Post by doktorb🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ on Jan 17, 2024 10:37:05 GMT
This is based on the original Merseymike thread with contributions from Pete Whitehead
Knowsley is "outer Liverpool", a metropolitan borough which doesn't have much in the way of national identity but with some psephological reasons to be notable. There is a serious question as to whether the borough of Knowsley should exist at all. The borough contains two townships which are undoubtedly Liverpool-facing, and a further two which relate more to St. Helens. The borough is very small for a metropolitan and a case has been raised for abolishing it altogether. What cannot be in doubt are it's political preferences. In the past it has been one of Labour's one-party states and in the 2019, while it was overtaken as Labours safest seat by Liverpool Walton, it has Labour's largest majority of 39,942.
The three main population centres here are Kirkby (silent second 'k'), Huyton, and Prescot. Boundary changes tweak around the edges, some more of Prescot comes in, the outer areas of Huyton join into Liverpool itself.
In the middle is Knowsley Hall, home of the Safari Park. Both Kirkby and Huyton expanded in the 1950's to rehouse Liverpool slum clearances - and were represented by Harold Wilson's Huyton seat. In consequence they are effectively Liverpool suburbs, with a very high proportion of social housing. Kirkby has had independent councillors in the past who fought to the left of the very middle of the road local Labour party. Both Huyton and Kirkby have a full slate of Labour councillors.
Between the years of Huyton and Knowsley are "Knowsley North and Sefton East", a hodge-podge of overspill and suburbia, observable in George Howarth's vote share falling to "only" the high 60s. Kirkby was in Huyton before 1974 - the 1950-74 Huyton seat was very similar to this Knowsley seat, including Huyton, Kirkby and Prescott (but also Eccleston and Windle). Whiston was in the former Widnes.
Knowsley South was one of the immediate predecessor seats, covering Huyton and Whiston, largely replacing the Huyton seat of Harold Wilson. MP Sean Hughes had a very healthy majority prior to his death in 1990; the by-election seems to have been unremarkable: Edward OHara increased the Labour share of the vote and in a seven-candidate ballot achieved just shy of 70% of the vote.
Meanwhile Knowsley North has plenty of significant parts to pay in British political history. Robert Kilroy-Silk, the very same, resigned to follow his media ambitions, choosing the time...the place....was neither Ormskirk, nor Prescot. Labour chose George Howarth, whose main challenge came in Rosie Cooper, who would go on to be Labour MP for West Lancashire, but at the time was the SDP/Liberal candidate. This was the time of great flux for Labour, whose internal battles would run on for many years: nearby Liverpool Walton in a 1991 by-election would perhaps be the peak of "central" Labour winning over "militant" Labour. In Knowsley North 1986, Cooper cut the majority to 6,700.
It must be pointed out, as any good after dinner speaker must at this juncture, to tell the Peter Mandelson story about this seat and his relationship with "mushy peas". Whilst the anecdote claims that Tony Blair 's right hand man had confused mushy peas for guacamole in his Hartlepool seat, the man himself says the story comes from an American volunteer at the Knowsley North by-election. Sometimes the fiction is better than the truth.
Prescot and Huyton are stops on the Liverpool-Wigan line. Prescot's "Cables" are every present in the middle of England's non-league football pyramid, their ground a time capsule of old school charm overseen by the tightly packed terrace streets on two sides.
Safe seats are often not safe for long. There are always swings to and from, in and out. Here, though, within the sphere of influence of Liverpool, there has been barely a whisper of a threat to Labour. The greatest battle here might be amongst the creatures looked after by the team at Knowsley Safari Park.
Notional result 2019 on new boundaries
[/td][/tr][tr][td] Majority [/td][td][/div]
Census figures from Robert Waller
vote-2012.proboards.com/post/1078086
Knowsley is "outer Liverpool", a metropolitan borough which doesn't have much in the way of national identity but with some psephological reasons to be notable. There is a serious question as to whether the borough of Knowsley should exist at all. The borough contains two townships which are undoubtedly Liverpool-facing, and a further two which relate more to St. Helens. The borough is very small for a metropolitan and a case has been raised for abolishing it altogether. What cannot be in doubt are it's political preferences. In the past it has been one of Labour's one-party states and in the 2019, while it was overtaken as Labours safest seat by Liverpool Walton, it has Labour's largest majority of 39,942.
The three main population centres here are Kirkby (silent second 'k'), Huyton, and Prescot. Boundary changes tweak around the edges, some more of Prescot comes in, the outer areas of Huyton join into Liverpool itself.
In the middle is Knowsley Hall, home of the Safari Park. Both Kirkby and Huyton expanded in the 1950's to rehouse Liverpool slum clearances - and were represented by Harold Wilson's Huyton seat. In consequence they are effectively Liverpool suburbs, with a very high proportion of social housing. Kirkby has had independent councillors in the past who fought to the left of the very middle of the road local Labour party. Both Huyton and Kirkby have a full slate of Labour councillors.
Between the years of Huyton and Knowsley are "Knowsley North and Sefton East", a hodge-podge of overspill and suburbia, observable in George Howarth's vote share falling to "only" the high 60s. Kirkby was in Huyton before 1974 - the 1950-74 Huyton seat was very similar to this Knowsley seat, including Huyton, Kirkby and Prescott (but also Eccleston and Windle). Whiston was in the former Widnes.
Knowsley South was one of the immediate predecessor seats, covering Huyton and Whiston, largely replacing the Huyton seat of Harold Wilson. MP Sean Hughes had a very healthy majority prior to his death in 1990; the by-election seems to have been unremarkable: Edward OHara increased the Labour share of the vote and in a seven-candidate ballot achieved just shy of 70% of the vote.
Meanwhile Knowsley North has plenty of significant parts to pay in British political history. Robert Kilroy-Silk, the very same, resigned to follow his media ambitions, choosing the time...the place....was neither Ormskirk, nor Prescot. Labour chose George Howarth, whose main challenge came in Rosie Cooper, who would go on to be Labour MP for West Lancashire, but at the time was the SDP/Liberal candidate. This was the time of great flux for Labour, whose internal battles would run on for many years: nearby Liverpool Walton in a 1991 by-election would perhaps be the peak of "central" Labour winning over "militant" Labour. In Knowsley North 1986, Cooper cut the majority to 6,700.
It must be pointed out, as any good after dinner speaker must at this juncture, to tell the Peter Mandelson story about this seat and his relationship with "mushy peas". Whilst the anecdote claims that Tony Blair 's right hand man had confused mushy peas for guacamole in his Hartlepool seat, the man himself says the story comes from an American volunteer at the Knowsley North by-election. Sometimes the fiction is better than the truth.
Prescot and Huyton are stops on the Liverpool-Wigan line. Prescot's "Cables" are every present in the middle of England's non-league football pyramid, their ground a time capsule of old school charm overseen by the tightly packed terrace streets on two sides.
Safe seats are often not safe for long. There are always swings to and from, in and out. Here, though, within the sphere of influence of Liverpool, there has been barely a whisper of a threat to Labour. The greatest battle here might be amongst the creatures looked after by the team at Knowsley Safari Park.
Notional result 2019 on new boundaries
| Lab | 38400 | 80.7% |
| Con | 3942 | 8.3% |
| BxP | 2932 | 6.2% |
| Grn | 1071 | 2.2% |
| LD | 924 | 1.9% |
| Oth | 335 | 0.7% |
34458
[/td][td] 72.4%
[/td][/tr][/tbody][/table]Census figures from Robert Waller
vote-2012.proboards.com/post/1078086
