A
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 ...
was held for the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
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
Wirral South
Wirral South is a constituency in Merseyside, England represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Alison McGovern of the Labour Party since 2010.
Constituency profile
Wirral South covers the central part of the Wirral peninsu ...
, in
Merseyside
Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...
,
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 27 February 1997. The seat became vacant on the death of
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
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 ...
Barry Porter
George Barrington Porter (11 June 1939 – 3 November 1996) was a British lawyer and Conservative Party politician.
Early life
Educated at Birkenhead School and the University of Oxford, he trained as a solicitor and was a partner and later a ...
, and was won by
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
's
Ben Chapman.
The Conservative loss in this seat, which came close to the last possible date for a
general election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
, meant that they no longer had a majority in 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. ...
.
Wirral South was the last in a run of significant Conservative losses, following a period of dissatisfaction with the Major years. This was the last Conservative loss to Labour in a by-election until the
2012 Corby by-election
The Corby by-election was a by-election held in England on 15 November 2012 to elect a new Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Corby in the House of Commons. The election was held on the same day as by-elections in Cardiff South a ...
. Labour has held this seat since the by-election.
Result
Previous result
Notes
External links
British Parliamentary By Elections: Campaign literature from the by-election
See also
*
List of United Kingdom by-elections
The list of by-elections in the United Kingdom is divided chronologically by parliament:
Parliament of the United Kingdom
*List of United Kingdom by-elections (1801–1806)
* List of United Kingdom by-elections (1806–1818)
*List of United Kingd ...
*
List of parliamentary constituencies in Merseyside
The ceremonial county, county of Merseyside created in 1974 has 15 United Kingdom constituencies, parliamentary constituencies
— (sub-classified into 12 of Borough constituency, borough type and three of County constituency, county status a ...
{{John Major
Politics of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
1997 elections in the United Kingdom
1997 in England
1990s in Merseyside
By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Merseyside constituencies