Sefton Central is a

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, ...

represented by

Bill Esterson William Roffen Esterson (born 27 October 1966) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sefton Central since 2010. He has been Shadow Minister for International Trade since 2016. He was Shadow Min ...

of the Labour Party since 2010.

Boundaries

;History of boundaries The constituency was created for the 2010 general election, replacing much of

Crosby Crosby may refer to: Places ;Canada *Crosby, Ontario, part of the township of Rideau Lakes, Ontario *Crosby, Ontario, a neighbourhood in the city of Markham, Ontario ;England *Crosby, Cumbria *Crosby, Lincolnshire *Crosby, Merseyside ** Crosby (U ...

along with part of Knowsley North and Sefton East. The new constituency covers Merseyside northern residential suburban areas of

Blundellsands Blundellsands is an area of Crosby in the ceremonial county of Merseyside, England and in the historic county of Lancashire. It is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, and a Sefton council electoral ward. At the 2001 Census the populati ...

, Brighton-Le-Sands,

Little Crosby Little Crosby is a small village in Merseyside, North West England. Despite being a suburb within 8 miles of Liverpool it has retained its rural character by, for example, opting not to have street lights. As part of Lancashire the village was a ...

, Thornton, and Hightown,

Formby Formby is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 22,419 at the 2011 Census. Historically in Lancashire, three manors are recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 under "For ...

and

Maghull Maghull ( ) is a town and civil parish in Sefton, Merseyside (historically a part of Lancashire). The town is north of Liverpool and west of Kirkby. The area also contains Ashworth Hospital. Maghull had a population of 20,444 at the 2011 Cens ...

and the villages and localities of

Aintree Aintree is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 road, north-east of Liverpool city centre, in North West England. It i ...

, Carr Houses, Freshfield,

Ince Blundell Ince Blundell is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in the ceremonial county of Merseyside and historic county of Lancashire, England. It is situated to the north of Liverpool on the A565 road and to the east of th ...

Kennessee Green Kennessee Green is a village in the southern half of Maghull in Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Kennessee Green has two churches: St Andrew's Church and St. Georges Church. The village of Kennessee Green is situated around M ...

, Lady Green,

Little Altcar Little Altcar is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton on Merseyside, within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire and on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain of England. The village forms part of the built- ...

Lunt Lunt is a small village in the borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England, close to Sefton Village and to the west of Maghull and is in the L29 postcode. History The name derives from either the Old Norse word ''Lundr'' or the Old Swedish word ' ...

Lydiate Lydiate is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton on Merseyside, England but Historic counties of England, historically in Lancashire. It is located north of Maghull, with which it has a commo ...

, Melling, Sefton, and

Waddicar Waddicar is the name given to an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, between Melling and Kirkby in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley. Transport Waddicar is served by the 345 bus service operated by Arriva which runs betwe ...

, in the

Metropolitan Borough of Sefton The Metropolitan Borough of Sefton is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England. It was formed on Local Government Act 1972, 1 April 1974, by the amalgamation of the county boroughs of Bootle and Southport, the municipal borough of Crosby, ...

. The constituency has

electoral wards The wards and electoral divisions in the United Kingdom are electoral districts at sub-national level, represented by one or more councillors. The ward is the primary unit of English electoral geography for civil parishes and borough and distri ...

: *

* Harington * Manor *

Molyneux Molyneux (; Old French: ''De Molines'' or ''De Moulins'') is a French surname. The surname has been linked primarily to a large French family that settled in Lancashire, England. By the 14th century the Molyneux family had split into three mai ...

Park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

* Ravenmeols * Sudell

History

This seat was fought for the first time at the 2010 general election. At the time, eleven of the constituency's twenty-one councillors were

Conservatives 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 ...

followed by the Liberal Democrats who had ten, whereas analysis by Rallings and

Thrasher Thrashers are a New World group of perching bird, passerine birds related to mockingbirds and New World catbirds. Like these, they are in the family (biology), family Mimidae. There are 15 species in one large and 4 monotypic genus, genera. T ...

indicated that had the Sefton Central constituency existed in 2005, the result would have been: Labour 45.6%, Conservative 33.6%, LibDem 19.2%, giving a Labour majority of 4,950. Some Conservative campaign billboard posters for the Tory candidate Deborah Jones had been defaced during the 2010 election, as had been the case during the 2005 election in Crosby. The Labour Party candidate's majority was 3,862 suggesting a moderate two-party swing. The area covered by this seat and its immediate predecessor Crosby was historically a strong area for the Conservatives. However, since Labour gained that seat in the 1997 election, they have held it with fairly comfortable margins for 20 years. In

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 Apri ...

, an 8.1% swing to Labour saw them take the area with their biggest ever majority of 11,846 votes (24.2%), in accordance with the significant swing to Labour in Merseyside compared to 2010; this margin was surpassed in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, as Labour won more than 60% of the vote in the seat and a majority of over 30% for the first time. This suggests that since 2010, Sefton Central has changed from a key marginal between the major parties to a Labour

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 ...

Constituency profile

The constituency has a working population whose income is close to the national average, and close to average reliance on

social housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

. At the end of 2012, the unemployment rate in the constituency stood as 2.4% of the population claiming Jobseeker's Allowance, compared to the regional average of 4.2%. The borough contributing to the seat has a medium 28.5% of its population without a car, 25.1% of the population without any qualifications and a 24.1% with Level 4 qualifications or above. In terms of tenure, 70.5% of homes are owned outright or on a mortgage as at the 2011 UK Census across the district.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sefton Central (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in North West England Politics of the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 2010