Blackley and Middleton South (UK Parliament constituency)

Blackley and Middleton South is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament, in Northern Greater Manchester.

Blackley and Middleton South
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Blackley and Middleton South in North West England
County	Greater Manchester
Electorate	71,735 (2023)[1]
Major settlements	Blackley, Middleton
Current constituency
Created	2024
Member of Parliament	Graham Stringer (Labour)
Seats	One
Created from	Blackley and Broughton & Heywood and Middleton (part)

^[2] Created as a result of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, it was first contested at the 2024 general election.^[3] Since 2024, it has been represented by Labour's Graham Stringer, who was MP for the predecessor seats of Blackley and Broughton (2010–2024) and Manchester Blackley (1997–2010).

The constituency includes the northern suburban areas of Manchester as well as half of the town of Middleton.

Constituency profile

The seat covers a mostly residential area in the north of the City of Manchester with the southern half of Middleton in the borough of Rochdale. The areas are joined by major roads with many small parks and two of Manchester City Council's largest green spaces, Heaton Park which is one of the largest municipal parks in Europe and hosts the annual Parklife concert, and Boggart Hole Clough, a large ancient woodland in Blackley towards the east. There is also Alkrington Woods Nature Reserve, and the nearby M60 motorway separates Middleton from Blackley.

Blackley itself is a residential area at the northern half of the seat, and Crumpsall is an increasingly diverse suburb including North Manchester General Hospital, one of the 'new hospitals' set for redevelopment, while the inner-city Harpurhey and Collyhurst districts have a high proportion of social housing and have faced problems with deprivation, and are amongst some of the most deprived areas in the country. Relatively more affluent areas include Alkrington Garden Village in the southern part of Middleton.

The constituency voted Leave in the European referendum in 2016 and the incumbent, Graham Stringer was a prominent Vote Leave supporter.

Boundaries

Map of boundaries from 2024

The constituency is composed of the following wards (as they existed on 1 December 2020):

• The City of Manchester wards of: Charlestown; Crumpsall; Harpurhey; Higher Blackley; Moston.
• The Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale wards of: East Middleton; South Middleton, Including Alkrington Garden village.

^[4]

The seat covers the majority of the former Blackley and Broughton constituency - excluding the parts in the City of Salford (Broughton) as well as the City of Manchester district of Cheetham. The two Middleton wards were formerly part of Heywood and Middleton (renamed Heywood and Middleton North), and Moston was transferred in from Manchester Central.^[5]

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Blackley and Middleton South^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Graham Stringer	16,864	53.8	−5.2
	Reform UK	Alison Devine	6,614	21.1	+13.4
	Green	Dylan Lewis-Creser	3,197	10.2	+8.2
	Conservative	Iftikhar Ahmed	3,073	9.8	−18.4
	Liberal Democrats	Iain Donaldson	1,592	5.1	+2.1
Majority			10,220	32.7	+1.9
Total valid votes			31,340	43.5	−9.1
Rejected ballots			149	0.5
Turnout			31,489	43.7
Registered electors			72,097
	Labour hold		Swing	−9.3

Elections in the 2010s

2019 notional result[7]
Party		Vote	%
	Labour	22,157	59.0
	Conservative	10,599	28.2
	Brexit Party	2,898	7.7
	Liberal Democrats	1,130	3.0
	Green	764	2.0
Turnout		37,548	52.6
Electorate		71,375