The 1979 Liverpool Edge Hill by-election was a parliamentary

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

held in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on 29 March 1979 to elect a new

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger State (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...

of Liverpool Edge Hill. Polling in the by-election took place one day after the government of

James Callaghan Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005), commonly known as Jim Callaghan, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980. Callaghan is ...

had lost a vote of no confidence in parliament and slightly over a month before the 1979 general election. The seat had become vacant on the death the previous December of the constituency's Labour Party MP Sir Arthur Irvine, who had held the seat since a by-election in 1947. The result was a gain for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, represented by

David Alton David Patrick Paul Alton, Baron Alton of Liverpool, (born 15 March 1951) is a British politician. He is a former Liberal Party and later Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament who has sat as a crossbench member of the House of Lords since 1997 ...

. Having made his maiden speech on 3 April, just before the house rose for the election, he was re-elected a few weeks later and from 1983 held the

Mossley Hill Mossley Hill is a suburb of Liverpool and a Liverpool City Council ward. Located to the south of the city, it is bordered by Aigburth, Allerton, Childwall, and Wavertree. At the 2001 Census, the population was 12,650, increasing to 13,816 at t ...

seat until he stood down from the commons in 1997, 18 years after the by-election.

Votes

References

External links

David Alton's account of the by-election
1979 elections in the United Kingdom 1979 in England 1970s in Liverpool Edge Hill, 1979 {{England-UK-Parl-by-election-stub

Votes

See also

References

External links