St Helens North (UK Parliament constituency)

St. Helens North is a constituency^{[n 1]} created in 1983 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by the Labour Party's David Baines since 2024.^{[n 2]}

St. Helens North
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of St Helens North in North West England
County	Merseyside
Electorate	76,082 (2023)[1]
Major settlements	St Helens, Billinge, Earlestown, Haydock, Newton-le-Willows and Rainford
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of Parliament	David Baines (Labour)
Seats	One
Created from	St Helens, Newton, Ince, Ormskirk and Huyton[2]

Boundaries

Map of 2010–2024 boundaries

1983–2010: The Metropolitan Borough of St Helens wards of Billinge and Seneley Green, Blackbrook, Broad Oak, Haydock, Moss Bank, Newton East, Newton West, Rainford, and Windle.

2010–2022: As above, subject to changes in the local authority ward structure, with Parr replacing Broad Oak, Newton East renamed Newton, and Newton West becoming Earlestown.

2022–present: Following a further local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2022,^[3][4] the Newton and Earlestown wards reverted back to Newton-le-Willows East and Newton-le-Willows West respectively. The constituency now comprises the following wards of the Borough of St Helens:

• Billinge & Seneley Green; Blackbrook; Haydock; Moss Bank; Newton-le-Willows East; Newton-le-Willows West; Parr; Rainford; Windle; and a very small part of Sutton South East.^[5]

The 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which was based on the ward structure in place at 1 December 2020, left the boundaries unchanged.^[6]

The constituency is one of two covering the Metropolitan Borough, the other being St Helens South and Whiston. It includes the north of the town of St Helens, and Billinge, Seneley Green, Earlestown, Blackbrook, Haydock, Newton-le-Willows and Rainford.

History

Results of the winning party

The constituency was created in 1983, primarily replacing parts of the St Helens and Newton constituencies, both of which had been held by the Labour Party since 1935. Candidates fielded by Labour have won this seat at every general election – except for 1983, by an absolute majority. Their vote share ranged from 47.9% (1983) to 64.9% (1997).

The constituency was first won by the former Newton MP John Evans and from 1997 to 2015 by David Watts, a former council leader. His successor was Connor McGinn. In December 2022, McGinn was suspended by the Labour Party but continued to sit as an independent MP until he stood down at the 2024 general election, when the seat was won by Labour's David Baines.

Opposition parties

The Conservative Party have fielded the runner-up candidate in every election except 2005 (Liberal Democrats) and 2024 (Reform UK). Neither the Liberal Democrats nor the Green candidate won 5% of the vote in 2015 to retain their deposits. The third place in 2015 was taken by the UKIP candidate, Smith, who narrowly gained more than the national average swing through a swing of 10.4%.^{[n 3]} In 2017, all three of these parties lost their deposit. In 2019, the Brexit Party won 11.3% of the vote, which it doubled to 22.5% in 2024, standing under its new name of Reform UK.

Turnout

Turnout has ranged from 77.4% in 1992 to 52.7% in 2001.

Constituency profile

The seat includes the large town of St Helens, noted by visitors for its successful rugby league side and the nearby horseracing racecourse at Haydock Park. Despite these prominent sports venues, workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 higher than the national average of 3.8%, at 4.7% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian, which was close to the Greater Manchester and Merseyside average but higher than the regional average of 4.4%.^[7]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[8]	Party
	1983	John Evans	Labour
	1997	Dave Watts	Labour
	2015	Conor McGinn	Labour
	2022		Independent
	2024	David Baines	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: St Helens North ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Baines	21,284	52.6	+0.3
	Reform UK	Malcolm Webster	9,115	22.5	+11.2
	Conservative	Jayne Rear	4,507	11.1	−15.5
	Green	Daniel Thomas	3,495	8.6	+4.5
	Liberal Democrats	Pat Moloney	1,799	4.4	−1.2
	English Constitution Party	Joe Greenhalgh	274	0.7	New
Majority			12,169	30.1	+4.4
Turnout			40,474	53.6	−8.9
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: St Helens North^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Conor McGinn	24,870	52.3	−11.4
	Conservative	Joel Charles	12,661	26.6	−0.5
	Brexit Party	Malcolm Webster	5,396	11.3	New
	Liberal Democrats	Pat Moloney	2,668	5.6	+3.0
	Green	David Van Der Burg	1,966	4.1	+1.7
Majority			12,209	25.7	−10.9
Turnout			47,561	62.9	−3.1
	Labour hold		Swing	−5.4

