Manchester Withington

Coordinates: 53°25′59″N 2°14′02″W / 53.433°N 2.234°W / 53.433; -2.234

Manchester, Withington Borough constituency
Manchester, Withington shown within Greater Manchester, and Greater Manchester shown within England
Created:	1918
MP:	John Leech
Party:	Liberal Democrats
Type:	House of Commons
County:	Greater Manchester
EP constituency:	North West England

Manchester, Withington is a parliamentary constituency in the city of Manchester. It returns one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.

Boundaries

The current Manchester wards in the constituency are Burnage, Chorlton, Chorlton Park, Didsbury East, Didsbury West, Old Moat and Withington.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Greater Manchester the Boundary Commission for England has made minor changes to the Withington constituency, creating a modified seat from the same electoral wards as above, with the new boundaries following any minor alterations made to the shapes of the wards.

History

Manchester Withington was once a Conservative stronghold. It even resisted being gained by Labour in its massive landslide victories in 1945 and 1966. However, although Margaret Thatcher helped the Conservative majority grow in two elections in this seat, in 1987 the seat turned red for the first time and remained so until 2005. The Conservatives have since dropped into third place and the Lib Dems have taken many of the former Labour votes.

Members of Parliament

John Leech is the current Liberal Democrat MP for the constituency. He was elected at the 2005 general election, defeating the Labour incumbent Keith Bradley who had held the seat since 1987. On the face of it, this was an enormous shock as Labour had had an 11,000+ majority in the previous election. Local Labour activists blamed a protest vote by the student population who may have voted Lib Dem in opposition to aspects of Labour's higher education policy^{[citation needed]}. In fact Withington no longer has a large student community, most of the former Student Halls of Residence having been sold to developers. Less than 15% of Manchester University students live in the constituency, the majority of whom are not registered voters. In recent years, Manchester Withington has developed as a favoured place of residence for the social group of young urban professionals^{[citation needed]},

Locally, the Liberal Democrats have more councillors: Didsbury, Withington, Chorlton Park and Burnage. Labour control Old Moat, and two out of three seats in Chorlton.

Election results

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater Manchester

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

1. ^ Manchester WithingtonUK Polling