Preston
2010 Results:
Conservative: 7060 (21.72%)
Labour: 15668 (48.2%)
Liberal Democrat: 7935 (24.41%)
UKIP: 1462 (4.5%)
Christian: 272 (0.84%)
Independent: 108 (0.33%)
Majority: 7733 (23.79%)
Notional 2005 Results:
Labour: 14767 (51.3%)
Conservative: 6306 (21.9%)
Liberal Democrat: 4964 (17.2%)
Other: 2772 (9.6%)
Majority: 8461 (29.4%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 7803 (22.9%)
Labour: 17210 (50.5%)
Liberal Democrat: 5701 (16.7%)
UKIP: 1049 (3.1%)
Other: 2318 (6.8%)
Majority: 9407 (27.6%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 8272 (23%)
Labour: 20540 (57%)
Liberal Democrat: 4746 (13.2%)
Green: 1019 (2.8%)
Other: 1464 (4.1%)
Majority: 12268 (34%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 10540 (21.9%)
Labour: 29220 (60.8%)
Liberal Democrat: 7045 (14.7%)
Referendum: 924 (1.9%)
Other: 345 (0.7%)
Majority: 18680 (38.9%)
Boundary changes:
Profile:
Current MP: Mark Hendrick(Labour) (more information at They work for you)
Nerissa Warner-O`Neill (Conservative) born 1977, The Hague. Educated at Durham University. Solicitor. Waverley councillor since 2007.Mark Hendrick(Labour) (more information at They work for you)Mark Jewell (Liberal Democrat) Educated at Thames Polytechnic. Preston councillor. Project manager in the aerospace industry.Richard Muirhead (UKIP)George Ambroze (Christian Party) Krishnamurta Tayya (Independent)2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 84661
Male: 48.9%
Female: 51.1%
Under 18: 24%
Over 60: 17.8%
Born outside UK: 10.8%
White: 81.2%
Black: 1.2%
Asian: 15.3%
Mixed: 1.6%
Other: 0.7%
Christian: 65.7%
Hindu: 3.1%
Muslim: 11.2%
Sikh: 0.6%
Full time students: 10%
Graduates 16-74: 14.3%
No Qualifications 16-74: 36.4%
Owner-Occupied: 60.2%
Social Housing: 26% (Council: 15.8%, Housing Ass.: 10.2%)
Privately Rented: 10%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 20.3%
LAB HOLD
Mark Hendrick, Labour 15,668 48.2%
Mark Jewell, Liberal Democrat 7,935 24.4%
Nerissa Warner-O’Neill, Conservative 7,060 21.7%
Richard Muirhead, UK Independence Party 1,462 4.5%
George Ambroze, Christian Party 272 0.8%
Krishna Tayya, Independent 108 0.3%
Turnout 52%
Appears to be pretty standard win in the end. The results seem to reflect the changes in the boundary – Mark’s losses and the Tories lack of traction seem to be the result of losing Bamber Bridge and Walton-le-Dale. The Lib Dems increase looks likely to have been influenced by Ingol’s inclusion.
doktorb won the Riversway ward by 4 votes. It was a double header election and for some reason one of the Labour candidates was much less popular than the other
Lab 1140
LD 807 (doktorb)
Lab 803
LD 709
Con 466
Con 407
Looking at previous results for the ward it looks like he must have attracted a number of votes from people who previously voted for Respect.
Anyway congratulations doktorb
Sad to say, the reality is a little different. The electoral commission decided to disallow Linda Crompton form using the Labour logo on a technicality. I’m sure Dave Wilson would be the first to agree that Linda is far more well know in the ward than he is. The difference is that he had the Labour logo and Linda didn’t. In a ward with a high BME community, logos may be just as potent on ballot papers as the actual candidate and party name. Less a case of people voting Lib dem, more a case of people only exercising one vote instead of two.
People in Riversway don’t have any great affiliation to the Lib Dems. It’s basically an anti-Labour vote. Before, they thought that Respect was the big thing, then they turned to Lib Dems when Respect waned. If the Tories looked like they were in with a shout I am certain the Tories would be the second party.
Liam’s got my seat, so it’ll just be for two years. However, my sincere congratulations to Liam – in politics you need to take every opportunity that comes your way and there it is. Party politics shouldn’t get in the way of recognition for a fine personal achievement. That said, Liam should make the most of it while he can – I can tell you right now that labour members and councillors are fuming (and I suspect many residents will be feeling similar when they find out). My advice – don’t get comfortable Liam.
The coalition will press ahead with instructing the Boundary Commissions of the UK to equalise electorates across the country, with an aim to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to under 600.
What better place to start talking about this than my home seat (It would be “another place” were I posting there anymore…)
Lancashire, Blackburn, and Blackpool have a combined 2010 electorate of 1,103,572, under the current quota giving an entitlement to 15.43 seats (or 15, rounded down) , that is one fewer than awarded in the most recent review. This suggests the county will lose as least one, maybe two, this time round.
