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Post by greenhert on Apr 7, 2020 21:45:03 GMT
Southport was created in 1885 and has remained virtually unchanged since its creation.
Southport is an upmarket seaside resort in Lancashire, which is reluctant at best to consider itself part of Merseyside. It was a county borough in its own right until being absorbed into Sefton MBC and Merseyside County. Southport has numerous interesting landmarks, including the fairground of New Pleasureland (which was built in 2007 to replace Old Pleasureland which operated from 1912 to 2006; several original rides now reside in Dreamland Margate), Southport Model Railway Village, Southport Pier, and the mediaeval house of Meols Hall. Several other notable landmarks in Southport have sadly been demolished, including its open air baths, the Steamport Museum, and the Palace Hotel. The Smedley Hydro is now the site of the UK Registry Office.
Southport is the only constituency in Merseyside to have never had a Labour MP, and until recently it was a Conservative-Liberal Democrat marginal. During the nadir of the Liberals it was a safe Conservative seat; in 1970 Ronnie Fearn revived the fortunes of the Liberals in Southport. On his fifth attempt in 1987 he became the first Liberal MP for Southport since 1923; he was unseated by Matthew Banks in 1992 but recaptured the seat from him in 1997. Mr Fearn retired in 2001 and was succeeded by John Pugh, who served as MP for 16 years; local Conservative misfortunes in 2015 allowed him to hold on despite an 18.7% drop in the Liberal Democrat vote share. Mr Pugh retired in 2017 and the Liberal Democrats were pushed into third place by Labour, with Damien Moore capturing the seat second time around for the Conservatives. The Labour candidate, Liz Savage, exerted a further squeeze on the Liberal Democrats in 2019, whose vote share dropped by nearly half of their 2017 vote share. Southport did experience a pro-Conservative swing of 1.25% but it is now confirmed as a Conservative-Labour marginal. Since the retirement of Mr Pugh the Liberal Democrats have lost as many as seven councillors in Southport's wards, mainly to Labour, whilst regaining only one; it is fair to say the Liberal Democrat challenge in Southport is dead.
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Foggy
Non-Aligned
Long may it rain
Posts: 5,506
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Post by Foggy on Apr 7, 2020 22:34:19 GMT
Not sure about the 'upmarket' part here, but it is true that the town does not lie on the river Mersey.
Since you mentioned landmarks including a museum, you'd have done well to mention the lawnmower one.
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Apr 7, 2020 22:40:17 GMT
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Deleted
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Southport
Apr 7, 2020 23:18:55 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2020 23:18:55 GMT
Fun fact: Southport had the lowest winning vote share of any constituency in Britain in 2015.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2020 23:29:25 GMT
It is not fair to say that the Liberal Democrats are "dead" in Southport.
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Post by Merseymike on Apr 8, 2020 13:11:25 GMT
Can I echo those who have said that : 1. people who have said they will do a review be respected and that those who can't wait for that person (who may be working at home) to write it be a little more patient 2. we only write about places where we live or know well. This review isn't up to it.
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Post by Arthur Figgis on Apr 8, 2020 13:36:48 GMT
I have to admit that I go out of my way to read the reviews written by some posters as I know they will be excellent, and equally those written by others as I know they will have the same quality as if they were written by William McGonagall.
All those posters have put the effort in and tried to educate the reader, so I think it would be unkind to suggest anyone who could fit in either category.
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Post by finsobruce on Apr 8, 2020 16:22:25 GMT
I have to admit that I go out of my way to read the reviews written by some posters as I know they will be excellent, and equally those written by others as I know they will have the same quality as if they were written by William McGonagall. All those posters have put the effort in and tried to educate the reader, so I think it would be unkind to suggest anyone who could fit in either category. Ah, beautiful voters of the silvery seat Who were the finest voters you ever could meet Boundary changes are minimal I'm not going out, postal vote for McGonagall.
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Post by finsobruce on Apr 8, 2020 16:36:32 GMT
You are the new bard of the rotten tomato. I'll take my compliments where I can get 'em.
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Post by Devil Wincarnate on Apr 11, 2020 0:25:59 GMT
No description of Southport is complete without a reference to the Haussmanisation of Paris.
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Post by greenhert on Apr 11, 2020 11:38:11 GMT
It is not fair to say that the Liberal Democrats are "dead" in Southport. that is certainly correct. They aren't dead although they are much reduced in the parliamentary seat. Look what happened in Hastings & Rye in 1997 after Michael (Jabez) Foster took the seat for Labour from a poor third place when the Liberals' Monroe Palmer was statistically in a better place to win it from the 1992 election results in that constituency. After Mr Foster's victory and Mr Palmer (now Baron Palmer of Child's Hill) departed the parliamentary scene the Liberal Democrat vote collapsed in 2001 and they have not been competitive locally or nationally in Hastings & Rye since. Southport is now a key target for Labour and the Liberal Democrats have lost a lot of support to Labour locally and nationally.
