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UK Parliament - Wirral West

RACE DETAILS

Parents

> United Kingdom > England > North West > North West > Wirral West

Office

Parliament

Honorific

Member of Parliament - Abbr: MP

Type

General Election

Filing Deadline

April 19, 2005 - 12:00pm Central

Polls Open

May 05, 2005 - 01:00am Central

Polls Close

May 05, 2005 - 05:00pm Central

Term Start

May 17, 2005 - 12:00pm

Term End

May 17, 2010 - 11:00am

Contributor

Wishful Thinking

Last Modified

Wishful Thinking June 23, 2005 01:53pm

Data Sources

[Link]

Description

Wirral West is one of four Labour seats on this north west peninsula. It feels much more like Cheshire than Merseyside with swathes of green belt and upmarket residential areas overlooking the Dee estuary towards Wales - such as Caldy Village, Hoylake and West Kirby and the Royal Liverpool Golf Course. Eighty two percent of property here is owned-occupied. There are a large number of commuters and professional workers, many employed in health, social work and education. The age profile tends towards the elderly - 21% are 65 or over. Against this, edging Birkenhead, are the wards of Upton and Prenton which contain the Woodchurch council estate as well as some post-war private housing. This forms the core of Labour's support. Former Tory chancellor, Selwyn Lloyd, was MP here with massive majorities. In 1987 Labour was third with fewer than 10,000 votes. In 1992 it was still the safest seat for the Conservatives on the whole of Merseyside. But in 1997 Labour's Stephen Hesford turned an 11,000 majority for the incumbent cabinet minister, David Hunt, into one of 2,758 for Labour. He managed to increase this in 2001 to 4,000.