Oldham West and Royton
2010 Results:
Conservative: 10151 (23.66%)
Labour: 19503 (45.45%)
Liberal Democrat: 8193 (19.09%)
BNP: 3049 (7.11%)
UKIP: 1387 (3.23%)
Others: 627 (1.46%)
Majority: 9352 (21.79%)
Notional 2005 Results:
Labour: 18948 (49.5%)
Conservative: 8061 (21.1%)
Liberal Democrat: 7618 (19.9%)
Other: 3658 (9.6%)
Majority: 10887 (28.4%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 7998 (21.3%)
Labour: 18452 (49.1%)
Liberal Democrat: 7519 (20%)
BNP: 2606 (6.9%)
UKIP: 987 (2.6%)
Majority: 10454 (27.8%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 7076 (17.7%)
Labour: 20441 (51.2%)
Liberal Democrat: 4975 (12.4%)
Green: 918 (2.3%)
BNP: 6552 (16.4%)
Majority: 13365 (33.4%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 10693 (23.4%)
Labour: 26894 (58.8%)
Liberal Democrat: 5434 (11.9%)
Referendum: 1157 (2.5%)
Other: 1560 (3.4%)
Majority: 16201 (35.4%)
Boundary changes:
Profile:
Current MP: Michael Meacher(Labour) Born 1939, Hemel Hempstead. Educated at Berkhamsted School and Oxford University. Prior to his election was a university lecturer. Contested Colchester 1966, Oldham West by-election 1968. First elected as MP for Oldham West in 1970. Under-secretary for Industry 1974-5, for Health and Social Security 1975-1979. Contested Labour`s Deputy leadership 1983. He was a member of the shadow cabinet thoughout most of Labour`s opposition during the 1980s and 90s, but was not appointed to the cabinet on their return to power, instead being appointed a Minister of State at the Department of the Environment 1997-2003. He attempted to run as a left-wing candidate for the Labour leadership in 2007, but unable to secure enough nominations stood down in favour of John McDonnell (more information at They work for you)
Kamran Ghafoor (Conservative) Educated at Salford University. Petrol station entrepreneur. Former Oldham councillor.Michael Meacher(Labour) Born 1939, Hemel Hempstead. Educated at Berkhamsted School and Oxford University. Prior to his election was a university lecturer. Contested Colchester 1966, Oldham West by-election 1968. First elected as MP for Oldham West in 1970. Under-secretary for Industry 1974-5, for Health and Social Security 1975-1979. Contested Labour`s Deputy leadership 1983. He was a member of the shadow cabinet thoughout most of Labour`s opposition during the 1980s and 90s, but was not appointed to the cabinet on their return to power, instead being appointed a Minister of State at the Department of the Environment 1997-2003. He attempted to run as a left-wing candidate for the Labour leadership in 2007, but unable to secure enough nominations stood down in favour of John McDonnell (more information at They work for you)
Mark Alcock (Liberal Democrat) Oldham councillor.
Helen Roberts (UKIP) Dave Joines (BNP)Shahid Miah (Respect) 2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 99059
Male: 48.5%
Female: 51.5%
Under 18: 27%
Over 60: 19.1%
Born outside UK: 10.9%
White: 81%
Black: 0.5%
Asian: 16.9%
Mixed: 1.2%
Other: 0.3%
Christian: 68.3%
Hindu: 1%
Muslim: 15.6%
Full time students: 3.1%
Graduates 16-74: 11.1%
No Qualifications 16-74: 40.8%
Owner-Occupied: 65%
Social Housing: 26.7% (Council: 20.1%, Housing Ass.: 6.6%)
Privately Rented: 5%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 7.4%
Lab maj 6,000
LAB HOLD
Did anyone see that report on Newsnight last night about the racial segregation of Oldham, and the attempts to solve the problem by merging a school in a white area with one in an Asian area?
Here in London, across all areas, all races live together and most of the time get along fine (there are a few exceptions like Barking/Dagenham of course).
I wonder why assimilation has worked quite well in London yet in northern mill towns like Oldham the white and Asian communities have almost completely separated. Do both communities still mostly vote Labour?
dont you mean ‘intergration’ as opposed to ‘assimilation’ which is altogether quite different!
If you’re going to be anal you should at least make sure you can spell.
well you would describe it as being anal am just pointing out that they are two v different things and assimilation has some negative connotations
‘Did anyone see that report on Newsnight last night about the racial segregation of Oldham, and the attempts to solve the problem by merging a school in a white area with one in an Asian area?’
I did and I found the attitudes of both sets of children – white and Asian – very disheartening but most of all surprising
It would be tempting to say that although the capital city London is becoming atypical of the UK as a whole. The last election demonstrated that but i think in this case it’s Oldham which stands out as unique
There was obviously the race riots prior to the 2001 election, which saw Nick Griffin stand as a candidate, but I remember a documentary Darkus Howe did around the same time, attempting to find out how racist the UK was – and I remember then he said that of all the towns he visited, Oldham was the one which he found the most racist
I think he also went to other towns similarly affected
The one thing these places do have in common (apart from high levels of immigrant communities) – Oldham, Burnley, Blackburn, Dagenham, Barking – is a great deal of unemployment, poverty and urban deprivation – factors which the far right have always fed off
What was most shocking about Oldham was that it was ordinary, everyday school kids from all sorts of walks of life, who held these views – almost monolithically too
I saw the programme. It’s an interesting idea to merge the schools. I hope it is successful to some extent. Their views don’t surprise me that much because in poor and economically depressed areas it’s so much easier for those kinds of views to come to the surface than in wealthy areas.
‘Their views don’t surprise me that much because in poor and economically depressed areas it’s so much easier for those kinds of views to come to the surface than in wealthy areas.’
Oldham certainly fits that description (one has to go there to see just how run-down it is) but what surprised me most was that the kids expressing these views – and this relates to both whites and Asians – didn’t seem to be from exclusively deprived backgrounds
That’s right. The families interviewed were articulate and seemed either skilled working class or lower middle class.
There are many working class areas in London where white and non-white live together in significant numbers without much racial tension. I live adjacent to Catford, Sydenham and Downham which all fit that description.
Maybe the difference is that these areas contain a lot of black people but not many Muslims.
‘I live adjacent to Catford, Sydenham and Downham which all fit that description.’
That part of London (South East) has had its fair share of racial problems in the past
There was the Stephen Lawrence murder in nearby Eltham in 1993 and the BNP have their headquarters in Welling but over the past 10 years the BNP and others have found their strongest base of support further east in places like Barking, Dagenham and before that, Tower Hamlets
I’ve certainly haven’t noticed the racial tension in places like Eltham and Lewisham match those levels in East London and in places like Burnley and particularly Oldham
Nick Griffin won 16% of the vote here in 2001 – his best performance at a general election
Lewisham is very different to Eltham (which is in Greenwich borough). There is very little racial tension in Lewisham borough and hasn’t really been much historically.
I agree, further south and east into outer London is a different kettle of fish. Eltham, Thamesmead, Bexley and also Bromley to some extent are more racially tense (also these are still predominantly white areas).
Politically, how does the race issue affect Oldham (except for generating a high BNP vote)?
There certainly was historically in Lewisham, if one goes back to the 1970s when the NF almost won a council by-election in Deptford. As with other inner-areas where the far-right used to be strong such as Tower Hamlets and Newham, their support will have faded as the demographics have tipped over to a pojnt where ethnic minority groups are dominant and those white people who find this objectionable have long since moved out (probably to places like Bexley and Bromley and Swanley)
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