Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2020 22:30:36 GMT
The current constituency of Preston has been broadly unchanged since the modern version was formed in 1983. Notwithstanding occasional trips by Boundary Commissioners to the suburbia to the south of the River Ribble Preston has been drawn as a wide, squat constituency, containing most of the urban and post-industrial sprawl which sits largely surrounded by Lancashire's rural heart. This is the territory of scores of traditional grid-pattern terraces, where numerous mills and factories once stood, and where conversion from cotton town to 21st century services hub has been slow and not always steady.
Preston does not quite fit the pattern of its brothers along the "cotton thread" stretched across the county from Irish Sea to Pennines. It is broadly younger, more middle class, and less ethnically diverse than Blackburn, Accrington, or Burnley, and received some stern criticism from its East Lancashire neighbours for daring to apply for city status. When it won that upgrade, the slow transformation from market borough to the (over) ambitious aim of "Third City of The North West" was not without internal strife. The Grade II Listed Brutalist masterpiece bus station stood in the way of a multi-million pound regeneration scheme, one since consigned to the history books. In the place of the abandoned project, Preston has turned to the University of Central Lancashire, the tentacles (and economy) of which has boosted the local area more than some would dare admit. The bus station remains.
Politics here has long since settled into predictable stability. Labour sweep up the local council seats, from the working class southern areas of Fishwick and Ribbleton, to the post-WWII council sprawl of Savick and Larches in the west. Ashton is much more tree-lined, gravel-drive and middle-class, and until the mid-2000s was the only ward within the constituency to return Conservative councillors. The newly expanded 3-member Ashton ward is safely Labour, even with the inclusion of archetypal 1990s new builds alongside the regenerated Preston Docks development. For any sign of growth, the blue team must look outside the constituency, into their traditional hub of Fulwood. Liberal strength has traditionally focused on the Ingol area to the north-west of the city with occasional explorations of neighbouring wards. Labour's absolute strength in the central and eastern parts of Preston excludes all opposition from getting footholds, although notable exceptions to this rule include a one-off Conservative gain in Fishwick, and the husband and wife Independent socialist councillors shutting out official Labour candidates for decades in Deepdale.
Despite being one of the longest held Labour seats in Lancashire, current MP Sir Mark Hendrick does not command a particularly high vote tally or winning percentage. This could be a mere consequence of the low electorate of Preston, currently amongst the smallest in England, and the UK. Taking into account the versions of Preston which have returned MPs over the years, Labour has held on for generations as the winning party. Only during the post-WWII period of "Preston South" was there much competitiveness, Labour by 348 in 1964; Conservative by 1,331 in 1970. There have been only three Preston MPs since 1983, and while Sir Mark is the most moderate of all, he has easily won each of his seven general elections. No other party comes close, although minor left-wing candidates occasionally upset the apple cart by saving their deposits (something both the Socialist Alliance, and Respect have done in their time), suggesting that there is a core number of traditionally socialist voters who would rather vote left than Labour.
The Zombie Review of parliamentary boundaries made it easy for Preston's electoral services department to deal with, in some respects, choosing both times to expand the constituency to the north, bringing almost the entire city council area into the same seat. Whether this will happen during the 2021 Periodic Review is anybody's guess. What is more clear, however, is the winning party: even with leafy Tory territory added in, Labour will always call Preston its own.
Preston does not quite fit the pattern of its brothers along the "cotton thread" stretched across the county from Irish Sea to Pennines. It is broadly younger, more middle class, and less ethnically diverse than Blackburn, Accrington, or Burnley, and received some stern criticism from its East Lancashire neighbours for daring to apply for city status. When it won that upgrade, the slow transformation from market borough to the (over) ambitious aim of "Third City of The North West" was not without internal strife. The Grade II Listed Brutalist masterpiece bus station stood in the way of a multi-million pound regeneration scheme, one since consigned to the history books. In the place of the abandoned project, Preston has turned to the University of Central Lancashire, the tentacles (and economy) of which has boosted the local area more than some would dare admit. The bus station remains.
Politics here has long since settled into predictable stability. Labour sweep up the local council seats, from the working class southern areas of Fishwick and Ribbleton, to the post-WWII council sprawl of Savick and Larches in the west. Ashton is much more tree-lined, gravel-drive and middle-class, and until the mid-2000s was the only ward within the constituency to return Conservative councillors. The newly expanded 3-member Ashton ward is safely Labour, even with the inclusion of archetypal 1990s new builds alongside the regenerated Preston Docks development. For any sign of growth, the blue team must look outside the constituency, into their traditional hub of Fulwood. Liberal strength has traditionally focused on the Ingol area to the north-west of the city with occasional explorations of neighbouring wards. Labour's absolute strength in the central and eastern parts of Preston excludes all opposition from getting footholds, although notable exceptions to this rule include a one-off Conservative gain in Fishwick, and the husband and wife Independent socialist councillors shutting out official Labour candidates for decades in Deepdale.
Despite being one of the longest held Labour seats in Lancashire, current MP Sir Mark Hendrick does not command a particularly high vote tally or winning percentage. This could be a mere consequence of the low electorate of Preston, currently amongst the smallest in England, and the UK. Taking into account the versions of Preston which have returned MPs over the years, Labour has held on for generations as the winning party. Only during the post-WWII period of "Preston South" was there much competitiveness, Labour by 348 in 1964; Conservative by 1,331 in 1970. There have been only three Preston MPs since 1983, and while Sir Mark is the most moderate of all, he has easily won each of his seven general elections. No other party comes close, although minor left-wing candidates occasionally upset the apple cart by saving their deposits (something both the Socialist Alliance, and Respect have done in their time), suggesting that there is a core number of traditionally socialist voters who would rather vote left than Labour.
The Zombie Review of parliamentary boundaries made it easy for Preston's electoral services department to deal with, in some respects, choosing both times to expand the constituency to the north, bringing almost the entire city council area into the same seat. Whether this will happen during the 2021 Periodic Review is anybody's guess. What is more clear, however, is the winning party: even with leafy Tory territory added in, Labour will always call Preston its own.
