Halton 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 (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...

, 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 1997 by

Derek Twigg John Derek Twigg (born 9 July 1959) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Halton in Cheshire since the 1997 general election. Early life Twigg attended Bankfield High School (now Ormiston Ch ...

of the Labour Party.

Creation

Halton was created for the 1983 general election following the major reorganisation of local authorities under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, which came into effect on 1 April 1974. The constituency name refers to the Halton barony and covers the majority of the borough of the same name. It sits on either side of the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed par ...

and comprises

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form th ...

, the original town of

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the River Mersey. ...

(with a small part of the new town) and Hale village. The larger, northern part of the constituency comprised the former

municipal borough of Widnes The Municipal Borough of Widnes was a municipal borough centred around the town of Widnes in Lancashire, England from 1892 until 1974. The district was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 when it merged with Runcorn Urban Distr ...

and the parish of Hale, which were part of the abolished Widnes constituency. The smaller, southern part comprised the majority of the former urban district of Runcorn (excluding Daresbury and Norton), which had been part of the abolished constituency of Runcorn.

Boundaries

1983–1997: The Borough of Halton wards of Appleton, Broadheath, Castlefields, Ditton, Farnworth, Grange, Hale, Halton, Halton Brook, Heath, Hough Green, Kingsway, Mersey, Victoria, and Weston. 1997–2010: The Borough of Halton wards of Appleton, Broadheath, Ditton, Farnworth, Grange, Hale, Halton, Halton Brook, Heath, Hough Green, Kingsway, Mersey, and Riverside. ''Eastern part, including Castlefields ward transferred to the new constituency of

Weaver Vale Weaver Vale is a constituency in Cheshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Mike Amesbury, a member of the Labour Party. Constituency profile The constituency takes its name from the River Weaver, which fl ...

.'' 2010–present: The Borough of Halton wards of Appleton, Birchfield, Broadheath, Castlefields, Ditton, Farnworth, Grange, Hale, Halton Brook, Halton View, Heath, Hough Green, Kingsway, Mersey, and Riverside. ''Castlefields ward transferred back from Weaver Vale.''

Political history

Halton is considered 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 combina ...

for the Labour Party. Its most marginal election result, a 12.8% majority, was the earliest in 1983, the year of

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

's first

landslide victory A landslide victory is an election result in which the victorious candidate or party wins by an overwhelming margin. The term became popular in the 1800s to describe a victory in which the opposition is "buried", similar to the way in which a geol ...

, — three elections later that majority had risen to 53.2% of the vote. It has otherwise, to date, proven a statistical

for the Labour Party's

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an 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 seeking re-ele ...

MPs, of which there have thus far been two. The 2015 result made the seat the 22nd safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority. Of the two forerunner seats,

was last won by another party in 1935, whilst

had Conservative representation from its creation in 1950 to 1983, when it was abolished.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Notes

References

{{Authority control Parliamentary constituencies in North West England Parliamentary constituencies in Cheshire Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1983