Warrington North (UK Parliament constituency)

Warrington North
Warrington North
Borough constituency; for the House of Commons
	Boundary of Warrington North in North West England
County	Cheshire
Electorate	70,559 (2018)
Major settlements	Birchwood, Glazebrook, Padgate
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of Parliament	Charlotte Nichols (Labour)
Seats	One
Created from	Warrington, Newton

Warrington North is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom since 2019 by Charlotte Nichols of the Labour Party. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Constituency profile

The constituency is one of two covering the unitary authority of Warrington, Cheshire, the other being Warrington South. It covers the northern and eastern parts of the town, including Birchwood, Orford, Padgate, Poulton and Woolston, in effect suburbs that are contiguous. It also includes the villages of Burtonwood, Culcheth and Winwick.

It includes half of the historic and industrial town that saw significant economic and population growth in the 20th century. In contrast to Warrington South, workless claimants who were registered jobseekers, constituted in November 2012 a higher proportion than the national average of 3.8% of the population, at 4.3%; this demonstrated marginally higher employment than in the North West as a whole, based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.^[2]

Creation

The constituency was created for the 1983 general election following the major reorganisation of local authorities under the Local Government Act 1972, which came into effect on 1 April 1974. It comprised parts of the abolished constituencies of Newton and Warrington.

Boundaries

Map of current boundaries

1983–1997: The Borough of Warrington wards of Bewsey, Burtonwood, Croft, Culcheth and Glazebury, Fairfield, Howley, Hulme, Longford, Orford, Poulton-with-Fearnhead North, Poulton-with-Fearnhead South, Rixton and Woolston, Whitecross, and Winwick.^[3]

Comprised the majority of the abolished Warrington constituency, together with parts of Newton, including Poulton, Winwick and Woolston.

1997–2010: The Borough of Warrington wards of Bewsey, Burtonwood, Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft, Fairfield, Hulme, Locking Stumps, Gorse Covert and Risley, Oakwood, Orford, Poplars, Poulton North, Poulton South, Rixton and Woolston, and Winwick.^[4]

Under the Fourth Periodic Review of constituencies, the number of constituencies in Cheshire was increased from 10 to 11 and parts of Warrington South were now included in the newly created constituency of Weaver Vale. To compensate for this loss, the town centre area was transferred from the constituency to Warrington South.

2010–present: The Borough of Warrington wards of Birchwood, Burtonwood and Winwick, Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft, Fairfield and Howley, Orford, Poplars and Hulme, Poulton North, Poulton South, Rixton and Woolston, and Westbrook.^[5]

The current boundaries were introduced at the 2010 general election, following the Fifth Periodic Review. Minor changes due to revision of ward boundaries.

Proposed

Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, the composition of the constituency from the 2024 United Kingdom general election will be unchanged.^[6]

Political history

Its first member of Parliament was Doug Hoyle,^{[n 1]} who had first won the Warrington seat in a by-election in 1981, beating Roy Jenkins, the leader of the then-new Social Democratic Party, in its first election. Hoyle stood down at the 1997 general election and was replaced by Helen Jones, who held the seat from then until the 2019 general election, when she chose to stand down.^[7] The seat was then held for Labour by Charlotte Nichols, albeit with a significantly reduced majority.^[8]

Although 2010 saw a 6.6% swing from the Labour Party to the Conservative Party, all of its majorities until 2019 were not thought marginal and therefore Warrington North was until then considered a safe seat for the Labour Party, who have selected all of the winning candidates for MP since the constituency's creation.

