Manchester Gorton is a constituency 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 ...

by Labour's Afzal Khan, who was elected at the 2017 general election. It is the safest Labour seat 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 ...

by numerical majority and one of the safest in the country.

Constituency profile

The seat covers Gorton, Fallowfield, Levenshulme, Longsight, Rusholme and Whalley Range to the south and east of the city centre, which are diverse and liberal suburbs, with some levels of deprivation such as in Longsight. Most housing is made of red brick terraced houses. There is a large student population, particularly in

Fallowfield Fallowfield is a suburb of Manchester, England, with a population at the 2011 census of 15,211. Historically in Lancashire, it lies south of Manchester city centre and is bisected east–west by Wilmslow Road and north–south by Wil ...

which includes several halls of residence and private rented houses serving students of Manchester's large universities, though the universities’ campuses are in Manchester Central. The seat includes the

Curry Mile The Curry Mile is a nickname for the part of Wilmslow Road running through the centre of Rusholme in south Manchester, England. The name is earned from the large number of restaurants, takeaways and kebab houses specialising in the cuisine ...

of takeaways and restaurants,

Gorton Monastery The Church and Friary of St Francis, known locally as Gorton Monastery, is a Grade II* listed former Franciscan friary in Gorton, Manchester, England. It was designed by the noted Victorian architect Edward Welby Pugin and built 1866–1872. G ...

, and small urban parks such as Debdale Park and

Platt Fields Park Platt Fields Park is a large public park in Fallowfield, Manchester, England which is home to Platt Hall. Fallowfield lies to the south and Wilmslow Road runs along its eastern edge. Description The centrepiece of the park is a large pleasure ...

. The seat is ethnically diverse and its residents are less wealthy than the UK average.

History

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 ...

divided the existing seat of South East Lancashire into eight single-member constituencies, an Act which significantly increased representation across Britain. Manchester Gorton has returned MPs from the Labour Party since 1935, with majorities exceeding 17% since

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

. The 2015 general election result made the seat the eighth-safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority. From 1983 to 2017, Sir Gerald Kaufman, Father of the House of Commons, represented the constituency. His death in February 2017 triggered 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 ...

which was due to be held on 4 May 2017, but this was subsequently countermanded (that is, cancelled) after the House of Commons voted for a snap general election to be held on 8 June 2017. At that election, the Conservatives returned their lowest vote share for any seat in Great Britain, at 7.3%.

Historic boundaries

1885–1918

South-East Lancashire, Gorton Division consisted of the area of the

Gorton Gorton is an area of Manchester in North West England, southeast of the city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 36,055. Neighbouring areas include Levenshulme and Openshaw. A major landmark is Gorton Monastery, a 19th-century Hig ...

Local Board Local boards or local boards of health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate environmenta ...

and the

townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

or parishes of Denton, Haughton, and Openshaw. The constituency comprised an area bounded on the west by the city of

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 ...

and to the east and south by the county boundary with Cheshire. In 1890, Manchester's municipal boundaries were extended to include Gorton and Openshaw, although constituency boundaries remained unchanged until 1918.F A Youngs Jr., ''Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England'', Vol.II: Northern England, London 1991 Prior to 1918 the constituency consisted of four wards: Gorton North, Gorton South, Openshaw and St. Mark's.

1918–1950

The Representation of the People Act 1918 reorganised parliamentary seats throughout

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

. The redistribution reflected the boundary changes of 1890, with Gorton becoming a division of the parliamentary borough of Manchester. The Manchester, Gorton Division comprised three wards of the

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent te ...

of Manchester: Gorton North, Gorton South and Openshaw. Denton and Haughton, which together had formed Denton Urban District in

1894 Events January–March * January 4 – A military alliance is established between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire. * January 7 – William Kennedy Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film in the United S ...

, were transferred to the Mossley Division of Lancashire.

1950–1955

The next redrawing of English constituencies was effected by the

Representation of the People Act 1948 The Representation of the People Act 1948 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered the law relating to parliamentary and local elections. It is noteworthy for abolishing plural voting for parliamentary elections, including ...

