Post by Robert Waller on Oct 6, 2023 8:47:03 GMT
The parliamentary seat of Halton has been split by the Boundary Commission for England that delivered its final report in June 2023. When Widnes was moved (by government decree) from Lancashire to Cheshire in the early 1970s, it became possible for it to be united in a single parliamentary seat with the town on the opposite bank of the Mersey, Runcorn. The creation of the Widnes/Runcorn borough (since 1998 unitary) council, known as Halton, in 1974, seemed to make that of the constituency of the same name (in 1983) even more logical. ‘Halton’ is an example of a concept that was once a new and forward-looking development but which now seems outdated and is coming to the very end of its shelf-life. The name comes from Halton Castle – not a prehistoric hill fort like Eddisbury in the south of Cheshire, but a post Norman Conquest motte and bailey, later stone, stronghold that formed the basis of the medieval barony of Halton in the north west of that historic county, and south of the Mersey.
There was some logic in the original instance to this marriage. Both Widnes and Runcorn were historically dependent on the chemical industry. Linked by a major road bridge, there was no longer any need to take the ferry made famous by the music hall entertainer Stanley Holloway, which cost ‘per 2d per person per trip’. Since 2017 there has been a second river crossing by road in the shape of the Mersey Gateway bridge. Both halves of the Halton seat have been strongly Labour over the last 40 years. Widnes is one of the starker creations of the nineteenth-century industrial revolution, a stronghold of rugby league and of the working class, with the exception of the somewhat more favoured residential areas beyond the rail tracks at the north end of the town, Upton Rocks and Farnworth. Most of Runcorn is much newer (although it was originally developed as a port on the Manchester Ship Canal), for it was designated as a New Town in April 1964. Owing to overspill, largely from Liverpool, between 1971 and 1981 Runcorn overtook Widnes in population as it grew from 36,000 to 64,000. Widnes was counted in the 2021 census at 62,400.
Halton always seemed an inappropriate name, as the eponymous castle is situated in the middle of the sprawl of the expanded Runcorn (there is now a pub next to the ruins), and the Halton barony never included any of the territory formerly in Lancashire on the north bank of the river. In the Boundary Commission’s report, the two towns both regain their place in names of new seats. The Widnes division that existed between 1950 and 1983 is largely re-established, though it is now to be called Widnes and Halewood. This seat crosses the boundary to the (ex-Merseyside metropolitan county) borough of Knowsley to include Halewood and most of Whiston. Widnes once again will be the centre a constituency entirely north of the river and including terrain never ceded to Cheshire, while the name of Runcorn, which previously existed as a parliamentary division from 1950-83 will also return, with boundaries that were always entirely in Cheshire. Widnes & Halewood contains the majority (66.3%) of the Halton seat, but clearly cannot retain the name as Halton Castle is in Runcorn; the only remaining connection with that name is a ward in Widnes called Halton View. The reason why it is Widnes & Halewood that is the major successor to Halton is that not all of Runcorn was in that seat; a substantial part of it was in Weaver Vale.
Both Runcorn & Helsby and Widnes & Halewood, the two successors to Halton, are highly likely to be won by Labour. These radical boundary changes should not actually be seen as the conversion of one Labour seat (Halton) into two, as Weaver Vale is currently Labour too, and its voters form the largest single element of the new Runcorn & Helsby. But they re-establish the distinction between historic Lancashire and Cheshire, and they remove one constituency name that could be argued to have been both obscure and inappropriate.
Despite the dramatic view of the Ineos (ex ICI) works from the Weston Point expressway in Runcorn, chemicals (and indeed manufacture in general) are no longer paramount in a diversified age. Halton rated in the nation’s top ten constituencies for employment in sales and customer service occupations (12.7%) which outpaced 'process, plant, and machine operatives' (11.0%). This first-named sector includes call centres such as Contact Centre in Widnes. There are a number of industrial estates, producing a wide range from pepper and spice to carpets and kidney machines, but the largest single building along Widnes’s commercial Mersey shore is a Tesco distribution depot - and the Jellybeans Play centre - jellybeansplaycentre.co.uk/. Widnes Is an archetypal northern industrial town, booming during Victoria’s reign from less than 3,000 souls to double by the 1861 census and again by 1871 to reach 30,000 in the year of her death. It is famed for the history of the chemical industry, and for being described as "the dirtiest, ugliest and most depressing town in England" by the Daily News in 1888. There are still many poor housing areas on both sides of the Mersey – and many of them were not planned and built in Victorian times, either.
