Post by doktorb🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ on Jul 8, 2023 16:09:15 GMT
Amongst the 650 constituencies of the UK Parliament, there are those which have their time in the sun, and those which appear to carry on for hundreds of years without setting anything on fire. The modern re-creation of Fylde has had just three MPs, all Conservative since 1983, and arguably all without household name notoriety. Incidentally, and whether this is important truly is your call, Fylde has yet to return a female MP.
The Fylde peninsula is a square, rural, and flat area of Lancashire which stops Preston from falling into the sea and Blackpool from floating away to crash into the Isle of Man. As a whole the Fylde area broadly contains everything west of the M6, including the entire coastline from Fleetwood to Freckleton. The constituency is much smaller in size, taking a compact slab of land and incorporating the main population centre of Kirkham, alongside Wesham, Warton, Lytham/St Annes, and Weeton. Some of these places have national significance even if the constituency is somewhat overlooked. Warton is home to BAe (British Aerospace as was) and has a significant economic impact on the area and beyond, including Preston. Weeton Barracks was set up during the First World War and has been the base of the Duke of Lancaster's for many years. Golf enthusiasts will know Fairhaven and the Royal Lytham course, used for Open Championships for many years, often reached by special shuttle trains from Preston and Blackpool: and yes, these shuttles were once Pacers, and long before any refurbishment. At Salwick, by the by, is the BNFL site currently known by the name "Springfields", so as proven by The Simpsons, there truly is a Springfield Nuclear Plant.
It can't be overstated; Fylde is not particularly young nor ethnically mixed. Over 97% of the population told the 2011 Census that they were White British, and barely 5% of the constituency overall are born outside the UK. This picture is underscored by how many people reported having English as a first language - 97.8% - and how three-quarters own their own home. This is small- and large- letter c conservative territory where a quarter of the overall population is of pensionable age. If you want to know where Lancashire folk go to retire, you would do worse than make your way to the genteel seaside towns of Lytham/St Annes and look around you: cosy, comfortable, moneyed, and settled down.
How do the Conservatives fare at Parliamentary level? Current MP Mark Menzies reached a personal best of 61% vote share, and a 35.6% majority, in December's general election. This may seem moderate rather than comfortable. Fylde tends to attract larger than normal ballot papers for these parts, so votes do get spread about. UKIP took 12% here in 2015, and the Referendum Party only just lost its deposit. Labour are the main challengers, with their vote concentrated in the more mixed and urban Kirkham. Unlike neighbouring boroughs, independents and localist parties win seats at council level, including Ratepayers Associations, making direct comparison with Parliamentary results slightly trickier,. The entire southern coast was a Conservative clean-sweep at the 2017 County elections, although the LibDems sprang a shock gain of St Annes in recent memory, while independents took the eastern wards covering Kirkham, and the borderlands where the borough meets Wyre and Preston. As with Ribble Valley, the borough of Fylde doesn't quite have enough electors to form a seat of its own. The current solution is adding (what was) an electoral ward from Preston covering Lea and Cottam; local government boundary changes in Preston has split this ward in half, so while *technically speaking* the Fylde seat covers Lea and Cottam, the Parliamentary review had to decide how to tidy up and reconcile the eastern border.
The choice was made to exclude any part from Preston at all. To make up the numbers, Poulton-le-Fylde (from the Wyre borough, and the abolished Wyre and Preston North constituency) is added. This is quite similar to the towns on the southern coast of Fylde, though there are differences. It's not as agéd, not quite so "God's waiting room", and unlike the single track apology of a railway line trundling to Blackpool South, Poulton has a newly electrified line to North, with direct services to Manchester and until very recently, a daily Avanti to Euston.
These little alternatives to Conservative dominance mean little in the grand scheme of things, given the electoral history of the seat, and how the Conservatives rise above divided ballot papers to always secure victory. What might not be headline stealing remains, at least, psephologist-pleasing.
The choice was made to exclude any part from Preston at all. To make up the numbers, Poulton-le-Fylde (from the Wyre borough, and the abolished Wyre and Preston North constituency) is added. This is quite similar to the towns on the southern coast of Fylde, though there are differences. It's not as agéd, not quite so "God's waiting room", and unlike the single track apology of a railway line trundling to Blackpool South, Poulton has a newly electrified line to North, with direct services to Manchester and until very recently, a daily Avanti to Euston.
These little alternatives to Conservative dominance mean little in the grand scheme of things, given the electoral history of the seat, and how the Conservatives rise above divided ballot papers to always secure victory. What might not be headline stealing remains, at least, psephologist-pleasing.