Neighbouring Greater Manchester has an electorate of 1,935,913 (27 seats); Merseyside 1,014,398 (14).
I can only assume neighbouring counties and review areas will be combined given the nature of the instructions (cut MPs, increase constituency sizes), so with c.4million people, these 56 seats could be well reduced to as few as 50…..or 45?
When I said ‘don’t get comfortable’ I didn’t think you were going to take me literally. I hope you enjoyed the experience at least
Larger consitutencies might actually make for a more geographically intelligible Preston seat, as at present the Northern suburbs have to be split off. (in the South the Ribble is of course a natural boundary, despite the Preston South boundaries before 1983).
Of course, if we had STV we would need to have still bigger seats. Once you’ve put North Lancashire and Fyle into a seat, I guess Preston might well be the Northern part of a West Lancashire seat also including South Ribble, Chorley etc.
Crushing win for Labour in the Riversway by-election last night with more than twice the vote of the defending Lib Dems. There was no Tory candidate.
JDAVE will be pleased. Obviouslyt he circumstances of the initial Lib Dem victory and the rather rapid resignation of the victorious Lib Dem councillor were a little unusual.
doktorb seems to be uncharacteristically quiet about this, but thats his prerogative
The circumstances were unusual, but the Lib Dems clearly thought they would win – evident both in their literature and their demeanour on election day and at the count. That said, I think neither we nor they expected such a margin of victory for Labour.
Full results
Lab 890
Lib Dem 388
Green 57
Turnout 29%
Felt sorry for the green candidate – he was all on his lonesome and, to my surprise, is quite young (wouldn’t be surprised if he was still in his teens). I actually took him to be a LIb Dem at first, so was a little sorry I didn’t speak to him. He handled the occasion very well though, so credit to him for having a go.
The former Labour MP for Preston North (1966-70 and 1974-79) Ronald Atkins must be one of the oldest living former MPs at the age of 94. His daughter Charlotte was Labour MP for Staffordshire Moorlands from 1997 to 2010.
I’ve just looked up the Wikipedia entry for Ron Atkins, which is apparently a “stub”. Perhaps people who know more about Ron Atkins than I do might like to update it. Maybe we will need the information to celebrate in six years time. We all wish the best for him: he was a very conscientious local MP.
Is Ron Atkins still a councillor? I’ve just looked up the Preston Council website and couldn’t find him.
I cedrtainly didn’t want to mix this post with the one about Ron Atkins. But for some reason, the name of Julian Amery, who was a former Conservative MP for Preston North (and later Brighton Pavillion, after he was kicked out here), has come up on the Oldham East and Saddleworth thread, on which I have just posted about him. This is in response to a post by Barnaby Marder, who suggests that Julian Amery was lazy as MP for Brighton Pavillion.
Julian Amery was the son of Leo Amery, who made the famous speech as a result of which Neville Chamberlain had to resign. He was also the brother of John Amery, who was executed in 1945 after pleading guilty to treason. See wikipedia for more information about this.
Also, a belated response to JDave01 about the Riversway by-election. There was discussion on this thread about the Greens in relation to a previous council by-election. It appears that the Greens in this area are tending to concentrate on Lancaster, which is one of their stronger prospects, and where they have several councillors. But Preston does have its Green issues, and as a reasonably sized town, sorry, city (but where’s the cathedral?!) is the sort of place where one imagines they could build up prospects. A young Green activitist could make a name for himself or herself if prepared to persevere. Perhaps the first priority is that there are four years to find the money for a parliamentary campaign, to recruit some members, and to persuade the Green Party to agree to a candidate. Good luck to the candidate in Riversway if he tries to have a go at this!
I will be speaking next week at the Boundary Commission meeting in Preston against the BCE proposals and in favour of the agreed NW Region counter-proposals.
Due to the tight constraints of the legislation, our proposals essentially recreate the 1997-2010 version of Preston, but it’s a little bigger and has a new name – “Preston South”.
We consider that the Commission’s proposal to strip Fishwick from Preston is completely unworkable.
For those who like this sort of thing, our counter-proposal for Preston South is made from :
Preston Wards – Lea, Larches, Ashton, Tulketh, Riversway, University, Fishwick, Moor Park, St Matthews, St Georges, Deepdale, Town Centre
South Ribble Wards – all of Bamber Bridge, all of Walton-le-Dale, Samlesbury, Lostock Hall, Tardy Gate, Coupe Green, Middleforth
Chorley Ward – Brindle and Houghton
Tory Cllr Terry Thompson has defected to Ind here.
He represents Sharoe Green, as comfortable Conservative a ward as you can get in this part of Lancashire.
I’ve read no update from this whole affair so I assume he is still Independent for the time being. He is up for election in 2012, which might change matters, of course.