The seat was created in 1868. Except for 1931, it was won by Labour candidates fromWorld War I until 2010, generally on safe, large majorities;Ann Widdecombe failed to take the seat from the Labour Party in 1979. The closest second place was to a Conservative Party candidate,Ian Bruce, who came 787 votes (1.6%) short of taking the seat in1983.[3]
Burnley saw strong opposition support for the Liberal Democrats in2005, moving into second place; meanwhile a local independent pushed Yousuf Miah, aConservative into fourth position. Following controversy regarding outgoing Labour MPKitty Ussher's personal expenses,Gordon Birtwistle, who first contested the seat in 1992, gained the seat in2010 with a heavy swing of 9.6%.
However, Birtwistle was one of the many casualties faced by the Liberal Democrats inthe 2015 election, losing the seat toJulie Cooper, who had also stood as Labour's candidate in 2010, although the 6.2% swing away from Birtwistle was less than half the 15.2% national swing against his party. As in 2005, the Conservatives came fourth, behind UKIP, as well as Labour and the Lib Dems this time.
Atthe 2017 election, Labour held the seat with an increased majority. Birtwistle stood again, but saw his share of the vote halved; this was widely seen to be due to his party's stance onBrexit. This election saw one of the biggest increases in the share of the vote for the Conservatives in the whole country, who more than doubled their share of the vote. UKIP lost two-thirds of their vote from 2015, but did retain their deposit. This meant that Burnley was one of the few constituencies in England where four parties retained their deposits.
Atthe 2019 election,Antony Higginbotham won the seat for the Conservatives, thus becoming the first Conservative to represent Burnley in parliament for over 100 years.[4] The Conservative vote share increased by over 9% compared with the previous election, while the Labour vote share declined by about 10%.[5]
In2024 Higginbotham's vote halved and the seat was regained for Labour byOliver Ryan. Gordon Birtwistle, standing in his eighth election for the Liberal Democrats (every election since 1992, except 2001), improved his vote share threefold to come second, relegating the Conservatives to third place.
1997–2024: As 1983 but with redrawn boundaries, due to local government boundary changes in the mid-1980s.
The review of parliamentary representation inLancashire by theBoundary Commission for England in the 2000s proposed no change to the boundaries of the Burnley seat. The seat remained coterminous with the boundaries of the borough ofBurnley (as it has been since 1983; before then, it was coterminous with thecounty borough of the same name).[7]
2024–present: The Borough of Burnley, and the Borough of Pendle wards of: Brierfield East & Clover Hill; Brierfield West & Reedley.[8]
Constituency expanded to bring the electorate within the permitted range by transferring the community ofBrierfield from the abolished constituency ofPendle.
A General Election was due to take place by the end of 1915. By the summer of 1914, the following candidates had been adopted to contest that election. Due to the outbreak of war, the election never took place.
