Liverpool, West Derby
Borough
Parliamentuk
Year1885
Elects howmanyOne
PreviousLiverpool
Electorate70,730 (2023)[1]
MpIan Byrne
PartyLabour
RegionEngland
CountyMerseyside
EuropeanNorth West England
Caption 2Boundary of Liverpool West Derby in North West England

Liverpool, West Derby is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Ian Byrne of the Labour Party.[n 2]

Constituency profile

Liverpool West Derby is a constituency in Merseyside. It covers the eastern neighbourhoods of the city of Liverpool, including West Derby, Tuebrook, Old Swan, Knotty Ash and Dovecot. It also includes the areas of Broadgreen and Page Moss which lie outside the city boundaries in the neighbouring Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley. Liverpool is a large port city with a history of slave trading and importation of goods for Lancashire's industry. The city underwent economic decline in the 1970s as the docks and manufacturing industries declined in importance, but has experienced regeneration in the 21st century. This constituency is highly-deprived, particularly so in Tuebrook and Page Moss which are in the top 10% most-deprived areas in England. West Derby has average levels of wealth.[2] The average house price in the constituency is lower than the rest of North West England and less than half the national average.[3]

In general, residents of Liverpool West Derby have low levels of education and household income, and few work in professional occupations.[3][4] The child poverty rate is above average and the percentage of residents claiming unemployment benefits is higher than the country as a whole.[5] Like much of the rest of Liverpool, the percentage of residents identifying as Christian is high and there is a large population of Catholics due to historic Irish migration.[6] White people made up 90% of the population at the 2021 census.[7] Most of the constituency is represented by the Labour Party at the local council level, although the area around Tuebrook elected councillors from the small Liberal Party. An estimated 51% of voters in the constituency supported remaining in the European Union in the 2016 referendum, marginally higher than the nationwide figure of 48%.[3]

Boundaries

Historic

1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Liverpool ward of West Derby.

1918–1950: The County Borough of Liverpool wards of Anfield, Breckfield, and West Derby.

1950–1955: The County Borough of Liverpool wards of Croxteth and West Derby.

1955–1983: The County Borough of Liverpool wards of Clubmoor, Croxteth, Dovecot, and Gillmoss.

1983–1997: The City of Liverpool wards of Clubmoor, Croxteth, Dovecot, Gillmoss, and Pirrie.

1997–2010: The City of Liverpool wards of Clubmoor, Croxteth, Dovecot, Gillmoss, Pirrie, and Tuebrook.

2010–2024: The City of Liverpool wards of Croxteth, Knotty Ash, Norris Green, Tuebrook and Stoneycroft, West Derby, and Yew Tree.

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Merseyside, the Boundary Commission created a modified West Derby constituency, which was fought at the 2010 general election. The commission's initial proposal to create a cross-border "Croxteth and Kirkby" constituency (which would have contained electoral wards from Knowsley borough, as well as from Liverpool) was dropped on its public consultation.

Current

Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency was defined as being composed of the following wards of the City of Liverpool as they existed on 1 December 2020:

  • The Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley wards of: Page Moss; Swanside.
  • The City of Liverpool wards of: Knotty Ash; Old Swan; Tuebrook and Stoneycroft; West Derby; Yew Tree.[8]

The constituency was subject to significant change, with the addition of the two Knowsley Borough wards from the constituency of Knowsley and the Liverpool City (former) ward of Old Swan from Liverpool Wavertree. These were partly offset by the transfer of the Croxteth and Norris Green wards to Liverpool Walton.

Liverpool was subject to a comprehensive local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2023.[9][10] As a result, the new constituency boundaries do not align with the revised ward boundaries. The constituency now comprises the following from the 2024 general election:

  • The Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley wards of: Page Moss; Swanside.
  • The City of Liverpool wards or part wards of: Anfield (small part); Broadgreen; Kensington & Fairfield (small part); Knotty Ash & Dovecot Park; Old Swan East; Old Swan West; Sandfield Park; Stoneycroft; Tuebrook Breckside Park (majority); Tuebrook Larkhill (majority); West Derby Deysbrook; West Derby Leyfield; West Derby Muirhead (most); Yew Tree.[11]

The constituency is one of five covering the city of Liverpool and covers the northeast of the city, including Croxteth, Gillmoss, Knotty Ash, Norris Green, Tuebrook, and Stoneycroft as well as West Derby itself.[needs update]

History

The seat was created in the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 and can be considered a safe seat from 1964 to the present day for the Labour Party, having retained the seat at every general election since then. However, in the early-1980s, it was briefly held by the SDP as a result of sitting Labour MP Eric Ogden being among many defectors.[n 3] Labour regained the seat at the 1983 general election, where Bob Wareing won the seat back for Labour.

Before 1964, it was held by the Conservative Party, although their share of the vote has declined considerably; so much so that at four recent general elections, they have finished in fourth place; however they managed to place in third at the 2015 general election and second place in 2017 and 2019.

