| Sefton Central | |
|---|---|
| County constituency for theHouse of Commons | |
 Boundary of Sefton Central in North West England | |
| County | Merseyside |
| Electorate | 74,746 (2023)[1] |
| Major settlements | Crosby,Formby, andMaghull |
| Current constituency | |
| Created | 2010 |
| Member of Parliament | Bill Esterson (Labour) |
| Seats | One |
| Created from | Crosby Knowsley North & Sefton East |
Sefton Central is aconstituency represented since its creation in 2010 byBill Esterson of theLabour Party.[n 1][n 2]
The constituency was created forthe 2010 general election, replacing much ofCrosby along with part ofKnowsley North and Sefton East.The constituency comprised the followingelectoral wards of theMetropolitan Borough of Sefton:[2]
Further to the2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for the2024 general election, the constituency is composed of the following wards of the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton (as they existed on 1 December 2020):
TheAinsdale ward was transferred fromSouthport, offset by the loss of theAintree district in the Molyneux ward toLiverpool Walton.
The constituency covers Merseyside northern residential suburban areas ofCrosby,Blundellsands,Brighton-Le-Sands,Little Crosby,Thornton, andHightown,Formby,Ainsdale,Maghull and the villages and localities ofCarr Houses,Freshfield,Ince Blundell,Kennessee Green,Lady Green,Little Altcar,Lunt,Lydiate,Melling,Sefton, andWaddicar, in theMetropolitan Borough of Sefton.
This seat was fought for the first time at the2010 general election.[4]
At the time, eleven of the constituency's twenty-one councillors wereConservatives followed by theLiberal Democrats who had ten,[n 3] whereas analysis byRallings andThrasher indicated that had the Sefton Central constituency existed in 2005, the result would have been: Labour 45.6%, Conservative 33.6%, LibDem 19.2%, giving a Labour majority of 4,950. The Labour Party candidate's majority was 3,862 suggesting a moderate two-partyswing.[4]
The area covered by this seat and its immediate predecessor Crosby was historically a strong area for the Conservatives. However, since Labour gained that seat inthe 1997 election, they have held it with fairly comfortable margins for 20 years. In2015, an 8.1% swing to Labour saw them take the area with their biggest ever majority of 11,846 votes (24.2%),[4] in accordance with the significant swing to Labour in Merseyside compared to 2010; this margin was surpassed in2017, as Labour won more than 60% of the vote in the seat and a majority of over 30% for the first time. This suggests that since 2010, Sefton Central has changed from a key marginal between the major parties to a Laboursafe seat.
The constituency has a working population whose income is close to the national average, and close to average reliance onsocial housing.[5] At the end of 2012, the unemployment rate in the constituency stood as 2.4% of the population claiming Jobseeker's Allowance, compared to the regional average of 4.2%.[6] The borough contributing to the seat has a medium 28.5% of its population without a car, 25.1% of the population without any qualifications and a 24.1% with Level 4 qualifications or above. In terms of tenure, 70.5% of homes are owned outright or on a mortgage as at the 2011 UK Census across the district.[7]
| Election | Member[8] | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Bill Esterson | Labour | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Bill Esterson | 26,772 | 56.4 | +3.8 | |
| Conservative | Marcus Bleasdale | 8,490 | 17.9 | −16.4 | |
| Reform | Nagender Chindam | 5,767 | 12.2 | +8.6 | |
| Green | Kieran Dams | 3,294 | 6.9 | +4.8 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Gareth Lloyd-Johnson | 2,630 | 5.5 | −1.1 | |
| Independent | Ralph James | 496 | 1.0 | N/A | |
| Majority | 18,282 | 38.5 | +20.3 | ||
| Turnout | 47,449 | 63.9 | −12.5 | ||
| Labourhold | Swing | +10.1 | |||
Changes are from the notional 2019 results on the 2024 boundaries.[11]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Bill Esterson | 29,254 | 57.5 | –5.5 | |
| Conservative | Wazz Mughal | 14,132 | 27.8 | –5.2 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Keith Cawdron | 3,386 | 6.7 | +4.0 | |
| Brexit Party | Paul Lomas | 2,425 | 4.8 | New | |
| Green | Alison Gibbon | 1,261 | 2.5 | +1.2 | |
| Liberal | Angela Preston | 285 | 0.6 | New | |
| Renew | Carla Burns | 137 | 0.3 | New | |
| Majority | 15,122 | 29.7 | –0.3 | ||
| Turnout | 50,880 | 72.9 | –2.6 | ||
| Labourhold | Swing | –0.1 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Bill Esterson | 32,830 | 63.0 | +9.2 | |
| Conservative | Jade Marsden | 17,212 | 33.0 | +3.4 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Daniel Lewis | 1,381 | 2.7 | –1.6 | |
| Green | Mike Carter | 656 | 1.3 | –1.1 | |
| Majority | 15,618 | 30.0 | +5.8 | ||
| Turnout | 52,079 | 75.5 | +3.1 | ||
| Labourhold | Swing | +2.9 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Bill Esterson | 26,359 | 53.8 | +11.9 | |
| Conservative | Valerie Allen | 14,513 | 29.6 | –4.3 | |
| UKIP | Tim Power | 4,879 | 10.0 | +5.8 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Paula Keaveney | 2,086 | 4.3 | –15.6 | |
| Green | Lindsay Melia | 1,184 | 2.4 | New | |
| Majority | 11,846 | 24.2 | +16.2 | ||
| Turnout | 49,021 | 72.4 | +0.6 | ||
| Labourhold | Swing | +8.1 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Bill Esterson | 20,307 | 41.9 | –3.7 | |
| Conservative | Debi Jones | 16,445 | 33.9 | +0.4 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Richard Clein | 9,656 | 19.9 | +0.7 | |
| UKIP | Peter Harper | 2,055 | 4.2 | +3.5 | |
| Majority | 3,862 | 8.0 | −4.1 | ||
| Turnout | 48,463 | 71.8 | +11.0 | ||
| Labourhold | Swing | +2.0 | |||