Halton is a solidly Labour authority in municipal elections, and that applies to the wards in the Widnes section north of the Mersey. Some of Labour’s shares of the vote in those contests in May 2023 were indeed striking: 77% in Highfield, 82% in Bankfield, 80% in Appleton, 70% in Hough Green (the ward with the largest social rented estate), 80% in the apparently more rural Ditton, Hale Village & Halebank. It is all the more impressive that most of these were in multi-party contests rather than against Conservative candidates alone, so Labour were thrashing all comers. Their lowest percentage in any Widnes ward was a fraction under 60% in the Central & West Bank ward, where the Greens achieved by far their best performance, 26%. No other party has won a ward anywhere in Widnes since 2008, when the Tories last took Farnworth, the more middle class (40% professional/managerial) owner occupied (87%) neighbourhood in Widnes’s north east corner, that had been a regular hold for them before 1994. In May 2023 they were beaten by Labour in a straight fight in Farnworth by 70.4% to 29.6%.
Turning to the other parts of the newly drawn seat, Halewood has been associated since 2010 with the city of Liverpool in a Garston & Halewood constituency (there having been a Liverpool Garston from 1950 to 2010). That seat is also rock solid for Labour now, giving Maria Eagle a majority of 31,624 in December 2019. Halewood (population around 20,000, electorate in its two wards over 16,000) is best known for its car manufacture, started by Ford in 1963 but making Jaguars since 2001 and now branded as Jaguar Land Rover (though Ford transmissions are also still made at Halewood). Halewood is in Knowsley borough, and while its north ward has been won by Labour since 2010, after a dalliance with Liberal Democrats for eight years, Independent candidates have (narrowly) won South four times in the last five contests - including in 2023, when the margin was 48% to 46% for Labour. There is no doubt, though, that Halewood votes heavily Labour in general elections.
The third and smallest element is not even a whole ward, but part of a ward – to be precise, polling districts WC1, WC1A, WC2, WC3 and WC4 of the Whiston & Cronton ward of Knowsley council , totalling 6,162 voters. This was previously in St Helens South & Whiston constituency – which still exists under that name, as the other 1,394 voters in Whiston & Cronton ward include some key parts of the Whiston community north of the Liverpool-Manchester rail line such as the hospital. The Greens beat Labour by 52% to 48% in a straight fight in this ward in May 2023. They had previously won it in 2019, but apart from that it has been solidly Labour since the last Tory win in 1990 – as it is in national parliamentary contests.
Widnes & Halewood is a predominantly w.w.c. seat (96% white in 2021, in the top 100 for routine and semi-routine occupations), but despite the dramatic recent realignments this area is not vulnerable to the Conservatives either because of a long term swing or in the context of the special ‘Brexit/Boris’ circumstances of December 2019. The reason is clear. This constituency belongs firmly in the Merseyside sub-region, the most favourable to Labour in recent years, indeed decades. Just like the Wirral peninsula, or the City of Chester, like Sefton Central, or West Lancashire (which includes Skelmersdale) or even Southport, the Labour vote has more than held up, it has advanced overall through the 21st century so far. The reasons are manifold and neither the Tories in general -nor definitely the particular Prime Minister in 2019 - have the appeal seen elsewhere. The massive Labour majority here, both in real and notional form, should be no surprise. Widnes & Halewood’s demographic characteristics are less important than the constituency’s geographical position, which is so strongly related to its political culture.
2021 Census, new boundaries
Age 65+ 18.7% 311/575
Owner occupied 65.6% 302/575
Private rented 13.6% 502/575
Social rented 20.8% 128/575
White 96.1% 120/575
Black 0.4% 456/575
Asian 1.3% 469/575
Christian 64.8% 7/575
Managerial & professional 27.1% 450/575
Routine & Semi-routine 29.4% 97/575
Degree level 25.2% 487/575
Level 2 qualifications 16.2% 13/575
No qualifications 21.3% 141/575
Students 5.6% 280/575
General Election 2019: Halton
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Derek Twigg 29,333 63.5 -9.5
Conservative Charles Rowley 10,358 22.4 +0.6
Brexit Party Janet Balfe 3,730 8.1 New
Liberal Democrats Stephen Gribbon 1,800 3.1 +1.3
Green David O'Keefe 982 2.1 New
Lab Majority 18,975 41.1 -10.1
2019 electorate 71,930
Turnout 46,203 64.2 -3.2
Labour hold
Swing 5.05 Lab to C
Boundary Changes
Widnes and Halewood consists of
66.3% of Halton
21.9% of Garston & Halewood
7.5% of St Helens S & Whiston
0.0% of Knowsley
Map
boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/review2023/9bc0b2ea-7915-4997-9d4a-3e313c0ceb51/north-west/North%20West_279_Widnes%20and%20Halewood_Portrait.pdf
2023 local elections on new boundaries
Lab 66.8%
Ind 13.7%
C 12.8%
Green 4.6%
LD 1.4%
2019 Notional Results on New Boundaries (Rallings and Thrasher)
There was some logic in the original instance to this marriage. Both Widnes and Runcorn were historically dependent on the chemical industry. Linked by a major road bridge, there was no longer any need to take the ferry made famous by the music hall entertainer Stanley Holloway, which cost ‘per 2d per person per trip’. Since 2017 there has been a second river crossing by road in the shape of the Mersey Gateway bridge. Both halves of the Halton seat have been strongly Labour over the last 40 years. Widnes is one of the starker creations of the nineteenth-century industrial revolution, a stronghold of rugby league and of the working class, with the exception of the somewhat more favoured residential areas beyond the rail tracks at the north end of the town, Upton Rocks and Farnworth. Most of Runcorn is much newer (although it was originally developed as a port on the Manchester Ship Canal), for it was designated as a New Town in April 1964. Owing to overspill, largely from Liverpool, between 1971 and 1981 Runcorn overtook Widnes in population as it grew from 36,000 to 64,000. Widnes was counted in the 2021 census at 62,400.
