Knowsley
Notional 2005 Results:
Labour: 30634 (73.9%)
Liberal Democrat: 5501 (13.3%)
Conservative: 4588 (11.1%)
Other: 736 (1.8%)
Majority: 25134 (60.6%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 4492 (12.3%)
Labour: 24820 (68.1%)
Liberal Democrat: 7132 (19.6%)
Majority: 17688 (48.5%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 4250 (11.6%)
Labour: 26071 (71.3%)
Liberal Democrat: 4755 (13%)
Other: 1514 (4.1%)
Majority: 21316 (58.3%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 5987 (12.6%)
Labour: 36695 (77.1%)
Liberal Democrat: 3954 (8.3%)
Referendum: 954 (2%)
Majority: 30708 (64.5%)
Boundary changes: Major. Knowsley (South) loses Halewood to the new Garston and Halewood seat (which replaces Liverpool Garston), and Whiston to the new St Helens South and Whiston seat. In return it gains Kirkby from the now dismembered Knowsley North and Sefton East seat
Profile: A new seat created from the old Knowsley North and Knowsley South seats, Knowsley should be an absurdly safe Labour bastion, on paper at least it will take over from Bootle as their safest seat in the country. Knowsley consists of depressed and run-down council estates, almost exclusively white working class and built to decant the residents displaced by post -war slum clearance in Liverpool. It includes Huyton (once the seat represented by Harold Wilson) to the south and Kirkby to the North, between them is the green space of Knowsley Hall and Park, the ancestral home of the Earls of Derby and the site of a Safari park.
The area is uniformly Labour, in Kirkby they regularly have councillors returned unopposed, a rarity in metropolitan councils. The only ward with significant Conservative support is Roby, though the Lib Dems have some support in Huyton and have council seats in St Gabriels and Prescot West, the large ward which covers Knowsley park and the village of Knowsley itself, from which the local authority takes its n/p>
Current MP: Edward O`Hara(Labour) born 1937, Bootle. Educated at Liverpool Collegiate School and Oxford University. Teacher and lecturer. Former Knowsley councillor. First elected as MP for Knowsley South in the 1990 by-election. O`Hara was defeated by George Howarth in the selection for the Labour candidacy (more information at They work for you)
Candidates: George Howarth (Labour) born 1949, Merseyside. Educated at Huyton Secondary school and Liverpool Polytechnic. Former engineer, teacher and Chief Executive of the Wales Trades Union Congress Centre. Huyton councillor 1971-74, Knowsley councillor 1973-1986. First elected as MP for Knowsley North in 1986 by-election following the resignation of Robert Kilroy-Silk. Currently MP for the Knowsley North and Sefton East constituency, which is divided between Sefton Central and Knowsley under the new boundaries.
Gary Aronsson (BNP) Former Labour activist. Contested Heywood and Middleton 2005, North West region in 2009 European elections.
2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 107443
Male: 47%
Female: 53%
Under 18: 26.3%
Over 60: 20.1%
Born outside UK: 1.5%
White: 98.7%
Black: 0.2%
Mixed: 0.8%
Other: 0.2%
Christian: 86%
Full time students: 2.8%
Graduates 16-74: 8.9%
No Qualifications 16-74: 45.2%
Owner-Occupied: 59%
Social Housing: 34% (Council: 25.9%, Housing Ass.: 8.2%)
Privately Rented: 3.8%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 26.6%
Just spotted the BNP PPC’s comments and had only just realised that the BNP beat the LDs in the European elections in Knowsley.