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 (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...
represented 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. T ...
of the
UK Parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...
since
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
.
Constituency profile
The seat is on the outskirts of
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...
with fields making for separate villages and towns, these
buffer zone
A buffer zone is a neutral zonal area that lies between two or more bodies of land, usually pertaining to countries. Depending on the type of buffer zone, it may serve to separate regions or conjoin them.
Common types of buffer zones are demili ...
s most often designated as
Green belt
A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which h ...
, which includes areas for sport such as the ground of
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...
at the
University of Bolton Stadium
The University of Bolton Stadium is the home ground of Bolton Wanderers F.C. in Horwich, Greater Manchester, England.
Opening in 1997, it was named the Reebok Stadium, after club sponsors Reebok. In 2014, Bolton Wanderers signed a naming rig ...
. It includes the generally affluent towns of
Blackrod
Blackrod is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, northeast of Wigan and west of Bolton. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, it had a population of 5,001.
Historically part of Lancashire ...
,
Horwich
Horwich ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. Prior to 1974 in the historic county of Lancashire. It is southeast of Chorley, northwest of Bolton and northwest of Manchester. It l ...
and
Westhoughton
Westhoughton ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southwest of Bolton, east of Wigan and northwest of Manchester.Bolton borough though in 2010 Atherton from the Wigan borough was added, a more Labour-leaning former coal mining town. To date the seat has been a
marginal seat
A marginal seat or swing seat is a constituency held with a small majority in a legislative election, generally one conducted under a single-winner voting system. In Canada, they may be known as target ridings. The opposite is a safe seat. The ...
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
parties, however as of the 2019 election, it is also the safest Conservative seat in Greater Manchester, with a larger majority than Altrincham and Sale West.
Boundaries
1950–1983: The County Borough of Bolton wards of Deane-cum-Lostock, Derby, Halliwell, Heaton, Rumworth, Smithills, and West.
1983–1997: The Borough of Bolton wards of Blackrod, Deane-cum-Heaton, Halliwell, Horwich, Hulton Park, Smithills, and Westhoughton.
1997–2010: The Borough of Bolton wards of Blackrod, Deane-cum-Heaton, Horwich, Hulton Park, Smithills, and Westhoughton.
2010–present: The Borough of Bolton wards of Halliwell, Heaton and Lostock, Horwich and Blackrod, Horwich North East, Smithills, Deane Westhoughton North and Chew Moor, and Westhoughton South, and the Borough of Wigan ward of Atherton.
There were major boundary changes to Bolton West in 1983 when part of its area went to create Bolton North East, but compensated by taking most of the former Westhoughton constituency. 2010 saw the town of Atherton added from the Wigan borough, previously in the
Leigh
Leigh may refer to:
Places In England
Pronounced :
* Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan
** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency)
* Leigh-on-Sea, Essex
Pronounced :
* Leigh, Dorset
* Leigh, Gloucestershire
* Leigh, Kent
* Leigh, Staff ...
constituency. It is the only part of the Wigan borough not represented by a constituency fully within Wigan borough.