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Post by greenhert on Apr 3, 2020 20:15:01 GMT
Manchester Withington, the wealthiest of Manchester's constituencies, has existed since 1918.
Manchester Withington consists of the wards of Burnage, Chorlton, Chorlton Park, Didsbury East, Didsbury West, Old Moat, and Withington. It is mostly a well-educated middle-class constituency with Old Moat being the least affluent and Didsbury being the most affluent, and the area is popular with young professionals in particular. It is also ethnically diverse but not as diverse as either Manchester Central or Manchester Gorton.
In some ways Manchester Withington has become Greater Manchester's answer to Hornsey & Wood Green, both socioeconomically and politically. Apart from Liberal interruptions by Ernest Simon from 1923-24 and 1929-31, Manchester Withington was reliably Conservative until 1987, when Keith Bradley captured it; the Conservatives have not been competitive since. On the back of hostility to Labour due to the Iraq War and tuition fees, John Leech gained the seat for the Liberal Democrats on a 17.4% swing. He was defeated convincingly in 2015 by this seat's current Labour MP, Jeff Smith, on a 17% swing, and it has reverted to being a very safe Labour seat. At council level Conservative used to dominate, this then changed to Labour domination and then a majority of Liberal Democrat councillors in this constituency's wards, and then back to Labour after the Liberal Democrats suffered the worst local collapse in the UK during their years in Coalition with the Conservatives. In 2015 this was also one of only four English constituencies outside London where UKIP lost their deposit.
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Post by bsjmcr on Apr 14, 2020 19:09:07 GMT
Manchester Withington, the wealthiest of Manchester's constituencies, has existed since 1918. Manchester Withington consists of the wards of Burnage, Chorlton, Chorlton Park, Didsbury East, Didsbury West, Old Moat, and Withington. It is mostly a well-educated middle-class constituency with Old Moat being the least affluent and Didsbury being the most affluent, and the area is popular with young professionals in particular. It is also ethnically diverse but not as diverse as either Manchester Central or Manchester Gorton. In some ways Manchester Withington has become Greater Manchester's answer to Hornsey & Wood Green, both socioeconomically and politically. Apart from Liberal interruptions by Ernest Simon from 1923-24 and 1929-31, Manchester Withington was reliably Conservative until 1987, when Keith Bradley captured it; the Conservatives have not been competitive since. On the back of hostility to Labour due to the Iraq War and tuition fees, John Leech gained the seat for the Liberal Democrats on a 17.4% swing. He was defeated convincingly in 2015 by this seat's current Labour MP, Jeff Smith, on a 17% swing, and it has reverted to being a very safe Labour seat. At council level Conservative used to dominate, this then changed to Labour domination and then a majority of Liberal Democrat councillors in this constituency's wards, and then back to Labour after the Liberal Democrats suffered the worst local collapse in the UK during their years in Coalition with the Conservatives. In 2015 this was also one of only four English constituencies outside London where UKIP lost their deposit. Good on you for not calling this 'the student seat' of Manchester, as it so often is called, when the university and most students would be in Central/Gorton! Of course in terms of housing the main thing to note is how the town houses and large detached houses of Didsbury have mostly become upmarket apartments, while Chorlton is made of tree-lined roads of some of the pricier houses in the city (excluding the city centre penthouses of course). A lot of quality green space here as well for a city seat, including Fletcher Moss and Chorlton Water Park as well as several golf courses. An incredible transition over 35 years from Conservative, safe Labour, marginal Lib Dem (and from 2005-2010 you could say a tripling of Leech's majority from 667 to 1850), and just two years after they lost, one of the safest Labour seats in the country. Jeff Smith has done something right here. In such a well-educated area this is not just a case of 'voting for a donkey with a red rosette' as seen in other inner-city areas of Manchester and Liverpool, people do care about candidates and issues here. Smith must be quite Remainy too in a 75% remain area, his vote only went down a hair in 2019 and ironically none of it to poor Leech who went further backwards. Leech is still popular in Didsbury and was generally known for being an energetic campaigner during his time as MP but I recall some fallout over claims over the hospital closing? |
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Post by Devil Wincarnate on Apr 14, 2020 20:56:34 GMT
It should be remembered that when Leech got in, the Lib Dems were really riding the crest of a wave and were even winning seats in unlikely places like nearby Northenden.
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Post by Devil Wincarnate on Apr 15, 2020 10:45:19 GMT
Northenden once upon a time regularly elected Tory councillors and was still a bit marginal not that many years ago. The Tories have however collapsed there now. It's a long old time since the Tories were competitive there though ( I was the candidate one year!), and their vote had essentially collapsed by the early 2000s. That period of Lib Dem supremacy seems like a long time ago now as well. Then again, incredible to remember that the Lib Dems were once close in the Gorton wards. |
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Apr 15, 2020 11:03:29 GMT
Well they were a bit more than 'close'..
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Post by Devil Wincarnate on Apr 16, 2020 8:20:27 GMT
Well they were a bit more than 'close'.. Yes, poor choice of words on my part there. |
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Post by owainsutton on May 5, 2020 11:35:47 GMT
Northenden once upon a time regularly elected Tory councillors and was still a bit marginal not that many years ago. The Tories have however collapsed there now. I've had a hunch for some time that they've been looking at Baguely as their best chance of getting back onto the council? |
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Post by Robert Waller on Apr 16, 2021 11:23:57 GMT
2011 Census
Owner-occupied 47.0% 593/650
Private rented 32.2% 22/650
Social rented 19.0% 247/650
White 76.6% 544/650
Black 3.4% 130/650
Asian 12.4% 94/650
Born in Ireland 2.2% 16/650
Managerial & professional 38.8%
Professional occupations 32.7% 4/650
Routine & Semi-routine 15.1%
Degree level 45.1% 26/650
No qualifications 14.7% 610/650
Students 20.1% 33/650
Age 65+ 9.9% 614/650
General Election 2019: Manchester Withington
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Jeff Smith 35,902 67.8 -3.9
Liberal Democrats John Leech 7,997 15.1 -0.8
Conservative Shengke Zhi 5,820 11.0 +0.7
Green Lucy Bannister 1,968 3.7 +2.1
Brexit Party Stephen Ward 1,308 2.5 New
Lab Majority 27,905 52.7 -3.1
Turnout 53,176 69.5 -2.4
Labour hold
Swing 1.6 Lab to C
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