Wirral South (UK Parliament constituency)

Wirral South covered the central part of the Wirral peninsula including most of Heswall, Bebington and Bromborough. Wages and house prices are higher than the averages for the North West. Electoral Calculus describes the demographic as "Centrist", reflecting average views on the left-right and liberal-conservative scales.^[3]

In 1983, Wirral South arose for election following the national boundary review by taking over parts of two seats that were abolished to create it: Wirral and Bebington and Ellesmere Port, held by the Conservative Party since 1923 and 1979 respectively.

Political history

Barry Porter (Con) won the seat the first time when it was fought and at the next two general elections. He had ousted the Labour party candidate from Bebington and Ellesmere Port in 1979 which he held until the election in 1983. Following the death of Porter in late 1996, a by-election was held in February 1997, the last by-election of that Parliament, held a matter of weeks before the general election was called. It was won by Ben Chapman (Lab), who held the seat until retiring following controversy over his expenses.^[4] Labour narrowly managed to hold on in the 2010 general election, electing Alison McGovern. Since then it has consistently shifted towards Labour, she increased her majority to 4,599 in the 2015 election.^[5] She was re-elected in 2017 with a majority of 8,323, an increase of 7% over 2015, the biggest majority Labour has ever held in the seat and the biggest majority for any party in Wirral South since 1987.^[6] In 2019 she won Re-Election by a slightly narrower 14% margin.

The terms of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 mandated that the election was held on 7 May 2015. Alison McGovern was the sitting Member of Parliament for the Labour Party. The Conservative Party selected John Bell. Bell had previously stood for election in Clwyd South (2010)^[7] and Delyn (2005).^[8] He had also stood twice to be a Welsh Assembly Member.^[9][10] He stood in a local council by-election in 2011, for Wrexham County Council.^[11]

Map of boundaries 1983-2024

Since its creation in 1983, the constituency has consisted of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral wards of Bebington, Bromborough, Clatterbridge, Eastham, and Heswall. The constituency is one of four covering the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside.

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was abolished prior to the 2024 general election, with its contents distributed to three neighbouring constituencies:^[2]

• Bromborough and Eastham wards to the new seat of Ellesmere Port and Bromborough
• Clatterbridge and Heswall wards to Wirral West
• Bebington ward to Birkenhead

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Merseyside
• 1997 Wirral South by-election

• Wirral South UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK

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