Post by Merseymike on Apr 11, 2020 16:12:50 GMT
The Bootle constituency occupes the southern end of the borough of Sefton. To say it is a safe Labour seat is an understatement, with the percentage reaching the dizzy heights of 84% in 2017.
It consists of eight wards, six of which are identifiably Bootle or its neighbouring district of Litherland. There is no gap between north Liverpool and the Bootle wards - this is an urban seat. The final two wards are made up of part of the old Crosby seat, the Victoria and Church wards, which are in the main the southern end of Crosby and Waterloo, and both wards have had Liberal Democrat representation in the relatively recent past, but now appear to be as reliably Labour as the Bootle wards, with the enclave of their middle class districts being attractive to left wing voters. Every ward returns a full slate of Labour councillors and at times the majorities have been in North Korean territory with votes of 94%. It was also the seat which finally saw the downfall of the SDP, when its candidate was beaten by the Monster Raving Loony Party in the May 1990 by-election. Before 1945 the religious divide led to a strong association between the Orange vote and support for the Conservatives, as in the rest of the Liverpool area - Labour did not even contest the seat until 1923.
Bootle does have an identity of its own, and has never been part of Liverpool 'proper', but this is Scouse territory to the core. Much of it is the old Liverpool dockland, and it still has large numbers of small terraced housing and big social housing estates. What is also notable is its parochialism. The six Bootle wards have a lower number of people who travel into the city to work than any Sefton Central or the two former Crosby wards in this seat - Waterloo station is the busiest on the Merseyrail Northern line. People live here and work here, and there are still many local extended families who live within walking distance from each other. Its a seat which - just - voted remain, but given its monolitihic Labour vote there are clearly plenty of Labour leavers here. yet their vote stayed as solidly with Labour as ever with a 79.4% of the vote. Its also a seat which has tended to pick its local favourite sons as the Labour MP, with Peter Dowd, the current MP, related to the 1955-79 MP Simon Mahon. The previous MP Joe Benton faced deselection in 2015 but stood down after all but one of the ward parties voted for a trigger ballot.
In a year when post-industrial, traditional seats with a strong leave presence turned their back on Labour, it may be surprising to see that there was no shift of this type here in Bootle. But, this is a Liverpool seat when all is said and done, and Liverpool stuck with Labour.
It consists of eight wards, six of which are identifiably Bootle or its neighbouring district of Litherland. There is no gap between north Liverpool and the Bootle wards - this is an urban seat. The final two wards are made up of part of the old Crosby seat, the Victoria and Church wards, which are in the main the southern end of Crosby and Waterloo, and both wards have had Liberal Democrat representation in the relatively recent past, but now appear to be as reliably Labour as the Bootle wards, with the enclave of their middle class districts being attractive to left wing voters. Every ward returns a full slate of Labour councillors and at times the majorities have been in North Korean territory with votes of 94%. It was also the seat which finally saw the downfall of the SDP, when its candidate was beaten by the Monster Raving Loony Party in the May 1990 by-election. Before 1945 the religious divide led to a strong association between the Orange vote and support for the Conservatives, as in the rest of the Liverpool area - Labour did not even contest the seat until 1923.
Bootle does have an identity of its own, and has never been part of Liverpool 'proper', but this is Scouse territory to the core. Much of it is the old Liverpool dockland, and it still has large numbers of small terraced housing and big social housing estates. What is also notable is its parochialism. The six Bootle wards have a lower number of people who travel into the city to work than any Sefton Central or the two former Crosby wards in this seat - Waterloo station is the busiest on the Merseyrail Northern line. People live here and work here, and there are still many local extended families who live within walking distance from each other. Its a seat which - just - voted remain, but given its monolitihic Labour vote there are clearly plenty of Labour leavers here. yet their vote stayed as solidly with Labour as ever with a 79.4% of the vote. Its also a seat which has tended to pick its local favourite sons as the Labour MP, with Peter Dowd, the current MP, related to the 1955-79 MP Simon Mahon. The previous MP Joe Benton faced deselection in 2015 but stood down after all but one of the ward parties voted for a trigger ballot.
In a year when post-industrial, traditional seats with a strong leave presence turned their back on Labour, it may be surprising to see that there was no shift of this type here in Bootle. But, this is a Liverpool seat when all is said and done, and Liverpool stuck with Labour.
