The 1979 Manchester Central by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 27 September 1979 for the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...

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 Manchester Central. The seat had become vacant when the constituency's

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 ...

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),

Harold Lever Norman Harold Lever, Baron Lever of Manchester, PC (15 January 19146 August 1995) was a British barrister and Labour Party politician. Early life He was born in Manchester, the son of a Jewish textile merchant from Lithuania, and was educate ...

had been made a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

on 3 July 1979. He had held the seat since its creation for the February 1974 general election, having represented previous constituencies in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

since the 1945 general election. Being held less than five months after the 1979 general election (where the Tories had won power from Labour after five years), it was the first by-election of the 1979–1983 parliament.

Results

Manchester Central was a

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district (constituency) in a legislative body (e.g. Congress, Parliament, City Council) which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combinat ...

for Labour. On a heavily reduced turnout, the result of the contest was a victory for the Labour candidate,

Bob Litherland Robert Kenneth Litherland (23 June 193013 May 2011), known as Bob Litherland, was a British Labour politician. He was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Manchester Central at a by-election in September 1979, and held the office until he ...

, who won with the same 70.7% share of the vote which Lever had won at the general election in May 1979. Syed Ala-Ud-Din stood in protest at not being selected as the Labour candidate. Litherland held the seat until he retired from the House of Commons at the 1997 general election.

Results

Votes

References

See also