The ceremonial county of Merseyside, created in 1974, is divided into 16 parliamentary constituencies (sub-classified into 11 of borough type and five of county status affecting the level of expenses permitted and status of returning officer). Three seats cross the county boundary - two are shared with Cheshire and one with Lancashire.
The area, centred on its largest city of Liverpool, has since that year elected a majority of Labour Party MPs moreover since 1997 at least 13 of 15 seats have been held or won by the party at each general election, with the party winning all seats for the first time in 2024. The two other largest parties nationally in England (Conservatives and Liberal Democrats) have to date won intermittently in the two larger seats within the four in the Wirral, the peninsula facing Liverpool, and, until 2024, had alternately represented the seat centred on the coastal strip in and around the leisure resort of Southport; it had not previously sided with the Labour Party since it was created in 1885. The bulk of seats especially towards the east and the centre of Liverpool have not sided with the Conservative Party since that party actively supported the National Labour Organisation (1931–1947).
Constituencies
Further information: 2024 United Kingdom general election† Conservative ¥ Green ‡ Labour ¤ Reform UK
Boundary changes
2024
See 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies for further details.
For the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which redrew the constituency map ahead of the 2024 United Kingdom general election, the Boundary Commission for England opted to combine Merseyside with Cheshire as a sub-region of the North West Region, with the creation of two cross-county boundary constituencies of Ellesmere Port and Bromborough, and Widnes and Halewood, which avoids the need for a constituency which spans the River Mersey. As a consequence, Garston and Halewood was abolished and Liverpool Garston re-established, and Wirral South was abolished, with its contents being redistributed to Birkenhead, Ellesmere Port and Bromborough, and Wirral West. Four wards in the Lancashire borough of West Lancashire were included in Southport.
| Name (2010–2024) | Boundaries 2010-2024 | Name (2024–present) | Boundaries 2024–present |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
|
 |
The following constituencies resulted from the boundary review:
Containing electoral wards from Knowsley
- Knowsley
- Liverpool West Derby (part)
- St Helens South and Whiston (part)
- Widnes and Halewood (part also in Cheshire West and Chester)
Containing electoral wards from Liverpool
- Liverpool Garston
- Liverpool Riverside
- Liverpool Walton (part)
- Liverpool Wavertree
- Liverpool West Derby (part)
Containing electoral wards from St Helens
- St Helens North
- St Helens South and Whiston (part)
Containing electoral wards from Sefton
- Bootle
- Liverpool Walton (part)
- Sefton Central
- Southport (part also in West Lancashire)
Containing electoral wards from Wirral
- Birkenhead
- Ellesmere Port and Bromborough (part also in Cheshire West and Chester)
- Wallasey
- Wirral West
2010
Under the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the Boundary Commission for England decided to reduce the number of seats in Merseyside from 16 to 15, leading to significant changes. The two Knowsley seats were abolished, with a single Knowsley constituency created. Parts of Knowsley North and Sefton East were added to the new constituency of Sefton Central, which replaced Crosby, and parts of Knowsley South were added to the new constituency of Garston and Halewood, which replaced Liverpool, Garston.
| Name (1997–2010) | Boundaries 1997-2010 | Name (2010–2024) | Boundaries 2010–2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
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Results history
Primary data source: House of Commons research briefing - General election results from 1918 to 2019
2024
The number of votes cast for each political party who fielded candidates in constituencies comprising Merseyside in the 2024 general election were as follows:
| Party | Votes | % | Change from 2019 | Seats | Change from 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | 324,457 | 56.8% |  8.4%
|
16 |  2
|
| Reform | 80,961 | 14.2% | 9.5
|
0 | 0 |
| Conservative | 60,903 | 10.7% | 9.5%
|
0 | 1
|
| Greens | 54,871 | 9.6% | 6.9%
|
0 | 0 |
| Liberal Democrats | 31,982 | 5.6% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Others | 17,681 | 3.1% | 1.5
|
0 | 0 |
| Total | 570,855 | 100.0 | 16 |
Percentage votes
| Election year | 1983 | 1987 | 1992 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | 39.9 | 47.4 | 51.4 | 61.9 | 58.7 | 53.8 | 52.3 | 61.7 | 71.2 | 65.2 | 56.8 |
| Reform | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.7 | 14.2 |
| Conservative | 35.0 | 28.9 | 29.0 | 19.7 | 20.1 | 19.4 | 21.1 | 18.1 | 21.4 | 20.2 | 10.7 |
| Green Party | - | * | * | * | * | * | 0.3 | 3.6 | 1.5 | 2.7 | 9.6 |
| Liberal Democrat | 23.7 | 23.3 | 16.9 | 14.4 | 17.8 | 22.9 | 20.8 | 5.5 | 4.3 | 5.6 | 5.6 |
| UKIP | - | - | - | * | * | * | 3.2 | 10.3 | 1.1 | * | * |
| Other | 1.4 | 0.3 | 2.7 | 3.9 | 3.4 | 3.9 | 2.2 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 3.1 |
1983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance
* Included in Other
Seats
| Election year | 1983 | 1987 | 1992 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | 11 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 16 |
| Conservative | 5 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Liberal Democrat | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 17 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 16 |
1983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance
Maps
1983 to 2019
-
1983
-
1987
-
1992
-
1997
-
2001
-
2005
-
2010
-
2015
-
2017
-
2019
2024 to present (including three cross-county constituencies)
-
2024
Historic representation by party
A cell marked → (with a different colour background to the preceding cell) indicates that the previous MP continued to sit under a new party name.