General election 2017: St Helens North^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Conor McGinn	32,012	63.7	+6.7
	Conservative	Jackson Ng	13,606	27.1	+7.5
	UKIP	Peter Peers	2,097	4.2	−10.9
	Liberal Democrats	Tom Morrison	1,287	2.6	−1.8
	Green	Rachel Parkinson	1,220	2.4	−1.4
Majority			18,406	36.6	−0.8
Turnout			50,222	66.0	+4.5
	Labour hold		Swing	−0.4

General election 2015: St Helens North^[12][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Conor McGinn	26,378	57.0	+5.3
	Conservative	Paul Richardson	9,087	19.6	−2.7
	UKIP	Ian Smith	6,983	15.1	+10.4
	Liberal Democrats	Denise Aspinall	2,046	4.4	−15.8
	Green	Elizabeth Ward	1,762	3.8	New
Majority			17,291	37.4	+8.0
Turnout			46,256	61.5	+1.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.0

General election 2010: St Helens North^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Watts	23,041	51.7	−8.2
	Conservative	Paul Greenall	9,940	22.3	+3.4
	Liberal Democrats	John Beirne	8,992	20.2	−1.1
	UKIP	Gary Robinson	2,100	4.7	+1.7
	Socialist Labour	Stephen Whatham	483	1.0	New
Majority			13,101	29.4	−6.2
Turnout			44,556	59.8	+2.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: St Helens North^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Watts	22,329	56.9	−4.2
	Liberal Democrats	John Beirne	8,367	21.3	+3.7
	Conservative	Paul Oakley	7,410	18.9	+0.1
	UKIP	Sylvia Hall	1,165	3.0	New
Majority			13,962	35.6	−6.7
Turnout			39,271	57.8	+5.1
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.0

General election 2001: St Helens North^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Watts	22,977	61.1	−3.8
	Conservative	Simon Pearce	7,076	18.8	+1.5
	Liberal Democrats	John Beirne	6,609	17.6	+4.9
	Socialist Labour	Stephen Whatham	939	2.5	+0.8
Majority			15,901	42.3	−5.3
Turnout			37,601	52.7	−16.2
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: St Helens North^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Watts	31,953	64.9	+7.0
	Conservative	Pelham Walker	8,536	17.3	−11.2
	Liberal Democrats	John Beirne	6,270	12.7	−0.4
	Referendum	David Johnson	1,276	2.6	New
	Socialist Labour	Ron Waugh	833	1.7	New
	UKIP	Richard Rubin	363	0.7	New
Majority			23,417	47.6	+18.2
Turnout			49,231	68.9	−8.5
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1992: St. Helens North^[18][19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Evans	31,930	57.9	+4.2
	Conservative	Brendan Anderson	15,686	28.5	+1.2
	Liberal Democrats	John Beirne	7,224	13.1	−6.0
	Natural Law	Anne Lynch	287	0.5	New
Majority			16,244	29.4	+3.0
Turnout			55,127	77.4	+1.1
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.5

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: St Helens North^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Evans	28,989	53.7	+5.8
	Conservative	Melinda Libby	14,729	27.3	−3.1
	Liberal	Neil Derbyshire	10,300	19.1	−2.6
Majority			14,260	26.4	+8.9
Turnout			54,018	76.3	+1.8
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.4

General election 1983: St Helens North^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Evans	25,334	47.9
	Conservative	Anthony Rhodes	16,075	30.4
	Liberal	Neil Derbyshire	11,525	21.7
Majority			9,259	17.5
Turnout			52,934	74.5
	Labour win (new seat)

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Merseyside

Notes

1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
2. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
3. UKIP's swing nationally was +9.5% in 2015