| St. Helens South and Whiston | |
|---|---|
| Borough constituency for theHouse of Commons | |
 Boundary of St Helens South and Whiston in North West England | |
| County | Merseyside |
| Electorate | 70,937 (2023)[1] |
| Major settlements | Eccleston,Lea Green,Prescot,Rainhill,St Helens,Sutton,Thatto Heath,Whiston |
| Current constituency | |
| Created | 2010 |
| Member of Parliament | Marie Rimmer (Labour) |
| Seats | One |
| Created from | St Helens South, Knowsley South (part) |
St. Helens South and Whiston is a constituency created in 2010 represented in theHouse of Commons of theUK Parliament since 2015 byMarie Rimmer of theLabour Party.[n 1]
Following theFifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies the Boundary Commission for England expanded and renamed theSt Helens South seat, covering the south of theMetropolitan Borough of St Helens and threewards of theKnowsley borough which were in the neighbouring seat ofKnowsley South (abolished).
Further to the completion of the2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was subject to minor boundary changes, with parts ofWhiston andCronton ward being included in the new constituency ofWidnes and Halewood, first contested at the2024 United Kingdom general election.[2]
The predecessor seat of St Helens South was held by theLabour Party since the 1935 election.
This seat's first MP wasShaun Woodward who had been MP for St Helens South from 2001 to 2010. He had first been elected to Parliament in 1997 as the Conservative MP forWitney, defecting to Labour in 1999. He was succeeded byMarie Rimmer at the2015 election. The 2015 result made the seat the 24th safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority.[3]
The 2015 general election saw (with 11.3%) more than the national averageswing (+9.5%) toUKIP (narrowly placed third). Labour's candidate won more than fivefold those votes, scoring 59.8%.
TheLiberal Democrats came second in 2010 with 22.2% of the vote; this has gradually declined and by the2024 general election they came in sixth with 5.8%.Reform UK were runners-up in 2024, having increased its vote to 18.3% from 10.6% in 2019 (as the Brexit Party). The Conservatives were relegated to fourth place in 2024 by independent candidate James Tasker.[4]
Turnout has ranged from 53.3% (2024) to 66.9% (2017).
The following electoral wards:
Further to the2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for the2024 general election, the constituency was defined as being composed of the following as they existed on 1 December 2020:
Following a local government boundary review in St Helens which came into effect in May 2022,[6][7] the constituency now comprises the following from the 2024 general election:
The majority of theWhiston &Cronton ward - excluding the town centre of Whiston - was included in the new constituency ofWidnes and Halewood.
St Helens South prior to 2010
| Election | Member[9] | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Shaun Woodward | Labour | |
| 2015 | Marie Rimmer | Labour | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Marie Rimmer | 18,919 | 49.7 | −8.4 | |
| Reform | Raymond Peters | 6,974 | 18.3 | +7.7 | |
| Independent | James Tasker | 4,244 | 11.2 | New | |
| Conservative | Emma Ellison | 3,057 | 8.0 | −13.3 | |
| Green | Terence Price | 2,642 | 7.0 | +2.6 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Brian Spencer | 2,199 | 5.8 | +0.1 | |
| Majority | 11,945 | 31.4 | −6.6 | ||
| Turnout | 38,035 | 53.1 | −10.9 | ||
| Labourhold | Swing | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Marie Rimmer | 29,457 | 58.5 | −9.3 | |
| Conservative | Richard Short | 10,335 | 20.5 | −1.3 | |
| Brexit Party | Daniel Oxley | 5,353 | 10.6 | New | |
| Liberal Democrats | Brian Spencer | 2,886 | 5.7 | +1.7 | |
| Green | Kai Taylor | 2,282 | 4.5 | +1.8 | |
| Majority | 19,122 | 38.0 | −8.0 | ||
| Turnout | 50,313 | 63.6 | −3.3 | ||
| Labourhold | Swing | −4.0 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Marie Rimmer | 35,879 | 67.8 | +8.0 | |
| Conservative | Ed McRandal | 11,536 | 21.8 | +5.9 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Brian Spencer | 2,101 | 4.0 | −1.7 | |
| UKIP | Mark Hitchen | 1,953 | 3.7 | −10.3 | |
| Green | Jess Northey | 1,417 | 2.7 | −1.9 | |
| Majority | 24,343 | 46.0 | +2.1 | ||
| Turnout | 52,886 | 66.9 | +4.6 | ||
| Labourhold | Swing | +1.1 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Marie Rimmer | 28,950 | 59.8 | +6.9 | |
| Conservative | Gillian Keegan | 7,707 | 15.9 | −1.9 | |
| UKIP | John Beirne | 6,766 | 14.0 | +11.3 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Brian Spencer | 2,737 | 5.7 | −16.5 | |
| Green | James Chan | 2,237 | 4.6 | New | |
| Majority | 21,243 | 43.9 | +13.2 | ||
| Turnout | 48,397 | 62.3 | +3.2 | ||
| Labourhold | Swing | +4.4 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Shaun Woodward* | 24,364 | 52.9 | −2.7 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Brian Spencer | 10,242 | 22.2 | −6.6 | |
| Conservative | Val Allen | 8,209 | 17.8 | +5.7 | |
| BNP | James Winstanley | 2,040 | 4.4 | New | |
| UKIP | John Sumner | 1,226 | 2.7 | +0.8 | |
| Majority | 14,122 | 30.7 | −3.9 | ||
| Turnout | 46,081 | 59.1 | +5.9 | ||
| Labourhold | Swing | +1.9 | |||
