| Merseyside West | |
|---|---|
| European Parliament constituency | |
 Boundary within North West England (1984-1994) | |
| Member state | United Kingdom |
| Created | 1984 |
| Dissolved | 1999 |
| MEPs | 1 |
| Sources | |
| [1] | |
Prior to its uniform adoption ofproportional representation in 1999, theUnited Kingdom usedfirst-past-the-post for theEuropean elections inEngland,Scotland andWales. TheEuropean Parliament constituencies used under that system were smaller than the later regional constituencies and only had oneMember of the European Parliament each.
From 1984 to 1999, the constituency ofMerseyside West was one of them, following on from the previous "Liverpool" constituency which existed on different boundaries from 1979 to 1984.
When it was created in England in 1984, it consisted of theWestminster Parliament constituencies ofBootle,Crosby,Liverpool Broadgreen,Liverpool Mossley Hill,Liverpool Riverside,Liverpool Walton,Liverpool West Derby,Southport,[1] and remained broadly the same, despite the internal re-arrangement of some of these constituencies (Wavertree replacing Broadgreen and Mossley Hill, and a boundary shift for some of the others).
Ken Stewart, a left-wing and anti-Europe Labour councillor, won the seat for Labour in 1984 from the Liverpool constituency's incumbentGloria Hooper, later Baroness Hooper. He retained it in 1989 and 1994 with increased majorities. His death in 1996 triggered a by-election, one of a number of crucial by-elections resulting in comfortable Labour victories in the closing months ofJohn Major's Conservative government. Labour's candidate wasRichard Corbett, pro-Europe (and later the Leader of the Labour MEPs, theEPLP), who held the seat until it was abolished with the introduction of the regional constituency proportional representation system in 1999. Corbett won the selection to be the Labour candidate in a ballot of all party members in the constituency, winning out againstDavid Watts, later MP for St Helens,Margaret Wall (later Baroness Wall of New Barnet), David Martin, leader ofSefton Council and a number of other local councillors from Liverpool and Bootle.
Under the regional constituency system, Merseyside West became part ofNorth West England.
| Elected | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Kenneth Stewart | Labour | |
| 1996 by-election | Richard Corbett | Labour | |
| 1999 | Constituency abolished: seeNorth West England | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Kenneth Stewart | 65,915 | 42.3 | ||
| Conservative | Miss G. D. Hooper | 52,718 | 33.8 | ||
| Liberal | Paul R. Clark | 37,303 | 23.9 | ||
| Majority | 13,197 | 8.5 | |||
| Turnout | 155,936 | 28.3 | |||
| Labourwin (new seat) | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Kenneth Stewart | 93,717 | 52.4 | +10.1 | |
| Conservative | Michael D. Byrne | 43,900 | 24.6 | −9.2 | |
| Green | Lawrence Brown | 23,052 | 12.9 | New | |
| SLD | Mrs. H. F. (Flo) Clucas | 16,327 | 9.1 | −14.8 | |
| Protestant Reformation | D. J. E. Carson | 1,747 | 1.0 | New | |
| Majority | 49,817 | 27.8 | +19.3 | ||
| Turnout | 178,743 | 35.1 | +6.8 | ||
| Labourhold | Swing | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Kenneth Stewart | 78,819 | 58.4 | +6.0 | |
| Conservative | Chris J. Varley | 27,008 | 20.0 | −4.6 | |
| Liberal Democrats | David Bamber | 19,097 | 14.1 | +5.0 | |
| Liberal | S. R. Radford | 4,714 | 3.5 | New | |
| Green | Mrs. Linda M. Lever | 4,573 | 3.4 | −9.5 | |
| Natural Law | John D. Collins | 852 | 0.6 | New | |
| Majority | 51,811 | 38.4 | +10.6 | ||
| Turnout | 135,063 | 26.2 | −8.9 | ||
| Labourhold | Swing | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Richard Corbett | 31,484 | 53.8 | −4.6 | |
| Conservative | Jeremy Myers | 12,780 | 21.8 | +1.8 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Kiron J.C. Reid | 8,829 | 15.1 | +1.0 | |
| Liberal | Steve Radford | 4,050 | 6.9 | +3.4 | |
| National Democrats | Simon Darby | 718 | 1.2 | New | |
| Natural Law | John D. Collins | 680 | 1.2 | +0.6 | |
| Majority | 18,704 | 32.0 | −6.4 | ||
| Turnout | 58,541 | 11.3 | −14.9 | ||
| Labourhold | Swing | ||||
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