Huyton
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
Outline map
Huyton in Lancashire, showing boundaries used from 1974-1983
1950–1983
SeatsOne
Created fromWidnes (north part of)
Replaced byKnowsley South, Knowsley North, St Helens South and St Helens North[1]

Huyton (/ˈhaɪtən/ HY-tən) was a former constituency for the House of Commons. Created in 1950, it was centred on Huyton in Lancashire (later Merseyside), North West England, just beyond the borders of the city of Liverpool. The only MP was frontbench Labour politician, Harold Wilson who while representing the seat became Leader of the Labour Party in 1963 and prime minister from 1964 to 1970 and again from 1974 to 1976.

The constituency was dissolved under 1983 boundary changes—largely replaced by Knowsley South. This coincided with Wilson's retirement from Parliament.[2]

Opposition parties

The Liberals ran a candidate in the constituency on its creation in 1950 but did not run one again until 24 years later in 1974, by which time Wilson had become Leader of the Labour Party and served two terms as prime minister. The party finished in third place in all the elections it contested in this seat. Wilson achieved an absolute majority, save in the 1950 election, the runner up party always a Conservative party candidate, who polled best in 1951 with 48.7% of the vote.

Political forebears

The Widnes seat was, in the early 20th century, a marginal seat: in the elections immediately preceding 1950, it alternated between the two largest parties.

Urbanisation

The seat was more suburban at a time of relatively low employment in the sub-region in the 1950s. Council housing and private sector construction of relatively smaller homes by the 1980s complimented the overwhelmingly semi-detached housing stock, downgrading the local housing stock during the seat's existence while solving the problem of chronic housing shortages in the city itself; a time when Merseyside expanded by a programme of home building and motorway building within the confines of Huyton and its suburbs moved further out particularly to the Wirral and other areas on the fringe of the new metropolitan county. The M57 was completed bisecting the area in 1974, so also the M62.[3][4]

Election expenses and type of returning officer

The seat was classified as a higher-level expenses and returning officer county constituency rather than a borough constituency.

Boundaries

1950–1964: The Urban Districts of Huyton-with-Roby and Prescot, and in the Rural District of Whiston the parishes of Eccleston, Kirkby, Knowsley, and Windle.[5]

1964–1974: The Urban Districts of Huyton-with-Roby, Kirkby and Prescot, and in the Rural District of Whiston the parishes of Eccleston, Knowsley, and Windle.[6]

1974–1983: As prior less Kirkby. This was transferred to the redrawn Ormskirk constituency.

Members of Parliament

ElectionMemberParty
1950Harold WilsonLabour
1983 Constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Huyton
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Harold Wilson 21,536 48.4
Conservative Sydney Smart 20,702 46.5
Liberal Herbert Griffith Edwards 1,905 4.3
Communist Leo Joseph McGree 387 0.9
Majority 834 1.9
Turnout 44,530 85.0
Labour win (new seat)
General election 1951: Huyton
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Harold Wilson 23,582 51.3 +2.9
Conservative Francis Leslie Neep 22,389 48.7 +2.2
Majority 1,193 2.6 +0.7
Turnout 45,971 84.8 -0.2
Labour hold Swing +0.3
General election 1955: Huyton
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Harold Wilson 24,858 52.7 +1.4
Conservative Geraint Morgan 22,300 47.3 -1.4
Majority 2,558 5.4 +2.8
Turnout 47,158 78.5 -6.3
Labour hold Swing +1.4
General election 1959: Huyton
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Harold Wilson 33,111 54.9 +2.2
Conservative George Bentley Woolfenden 27,184 45.1 −2.2
Majority 5,927 9.8 +4.4
Turnout 60,295 77.9 -0.6
Labour hold Swing +2.2

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Huyton
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Harold Wilson 42,213 63.9 +9.0
Conservative Harold Tucker 22,940 34.7 −10.4
Committee to Defeat Revisionism for Communist Unity Michael Claude Watkins Baker 899 1.4 New
Majority 19,273 29.2 +19.4
Turnout 66,052 76.7 −1.2
Labour hold Swing +9.7
General election 1966: Huyton
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Harold Wilson 41,122 66.4 +2.5
Conservative Thomas Lyrian Hobday 20,182 32.6 −2.1
National Teenage Party David Sutch 585 0.9 New
Majority 20,940 33.8 +4.6
Turnout 61,889 70.1 −6.6
Labour hold Swing +2.3

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Huyton
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Harold Wilson 45,583 63.1 −3.3
Conservative John Nicholas McAlpine Entwistle 24,509 33.9 +1.3
Democratic John Walter Gerald Sparrow 1,232 1.7 New
Communist Joseph Ivor Kenny 890 1.2 New
Majority 21,074 29.2 −4.6
Turnout 72,214 70.1 ±0.0
Labour hold Swing −2.4
General election February 1974: Huyton
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Harold Wilson 31,767 56.7 −5.4
Conservative Thomas Benyon 16,462 29.4 −4.5
Liberal N Snowden 7,584 13.5 New
More Prosperous Britain Harold Smith 234 0.4 New
Majority 15,305 27.3 −1.9
Turnout 56,047 77.2 +7.1
Labour hold Swing −0.4
General election October 1974: Huyton
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Harold Wilson 31,750 60.8 +4.1
Conservative William Peters 15,517 29.7 +0.3
Liberal Michael Paul Braham 4,956 9.5 −4.0
Majority 16,233 31.0 +3.7
Turnout 52,223 71.1 −6.1
Labour hold Swing +1.9
General election 1979: Huyton
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Harold Wilson 27,449 51.9 −8.9
Conservative Garnet Harrison 19,939 37.7 +8.0
Liberal P Cottier 5,476 10.4 +0.9
Majority 7,510 14.2 −16.8
Turnout 52,864 72.4 +1.3
Labour hold Swing −8.5

See also

References

  1. ↑ "'Huyton', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  2. ↑ "Harold Wilson". InfoBritain. Archived from the original on 21 August 2012. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
  3. ↑ "The Motorway Archive – M57 Dates Page". www.iht.org. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007.
  4. ↑ "M62: Queens Drive to Eccles". The Motorway Archive. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009. Retrieved 19 May 2007.
  5. ↑ "Representation of the People Act 1948: Schedule 1", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1948 c. 65 (sch. 1), retrieved 27 October 2023
  6. ↑ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (South-West Lancashire) Order 1955. SI 1960/463". Statutory Instruments 1960. Part III. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1961. pp. 2883–2884.

Sources

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