. The Act introduced the term " borough constituency", with Manchester Gorton Borough Constituency now consisting of four wards of the city: Gorton North, Gorton South,

Levenshulme Levenshulme () is an area of Manchester, England, bordering Fallowfield, Longsight, Gorton, Burnage, Heaton Chapel and Reddish; it is approximately halfway between Stockport and Manchester city centre on the A6. Levenshulme is predominant ...

and Openshaw. Levenshulme was transferred from the abolished Manchester Rusholme seat. The revised boundaries were first used at the 1950 general election.

1955–1983

In 1955 boundary changes were made based on the recommendations of the Boundary Commission appointed under the

House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949 The House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that provided for the periodic review of the number and boundaries of parliamentary constituencies. The Act amended the rules for the dist ...

. The constituency was redefined as consisting of the Gorton North and Gorton South wards of the county borough and the two neighbouring urban districts of

Audenshaw Audenshaw is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester. Historically part of Lancashire, in 2011 it had a population of 11,419. The name derives from Aldwin, a Saxon personal name, and the Old English suffix ...

and Denton in the

administrative county An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until either 1973 (in Northern Ireland) or 2002 (in the Republic of Ireland). They are now abolished, although mos ...

of Lancashire. Levenshulme passed to Manchester Withington while Openshaw formed the core of a new Manchester Openshaw seat.

1983–2010

The 1983 redistribution of seats reflected local government reforms made in 1974. Manchester Gorton became a borough constituency in the parliamentary county of

. The constituency was redefined as comprising six wards of the Metropolitan district and City of Manchester, namely: Fallowfield, Gorton North, Gorton South, Levenshulme, Longsight and Rusholme. The constituency was unaltered at the next redistribution prior to the 1997 general election.

Boundaries

From the

Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies The Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies was undertaken between 2000 and 2007 by the four boundary commissions for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for the UK Parliament. The changes for England, Wales and Northern Ir ...

the seat had wards (since the 2010 general election) of:

Gorton North Gorton North is a defunct local government ward in the Gorton area of the City of Manchester. The population of Gorton North ward at the 2011 census was 16,440. Under boundary changes by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGB ...

Gorton South Gorton South is a defunct Local Government ward in the Gorton area of the City of Manchester. The population of Gorton South ward at the 2011 census was 19,615. Under boundary changes by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGB ...

Longsight Longsight is an inner city suburb of Manchester, England, located south of the city centre. It is bounded by Ardwick and West Gorton to the north; Levenshulme to the south; and Chorlton-on-Medlock, Victoria Park and Fallowfield to the west ...

Rusholme Rusholme () is an area of Manchester, England, two miles south of the city centre. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 13,643. Rusholme is bounded by Chorlton-on-Medlock to the north, Victoria Park and Longsight to the east, F ...

and Whalley Range. In 2018 the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) implemented changes to Manchester's electoral wards including the merging of

and

to create a new ward, Gorton and Abbey Hey. For the purposes of parliamentary elections the 2004-2018 ward boundaries are used.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

These are the same as the candidates who were to stand at the cancelled 2017 by-election, except for an

Official Monster Raving Loony Party The Official Monster Raving Loony Party (OMRLP) is a political party established in the United Kingdom in 1982 by the musician David Sutch, also known as "Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow", or simply "Lord Sutch". It is notable for its ...

candidate and another independent, who did not stand at the general election.

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Changes in vote compared with notional figures for 1992 election following boundary changes.

Elections in the 1980s

Gerald Kaufman had been the MP for the Manchester Ardwick constituency, which had been abolished for this election, since 1970.

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1940s

Elections in the 1930s

Elections in the 1920s

Election in 1918

*Although Hodge was a member of the Coalition Government, no official Coalition Government endorsement was sent to any candidate

Election results for South-East Lancashire, Gorton Division

Elections in the 1910s

Expected General Election 1914–15: Under the terms of the

Parliament Act 1911 The Parliament Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo. 5 c. 13) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is constitutionally important and partly governs the relationship between the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two Houses of Parlia ...

a 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 July 1914, the following candidates had been selected; *Labour: John Hodge *Unionist: Fred H CarterManchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 17 Jan 1914 In the event, the election was postponed on the outbreak of the

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Elections in the 1900s

''Mr Hatch crossed the floor of the House of Commons to sit with the Liberals, around February 1905''.

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1880s

* Caused by Peacock's death.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manchester Gorton

Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1885