Members of Parliament

	Member^[9]	Party
1983	Doug Hoyle	Labour
1997	Helen Jones	Labour
2019	Charlotte Nichols	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Warrington North^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Conservative	Yasmin Al-Atroshi
	Liberal Democrats	David Crowther^[11]
	Reform UK	Trevor Nicholls^[12]
	Labour	Charlotte Nichols^[13]
	Green	Hannah Spencer^[14]
	Independent	Maddison Wheeldon
Majority
Turnout
Registered electors
			Swing

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Warrington North^[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charlotte Nichols	20,611	44.2	12.2
	Conservative	Wendy Maisey	19,102	40.9	4.3
	Liberal Democrats	David Crowther	3,071	6.6	4.1
	Brexit Party	Elizabeth Babade	2,626	5.6	New
	Green	Lyndsay McAteer	1,257	2.7	1.4
Majority			1,509	3.3	16.5
Turnout			46,667	64.6	2.8
	Labour hold		Swing	10.4

General election 2017: Warrington North^[16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Helen Jones	27,356	56.4	8.6
	Conservative	Val Allen	17,774	36.6	8.4
	UKIP	James Ashington	1,561	3.2	13.9
	Liberal Democrats	Stefan Krizanac	1,207	2.5	1.6
	Green	Lyndsay McAteer	619	1.3	1.5
Majority			9,582	19.8	0.2
Turnout			48,517	67.4	4.9
	Labour hold		Swing	5.5

General election 2015: Warrington North^[17]^[18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Helen Jones	21,720	47.8	2.3
	Conservative	Richard Short	12,797	28.2	2.0
	UKIP	Trevor Nicholls	7,757	17.1	New
	Liberal Democrats	Stefan Krizanac	1,881	4.1	16.7
	Green	Sarah Hayes	1,264	2.8	New
Majority			8,923	19.6	4.3
Turnout			45,419	62.5	0.8
	Labour hold		Swing	4.8

General election 2010: Warrington North^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Helen Jones	20,135	45.5	7.3
	Conservative	Paul Campbell	13,364	30.2	5.9
	Liberal Democrats	Dave Eccles	9,196	20.8	2.1
	Independent	Albert Scott	1,516	3.4	New
Majority			6,771	15.3	13.2
Turnout			44,211	61.7	6.4
	Labour hold		Swing	7.8

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Warrington North^[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Helen Jones	21,632	53.5	8.2
	Conservative	Andrew Ferryman	9,428	23.3	0.5
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Walker	7,699	19.0	5.6
	UKIP	John Kirkham	1,086	2.7	0.7
	Community Action	Mike Hughes	573	1.4	New
Majority			12,204	30.2	8.7
Turnout			40,418	55.1	1.4
	Labour hold		Swing	4.3

General election 2001: Warrington North^[21]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Helen Jones	24,026	61.7	0.4
	Conservative	James Usher	8,870	22.8	1.2
	Liberal Democrats	Roy Smith	5,232	13.4	3.0
	UKIP	John Kirkham	782	2.0	New
Majority			15,156	38.9	0.8
Turnout			38,910	53.7	16.7
	Labour hold		Swing	4.1

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Warrington North^[22]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Helen Jones	31,827	62.1	7.8
	Conservative	Ray Lacey	12,300	24.0	9.6
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Greenhalgh	5,308	10.4	1.1
	Referendum	Arthur Smith	1,816	3.5	New
Majority			19,527	38.1	17.4
Turnout			51,251	70.4	6.9
	Labour hold		Swing	7.0

General election 1992: Warrington North^[23]^[24]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Doug Hoyle	33,019	54.3	6.1
	Conservative	Colin Daniels	20,397	33.6	0.5
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Greenhalgh	6,965	11.5	6.2
	Natural Law	Brian Davis	400	0.7	New
Majority			12,622	20.7	6.6
Turnout			60,781	77.3	2.1
	Labour hold		Swing	6.6

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Warrington North^[25]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Doug Hoyle	27,422	48.2	7.0
	Conservative	Laurence Jones	19,409	34.1	3.3
	SDP	Colin Bithell	10,046	17.7	9.8
Majority			8,013	14.1	3.7
Turnout			56,877	75.2	2.6
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1983: Warrington North^[26]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Doug Hoyle	20,873	41.2
	Conservative	Stuart Sexton	15,596	30.8
	SDP	David Harrison	13,951	27.5
	BNP	Ian Sloan	267	0.5
Majority			5,277	10.4
Turnout			50,687	72.6
	Labour win (new seat)