St Helens South (UK Parliament constituency)

53.448°N 2.731°W / 53.448; -2.731

St Helens South
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of St Helens South in Merseyside for the 2005 general election
Location of Merseyside within England
County	Merseyside
1983–2010
Seats	One
Created from	St Helens, Widnes and Huyton[1]
Replaced by	St Helens South and Whiston

St Helens South was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Boundaries

The Borough of St Helens wards of Eccleston, Grange Park, Marshalls Cross, Parr and Hardshaw, Queen's Park, Rainhill, Sutton and Bold, Thatto Heath, and West Sutton.

The constituency was one of two covering the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, the other being St Helens North. It contained the southern part of the borough including the town centre of St Helens, the south of the town, Clock Face and Rainhill.

Following recommendations made by the Boundary Commission for England, St Helens South was replaced with a new St Helens South and Whiston constituency, which includes three wards from Knowsley borough.

History

The forerunner seat had been represented by members of the Labour Party since 1935.

The constituency was formed in 1983, and was represented by Labour's Gerry Bermingham from then until he stood down in 2001. He was replaced by Shaun Woodward, who had defected from the Conservatives to Labour in December 1999. Woodward was deemed unlikely to retain his Witney constituency in Oxfordshire as a Labour candidate (it was subsequently won by David Cameron, former Leader of the Conservatives and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom), and was instead selected for this safe seat. Woodward had won all three elections however he lost his position in the cabinet because of the Labour party defeat to the Liberal Democrat-Conservative coalition government in the 2010 general election.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [2]	Party
	1983	Gerry Bermingham	Labour
	2001	Shaun Woodward	Labour
	2010	Constituency abolished: see St Helens South and Whiston

Elections

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: St Helens South^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gerry Bermingham	22,906	46.9
	Conservative	Richard Bull	13,244	27.1
	SDP	Philip Briers	10,939	22.2
	Independent	Melvyn Davies	1,780	3.6
Majority			9,622	19.8
Turnout			48,869	70.6
	Labour win (new seat)

General election 1987: St Helens South^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gerry Bermingham	27,027	54.6	+7.7
	Conservative	John Brown	13,226	26.7	−0.4
	SDP	Philip Briers	9,252	18.7	−3.5
Majority			13,801	27.9	+8.1
Turnout			49,505	71.3	+0.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.1

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: St. Helens South^[5][6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gerry Bermingham	30,391	61.0	+6.4
	Conservative	Patricia Buzzard	12,182	24.5	−2.2
	Liberal Democrats	Brian Spencer	6,933	13.9	−4.8
	Natural Law	Harriet Jump	295	0.6	New
Majority			18,209	36.5	+8.6
Turnout			49,801	73.8	+2.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.3

General election 1997: St Helens South^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gerry Bermingham	30,367	68.6	+7.6
	Conservative	Mary Russell	6,628	15.0	−9.5
	Liberal Democrats	Brian Spencer	5,919	13.4	−0.5
	Referendum	William Holdaway	1,165	2.6	New
	Natural Law	Harriet Jump	179	0.4	−0.2
Majority			23,739	53.6	+17.1
Turnout			44,258	66.5	−7.3
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2001: St Helens South^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Shaun Woodward	16,799	49.7	−18.9
	Liberal Democrats	Brian Spencer	7,814	23.1	+9.7
	Conservative	Lee Rotherham	4,675	13.8	−1.2
	Socialist Alliance	Neil Thompson	2,325	6.9	New
	Socialist Labour	Michael Perry	1,504	4.4	New
	UKIP	Bryan Slater	336	1.0	New
	Independent	Michael Murphy	271	0.8	New
	Independent	David Braid	80	0.2	New
Majority			8,985	26.6	−27.0
Turnout			33,804	51.4	−15.1
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 2005: St Helens South^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Shaun Woodward	19,345	54.5	+4.8
	Liberal Democrats	Brian Spencer	10,036	28.3	+5.2
	Conservative	Una Riley	4,602	13.0	−0.8
	UKIP	Malcolm Nightingale	847	2.4	+1.4
	Socialist Labour	Michael Perry	643	1.8	−2.6
Majority			9,309	26.2	−0.4
Turnout			35,473	53.4	+2.0
	Labour hold		Swing	−0.2

See also

• St Helens South and Whiston parliamentary constituency
• List of parliamentary constituencies in Merseyside