Halton always seemed an inappropriate name, as the eponymous castle is situated in the middle of the sprawl of the expanded Runcorn (there is now a pub next to the ruins), and the Halton barony never included any of the territory formerly in Lancashire on the north bank of the river. In the Boundary Commission’s report, the two towns both regain their place in names of new seats. The Widnes division that existed between 1950 and 1983 is largely re-established, though it is now to be called Widnes and Halewood. This seat crosses the boundary to the (ex-Merseyside metropolitan county) borough of Knowsley to include Halewood and most of Whiston. Widnes once again will be the centre a constituency entirely north of the river and including terrain never ceded to Cheshire, while the name of Runcorn, which previously existed as a parliamentary division from 1950-83 will also return, with boundaries that were always entirely in Cheshire. Widnes & Halewood contains the majority (66.3%) of the Halton seat, but clearly cannot retain the name as Halton Castle is in Runcorn; the only remaining connection with that name is a ward in Widnes called Halton View. The reason why it is Widnes & Halewood that is the major successor to Halton is that not all of Runcorn was in that seat; a substantial part of it was in Weaver Vale.
Both Runcorn & Helsby and Widnes & Halewood, the two successors to Halton, are highly likely to be won by Labour. These radical boundary changes should not actually be seen as the conversion of one Labour seat (Halton) into two, as Weaver Vale is currently Labour too, and its voters form the largest single element of the new Runcorn & Helsby. But they re-establish the distinction between historic Lancashire and Cheshire, and they remove one constituency name that could be argued to have been both obscure and inappropriate.
Despite the dramatic view of the Ineos (ex ICI) works from the Weston Point expressway in Runcorn, chemicals (and indeed manufacture in general) are no longer paramount in a diversified age. Halton rated in the nation’s top ten constituencies for employment in sales and customer service occupations (12.7%) which outpaced 'process, plant, and machine operatives' (11.0%). This first-named sector includes call centres such as Contact Centre in Widnes. There are a number of industrial estates, producing a wide range from pepper and spice to carpets and kidney machines, but the largest single building along Widnes’s commercial Mersey shore is a Tesco distribution depot - and the Jellybeans Play centre - jellybeansplaycentre.co.uk/. Widnes Is an archetypal northern industrial town, booming during Victoria’s reign from less than 3,000 souls to double by the 1861 census and again by 1871 to reach 30,000 in the year of her death. It is famed for the history of the chemical industry, and for being described as "the dirtiest, ugliest and most depressing town in England" by the Daily News in 1888. There are still many poor housing areas on both sides of the Mersey – and many of them were not planned and built in Victorian times, either.
Halton is a solidly Labour authority in municipal elections, and that applies to the wards in the Widnes section north of the Mersey. Some of Labour’s shares of the vote in those contests in May 2023 were indeed striking: 77% in Highfield, 82% in Bankfield, 80% in Appleton, 70% in Hough Green (the ward with the largest social rented estate), 80% in the apparently more rural Ditton, Hale Village & Halebank. It is all the more impressive that most of these were in multi-party contests rather than against Conservative candidates alone, so Labour were thrashing all comers. Their lowest percentage in any Widnes ward was a fraction under 60% in the Central & West Bank ward, where the Greens achieved by far their best performance, 26%. No other party has won a ward anywhere in Widnes since 2008, when the Tories last took Farnworth, the more middle class (40% professional/managerial) owner occupied (87%) neighbourhood in Widnes’s north east corner, that had been a regular hold for them before 1994. In May 2023 they were beaten by Labour in a straight fight in Farnworth by 70.4% to 29.6%.