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Post by Merseymike on Apr 11, 2020 15:08:37 GMT
The borough of Sefton is a coastal strip which stretches from Bootle, which borders the 'north end' of Liverpool's inner urban core, all the way up to Southport. The train ride from one end of the seat to the other is a good 45 minutes run, and its very much a case of 'never the twain will meet'. There are certainly voters in Southport who will have only ever gone through Bootle on their way into Liverpool city centre. And even that will be denied by some Sandgrounders, who regasrd their resort as Lancashire, to the extent of including it on their postal address, and a somewhat on-off campaign to see Sefton abolished and for Southport to return to Lancashire, albeit as a unitary borough rather than a county district. In 2002 the Southport party even managed to win themselves three seats on Sefton Council on that platform. This certainly indicates that Southport sees itself as 'separate' from Merseyside, let alone Liverpool, although there is some evidence that the divide is perhaps not as great as it once was - and this may be reflected in the changing politics of the town
Travelling into Southport, it does appear prosperous, and its sturdy Victorian villas, golf course and scattered modern estates do give the impression of a strong Tory seat. The less affluent areas are rather more hidden from view and could easily be missed by the person 'travelling through'. However, it may also be the case both that the "Merseyide effect" is finally making its mark in Southport, and that some of its most middle-class areas may actually be polling much better for Labour than they have in the past, notably Birkdale, which is competitive at a local level and almost certainly voted Labour in the 2019 general election.
The joker in the pack has always been the Liberals, who always polled respectably here, albeit well behind the Conservatives, and in 1970 took a clear second place with perennial candidate Ronnie Fearn, who finally took the seat in 1987, losing it again in 1992, but winning it back in 1997 until his retirement in 2001, when he passed on the seat to his Liberal Democrat successor Dr John Pugh. Throughout this time Labour's vote was never higher than 16.6%, and reached a nadir of 6.4% in 1987. Yet by 2019, Labour were the clear challengers with 39 against the Tory 47.6%, with the Liberal Democrats well behind on 13.5%. Locally, the Liberal Democrats still hold 12 of Southport's seats on Sefton Council, although they are probably relieved that the elections of 2020 will now be delayed for a year, as Labour were strongly targetting the final seat in Kew ward and looking to gain seats in Birkdale and Ainsdale.
There has been no notable demographic shift in Southport. Ironically, the terraces and bedsite near the seafront are in Duke's ward, where Labour remain in third place, and perhaps the notable difference in Southport's population is its very high number of people aged over 65. This would indicate a safe Tory seat, so it suggests that the notable shift towards Labour may be against the national tide. It certainly appears that the Liberal Democrat vote may well have been a clear case of effective campaigning by a popular MP who was always on the 'anti-Tory' wing of his party and a willingness of Labour voters to vote tactically in a seat where they thought that only the Liberal Democrats could beat the Conservatives. To see a significant shift to Labour in a year when they did badly in most similar seats around the country suggests there are particular factors at play here.
Local results are not easy to use as any sort of guide here, given that clearly the Liberal Democrat strength locally has not gone away, and they still hold half of the seats. The Tories hold two seats in Ainsdale, one in Cambridge, and a fourth in Duke's ward. Labour hold all three in Norwood ward and were assisted by a defection of two Liberal Democrat councillors, and two of the three seats in Kew. The Liberal Democrats hold the rest, and locally at least, do well in Meols and Cambridge, which are still weaker for Labour, but Labour's clear second place in both Ainsdale and Birkdale may suggest that if they can transform General Election support into local backing, these seats could be winnable as they are in much the same position as both Kew and Norwood were before Labour finally dislodged the winning party. It is important to remember that none of Southport's wards look all that different from each other - the town has just 2,758 registered social housing properties
The Tories and Labour both increased their vote by 8.9 and 6.4% respectively in 2019, and Labour have increased theirs by nearly 20% since 2015, when they remiained in third place. While it is too early to write off the Liberal Democrats in an area where they still do so well locally, their trump card of being the opposition to the Tories in the town is no longer a reality at least at national elections, and a much re-invigorated local Labour party see themselves as the likely competitiors for the seat next time
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Post by Robert Waller on Apr 23, 2021 11:39:34 GMT
2011 Census
Age 65+ 23.2% 33/650 Owner-occupied 72.5% 144/650 Private rented 18.7% 152/650 Social rented 7.0% 642/650 White 96.6% 267/650 Black 0.4% 419/650 Asian 1.4% 425/650 Managerial & professional 32.3% Routine & Semi-routine 25.9% Degree level 27.0% 274/650 No qualifications 22.6% 344/650 Students 6.8% 325/650
2021 Census
Owner occupied 68.7% 206/573 Private rented 23.7% 135/573 Social rented 7.6% 564/573 White 95.0% Black 0.6% Asian 2.0% Managerial & professional 32.8% 274/573 Routine & Semi-routine 24.5% 262/573 Degree level 31.6% 293/573 No qualifications 18.0% 273/573
General Election 2019: Southport
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Damien Moore 22,914 47.6 +8.9 Labour Liz Savage 18,767 39.0 +6.4 Liberal Democrats John Wright 6,499 13.5 −12.9
C Majority 4,147 8.6 +2.5
Turnout 48,180 68.0 -1.1
Conservative hold
Swing 1.3 Lab to C
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Dec 17, 2022 6:42:13 GMT
Proposed boundary changes remove the ward of Ainsdale and add the four wards of West Lancashire district which are currently in the South Ribble constituency. Ainsdale is a little more Conservative than average for Southport but the incoming wards are more so the majority is increased somewhat 2019 Notional result Con | 24975 | 50.3% | Lab | 18373 | 37.0% | LD | 6168 | 12.4% | Grn | 148 | 0.3% |
| | | | | | Majority | 6602 | 13.3% |
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