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 5)
  4. ^ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  5. ^ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  6. ^ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  7. ^ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
  8. ^ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  9. ^ "Politics Resources". Election 1997. Politics Resources. 1 May 1997. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  10. ^ C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, p.60 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995)
  11. ^ The 1997 election result is calculated relative to the notional, not the actual, 1992 result.
  12. ^ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  13. ^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
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