1983 to 2010
Conservative Independent Labour Liberal Liberal Democrats
| Constituency | 1983 | 86 | 1987 | 88 | 90 | 90 | 91 | 1992 | 97 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 07 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liverpool Mossley Hill | Alton | → | |||||||||||
| Birkenhead | Field | ||||||||||||
| Bootle | Roberts | Carr | Benton | ||||||||||
| Crosby | Thornton | Curtis-Thomas | |||||||||||
| Knowsley N / Knowsley N & Sefton E (1997) | Kilroy-Silk | Howarth | |||||||||||
| Knowsley South | Hughes | O'Hara | |||||||||||
| Liverpool Garston | Loyden | M. Eagle | |||||||||||
| Liverpool Broadgreen / Liverpool Wavertree (1997) | Fields | Kennedy | |||||||||||
| Liverpool Riverside | Parry | Ellman | |||||||||||
| Liverpool Walton | Heffer | Kilfoyle | |||||||||||
| Liverpool West Derby | Wareing | → | |||||||||||
| Southport | Percival | Fearn | → | Banks | Fearn | Pugh | |||||||
| St Helens North | Evans | Watts | |||||||||||
| St Helens South | Bermingham | Woodward | |||||||||||
| Wallasey | Chalker | A. Eagle | |||||||||||
| Wirral South | Porter | Chapman | |||||||||||
| Wirral West | Hunt | Hesford | |||||||||||
2010 to present
Birkenhead Social Justice Change UK Conservative Independent Labour Liberal Democrats
| Constituency | 2010 | 2015 | 2017 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 2019 | 22 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birkenhead | Field | → | → | Whitley | McGovern | ||||
| Bootle | Benton | Dowd | |||||||
| Knowsley | Howarth | Midgley | |||||||
| Garston & Halewood / Liverpool Garston (2024) | M. Eagle | ||||||||
| Liverpool Riverside | Ellman | → | Johnson | ||||||
| Liverpool Walton | Rotheram | Carden | |||||||
| Liverpool Wavertree | Berger | → | → | Barker | |||||
| Liverpool West Derby | Twigg | Byrne | |||||||
| St Helens North | Watts | McGinn | → | Baines | |||||
| St Helens South & Whiston | Woodward | Rimmer | |||||||
| Sefton Central | Esterson | ||||||||
| Southport | Pugh | Moore | Hurley | ||||||
| Wallasey | A. Eagle | ||||||||
| Wirral South | McGovern | N/A | |||||||
| Wirral West | McVey | Greenwood | Patrick | ||||||
parts transferred in 2024 to seats which lie mostly in Cheshire
contains some areas of Lancashire
See also
- List of parliamentary constituencies in the North West (region)
- List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies
Notes
- BC denotes borough constituency, CC denotes county constituency.
- The majority is the number of votes the winning candidate receives more than their nearest rival.
- Cross-county constituency with Cheshire
- Cross-county constituency with Lancashire
- Cross-county constituency with Cheshire
- Merseyside has three cross-county constituencies. Southport as an electorate predominantly within Merseyside, and so included within the below vote shares. Ellesmere Port and Bromsborough and Widnes and Halewood have majority electorates within Cheshire, and are hence excluded from the vote share
References
- "Boundary shake-up to bring changes on Merseyside". BBC News. 8 June 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
- "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume one: Report | Boundary Commission for England". boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk. paras 763-814. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
- Watson, Christopher; Uberoi, Elise; Loft, Philip (17 April 2020). "General election results from 1918 to 2019".
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