At the general elections of 1997 and 2001, the Liverpool West Derby seat was the only constituency in England in which a minor party finished in second place, the Liberal Party who had[n 4] all three local councillors for one electoral ward in the area.[12] At the 2005 general election, however, the Liberals were pushed into third place by the Liberal Democrats and fell to fourth place in 2015, with UKIP finishing in second place.

Sir F E Smith

Sir Frederick Edwin Smith, then Solicitor General in the David Lloyd George Coalition Government, was returned for Liverpool West Derby at the 1918 general election; when constituency reorganisation abolished his former neighbouring Walton seat. He sat for only two months, being promoted Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and raised to the peerage as Lord Birkenhead in February 1919. He was the first of two MPs for this seat to achieve the highest legal office.

David Maxwell Fyfe

David Maxwell Fyfe, KC, MP from 1935 to 1954 (including World War II) became the highest judge in the country, the Lord Chancellor, having been the Attorney General and Solicitor General for England and Wales. He helped to co-write the European Convention on Human Rights and was one of the key prosecutors at the Nuremberg Trials jointly with the (Labour-member) prosecutor Sir Hartley Shawcross. At this task was a "capable lawyer, efficient administrator and concerned housemaster".[13] There were misgivings in some quarters as to how Fyfe would perform, cross-examination not being regarded as one of his strengths. However his cross-examination of Hermann Goering is one of the most noted cross-examinations in history.[14] Tusa noted "Faced with sustained and methodical competence rather than brilliance, Goering...crumbled".[15]

Stephen Twigg

Stephen Twigg ousted Michael Portillo in the normally right-leaning Enfield Southgate seat (the archetypal "Portillo moment") and represented it from 1997 until the 2005 general election. He briefly served as schools minister before that year's general election, which he lost, before five years later standing for this normally left-leaning seat in Liverpool.

Members of Parliament

ElectionMember[16]Party
1885Lord Claud HamiltonConservative
1888 by-electionHon. William CrossConservative
1893 by-electionWalter LongConservative
1900Samuel HigginbottomConservative
1903 by-electionWilliam RutherfordConservative
1918Sir F. E. Smith, BtConservative
1919 by-electionSir Reginald HallConservative
1923Sydney JonesLiberal
1924Sir John Sandeman AllenConservative
1935 by-electionDavid Maxwell FyfeConservative
1954 by-electionJohn WoollamConservative
1964Eric OgdenLabour
1981SDP
1983Bob WareingLabour
2007Independent
2010Stephen TwiggLabour Co-operative
2019Ian ByrneLabour
2024Independent
2025Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Paul Parr was also the Liberal Democrat candidate at both the 2010 and 2015 general elections, when he was known as Paul Twigger.[17] Graham Hughes ran on an anti-Brexit platform as an independent in 2017, and subsequently joined the Liberal Democrats.[18]

Elections in the 1890s

  • Caused by Cross' death.

Elections in the 1880s

  • Caused by Hamilton's resignation.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
  2. ^ As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
  3. ^ See Labour Party (UK), who at the time called for withdrawal from the EEC (the Common Market) and removal of nuclear weapons during the Cold War. These considerable defections caused Labour to change its policies.
  4. ^ Terms of office to date: 2003-2015

References

  1. ^ "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition – North West". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  2. ^ "Constituency data: Deprivation in England". commonslibrary.parliament.uk. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  3. ^ "Seat Details - Liverpool West Derby". electoralcalculus.co.uk. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  4. ^ "Constituency data: businesses and industries". commonslibrary.parliament.uk. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  5. ^ "Constituency dashboard". House of Commons Library. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  6. ^ "2021 census results: Religion in your constituency". commonslibrary.parliament.uk. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  7. ^ "2021 census results: Ethnic groups in your constituency". commonslibrary.parliament.uk. 4 July 2024. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  8. ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 1 Part 5 North West region.
  9. ^ LGBCE. "Liverpool | LGBCE". www.lgbce.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-04-17.
  10. ^ "The Liverpool (Electoral Changes) Order 2022"
  11. ^ "New Seat Details - Liverpool West Derby". www.electoralcalculus.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-04-18.
  12. ^ "Find Councillor". 16 June 2017. Archived 23 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  13. ^ Tusa & Tusa (1983), p.136.
  14. ^ Dutton (2004)
  15. ^ Tusa & Tusa, p.287.
  16. ^
  17. ^ Fitzgerald, Ged (11 May 2017). "Statement of persons nominated, notice of poll. Election of a Member of Parliament for the Liverpool West Derby Constituency" (DOCX). Liverpool City Council. Archived from the original on 2019-10-04.
  18. ^ "Election results for Knotty Ash, 2 May 2019". councillors.liverpool.gov.uk. May 2, 2019. Archived 3 April 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 August 2019.

Bibliography