Turning to the other parts of the newly drawn seat, Halewood has been associated since 2010 with the city of Liverpool in a Garston & Halewood constituency (there having been a Liverpool Garston from 1950 to 2010). That seat is also rock solid for Labour now, giving Maria Eagle a majority of 31,624 in December 2019. Halewood (population around 20,000, electorate in its two wards over 16,000) is best known for its car manufacture, started by Ford in 1963 but making Jaguars since 2001 and now branded as Jaguar Land Rover (though Ford transmissions are also still made at Halewood). Halewood is in Knowsley borough, and while its north ward has been won by Labour since 2010, after a dalliance with Liberal Democrats for eight years, Independent candidates have (narrowly) won South four times in the last five contests - including in 2023, when the margin was 48% to 46% for Labour. There is no doubt, though, that Halewood votes heavily Labour in general elections.
The third and smallest element is not even a whole ward, but part of a ward – to be precise, polling districts WC1, WC1A, WC2, WC3 and WC4 of the Whiston & Cronton ward of Knowsley council , totalling 6,162 voters. This was previously in St Helens South & Whiston constituency – which still exists under that name, as the other 1,394 voters in Whiston & Cronton ward include some key parts of the Whiston community north of the Liverpool-Manchester rail line such as the hospital. The Greens beat Labour by 52% to 48% in a straight fight in this ward in May 2023. They had previously won it in 2019, but apart from that it has been solidly Labour since the last Tory win in 1990 – as it is in national parliamentary contests.
Widnes & Halewood is a predominantly w.w.c. seat (96% white in 2021, in the top 100 for routine and semi-routine occupations), but despite the dramatic recent realignments this area is not vulnerable to the Conservatives either because of a long term swing or in the context of the special ‘Brexit/Boris’ circumstances of December 2019. The reason is clear. This constituency belongs firmly in the Merseyside sub-region, the most favourable to Labour in recent years, indeed decades. Just like the Wirral peninsula, or the City of Chester, like Sefton Central, or West Lancashire (which includes Skelmersdale) or even Southport, the Labour vote has more than held up, it has advanced overall through the 21st century so far. The reasons are manifold and neither the Tories in general -nor definitely the particular Prime Minister in 2019 - have the appeal seen elsewhere. The massive Labour majority here, both in real and notional form, should be no surprise. Widnes & Halewood’s demographic characteristics are less important than the constituency’s geographical position, which is so strongly related to its political culture.
2021 Census, new boundaries
Age 65+ 18.7% 311/575
Owner occupied 65.6% 302/575
Private rented 13.6% 502/575
Social rented 20.8% 128/575
White 96.1% 120/575
Black 0.4% 456/575
Asian 1.3% 469/575
Christian 64.8% 7/575
Managerial & professional 27.1% 450/575
Routine & Semi-routine 29.4% 97/575
Degree level 25.2% 487/575
Level 2 qualifications 16.2% 13/575
No qualifications 21.3% 141/575
Students 5.6% 280/575
General Election 2019: Halton
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Derek Twigg 29,333 63.5 -9.5
Conservative Charles Rowley 10,358 22.4 +0.6
Brexit Party Janet Balfe 3,730 8.1 New
Liberal Democrats Stephen Gribbon 1,800 3.1 +1.3
Green David O'Keefe 982 2.1 New
Lab Majority 18,975 41.1 -10.1
2019 electorate 71,930
Turnout 46,203 64.2 -3.2
Labour hold
Swing 5.05 Lab to C
Boundary Changes
Widnes and Halewood consists of
66.3% of Halton
21.9% of Garston & Halewood
7.5% of St Helens S & Whiston
0.0% of Knowsley
Map
boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/review2023/9bc0b2ea-7915-4997-9d4a-3e313c0ceb51/north-west/North%20West_279_Widnes%20and%20Halewood_Portrait.pdf
2023 local elections on new boundaries
Lab 66.8%
Ind 13.7%
C 12.8%
Green 4.6%
LD 1.4%
2019 Notional Results on New Boundaries (Rallings and Thrasher)
| Lab | 31371 | 66.5% |
| Con | 9829 | 20.8% |
| Brexit | 3592 | 7.6% |
| LD | 1312 | 2.8% |
| Green | 1105 | 2.3% |
| | ||
| Lab Majority | 21542 | 45.6% |
