Leigh is a constituency in

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 ...

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 suprema ...

since 2019 by James Grundy of the Conservative Party. Before this, the seat was represented by Andy Burnham of the Labour Party, who served as the MP from 2001, and

Shadow Home Secretary In British politics, the Shadow Home Secretary (formally known as the Shadow Secretary of State for the Home Department) is the person within the shadow cabinet who shadows the Home Secretary; this effectively means scrutinising government poli ...

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

's Shadow Cabinet until October 2016. Burnham stood down following his victory at the 2017 Greater Manchester mayoral election, and was succeeded by the Labour and Cooperative Party's Jo Platt who was MP from 2017 to 2019. Burnham, who was re-elected as Mayor of Greater Manchester in 2021 with an increased majority, still resides in the Leigh constituency.

Constituency profile

Leigh is 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 ...

in the south of the

Metropolitan Borough of Wigan The Metropolitan Borough of Wigan is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, in North West England. It is named after the main settlement of Wigan. It covers the towns of Atherton, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Golborne, Hindley, Ince-in-Mak ...

and on the border with

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

, with virtually all wards held by the Labour Party at local level, although it does contain the more Conservative-inclined area of Lowton East. In line with the wider borough of Wigan it voted by a majority to Leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum, but has slightly lower levels of deprivation than the town of Wigan itself, and is mostly made of skilled working class families in residential areas, with some light industry, all factors in the swing towards the Conservatives in 2019. Leigh, Tyldesley and Golborne are former mill and mining towns undergoing urban regeneration. Pennington Flash in between Lowton and Leigh is an important local nature reserve and area of natural regeneration in a former mining area.

Boundaries

Following the review of parliamentary representation in Greater Manchester in 2009, the

Boundary Commission for England The boundary commissions in the United Kingdom are non-departmental public bodies responsible for determining the boundaries of constituencies for elections to the House of Commons. There are four boundary commissions: * Boundary Commission for ...

recommended alterations to constituencies in the Wigan area. The electoral wards used in the altered Leigh constituency are: * Astley,

Mosley Common Mosley Common is a suburb of Tyldesley at the far-eastern edge of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it was anciently a hamlet in the east of the township of Tyldesley cum Shakerle ...

, Atherleigh,

Golborne Golborne (pronounced or ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies south-southeast of Wigan, northeast of Warrington and to the west of the city of Manchester. Combined with the village of Lowt ...

and

Lowton Lowton is a suburban village within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It is around from Leigh, south of Wigan and west of Manchester city centre. The settlement lies across the A580 East Lancashire Road. ...

West, Leigh East, Leigh South, Leigh West, Lowton East and

Tyldesley Tyldesley () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it is north of Chat Moss near the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, southeast of Wigan ...

all from the

History

The constituency was created in the

Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict., c. 23) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that redistributed the seats in the House of Commons, introducing the concept of equal ...

as a result of the South West Lancashire constituency being divided into eight single member seats. Between 1922 and December 2019, candidates belonging to the Labour Party had continuously served the seat, which for the

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

made it one of their longest held constituencies. One recent Labour

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...

was Andy Burnham,

from September 2015 to October 2016.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

The 2019 result saw the largest 2017 majority for a party overturned in the country. It also saw the largest fall in the UKIP vote share.

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

Election in the 1940s

Elections in the 1930s

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1914–15 Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected: *Liberal: Peter Raffan *Unionist: Frank Hatchard *Labour:

Thomas Greenall Thomas Greenall (5 May 1857 – 22 December 1937) was a British Labour Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Farnworth in Lancashire from 1922 to 1929. Born at Tarbock in Lancashire, Greenall began working at the age of n ...

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1880s

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leigh (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in Greater Manchester Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1885 Politics of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan Leigh, Greater Manchester