Blackburn (UK Parliament constituency) explained

Blackburn
Parliament:uk
Year:1955
Type:Borough
Elects Howmany:One
Population:107,246 (2011 census)[1]
Electorate:70,586 (2023)[2]
Region:England
European:North West England
Towns:Blackburn
Year2:1832
Abolished2:1950
Type2:Borough
Elects Howmany2:Two

Blackburn is a constituency in Lancashire, England, which is represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by independent politician Adnan Hussain. From 2015 to 2024 it was represented by Kate Hollern of the Labour Party and, from 1979 to 2015, by Jack Straw who served under the Labour leaders of Neil Kinnock and John Smith and the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Constituency profile

Prior to the 2024 general election, it had elected Labour MPs since its recreation in 1955.

Boundaries

The constituency encompasses the town of Blackburn in the North West of England. It borders four other constituencies: Ribble Valley to the north, Hyndburn to the east, Rossendale and Darwen to the south and Chorley to the west.

1832–1885: The township of Blackburn.[3]

1885–1918: The existing parliamentary borough, and so much of the municipal borough of Blackburn as was not already included in the parliamentary borough.[4]

1918–1950: the county borough of Blackburn.[5]

1955–1974: The county borough of Blackburn wards of Park, St. John's, St. Jude's, St. Luke's, St. Matthew's, St. Michael's, St. Paul's, St. Silas's, St. Stephen's, St. Thomas's and Trinity.[6]

2010–2024: Following the review of parliamentary representation in Lancashire, including the unitary authority of Blackburn with Darwen in the run up to the 2010 United Kingdom general election the Boundary Commission for England made minor boundary changes to the existing constituency.

The electoral wards in the Blackburn seat fought at the UK general election in 2010 were entirely within the district of Blackburn with Darwen.

2010–2024: Following the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, from the 2024 general election, the constituency is composed of the following wards of the Borough of Blackburn with Darwen (as they existed on 1 December 2020):

Minor changes to reflect changes to local authority ward structure.

History

For more details, see the Politics section of the Blackburn article.

Blackburn was first enfranchised by the Reform Act 1832, as a two-member constituency, and was first used at the 1832 general election. It was abolished for the 1950 general election, replaced by two single member constituencies, Blackburn East and Blackburn West.

Blackburn was re-established as a single-member constituency for the 1955 general election, partially replacing Blackburn East and Blackburn West. After its re-establishment, the constituency was initially a marginal, but Blackburn is now considered to be a Labour Party stronghold.

It has been represented by two prominent frontbenchers in the Cabinet: Barbara Castle, a First Secretary of State (amongst other roles) who stood down from this seat to become a Member of the European Parliament, and Jack Straw, who served as Home Secretary and then Foreign Secretary in the Blair government.

2005 general election

Blackburn's then MP, Straw, was primarily challenged in the 2005 general election by the Conservative Party, but the former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, also stood for election in the seat as an Independent. Murray said: "I've been approached by several people in the Asian community who are under huge pressure from Labour activists [talking up the [[British National Party|BNP]]'s chances] to apply for a postal vote rather than a ballot vote and then hand their postal vote over to the Labour party." Over 50% more people used postal votes in the 2005 general election in Blackburn than in 2001.[8] The BNP had not stood in the previous two elections, but this time had a candidate, who polled 5.4% of the vote, and beat Murray to come fourth. Both were outperformed by the Liberal Democrats in third place, and the Conservatives, who remained second. Straw held on comfortably, albeit with a reduced majority; his winning share of 42% is the smallest since the seat became a single-member constituency.

2015 general election

In August 2011, Straw announced he had no plans to retire, despite hitting 65 earlier that month.[9]

On 25 October 2013, Straw announced that he would stand down as Blackburn's MP at the next election.[10] In March 2014, Kate Hollern was selected, via an all women shortlist, as the candidate for Labour for the 2015 general election, and held the seat.

Members of Parliament

Two-member constituency (1832–1950)

Election1st Member1st Party[11]

[12] [13]

2nd Member2nd Party
1832William FeildenWhig[14] [15] [16] William TurnerWhig[17] [18]
1841ConservativeJohn HornbyConservative
James PilkingtonWhig[19] [20] [21]
1852William EcclesRadical
1853 by-electionMontague Joseph FeildenWhig
1857William Henry HornbyConservative
1859Liberal
1865Joseph FeildenConservative
1869 by-electionHenry FeildenConservativeEdward HornbyConservative
1874William Edward BriggsLiberal
1875 by-electionDaniel ThwaitesConservative
1880Sir William CoddingtonConservative
1885Sir Robert PeelConservative
1886William HornbyConservative
1906Philip SnowdenLabour
1910Liberal
1910Sir Henry NormanLiberal
1918Percy DeanCoalition ConservativeCoalition Liberal
1922Sir Sidney HennConservativeNational Liberal
1923John DuckworthLiberal
1929LabourLabour
1931Sir George EllistonConservativeSir WD SmilesConservative
1945LabourLabour
1950constituency abolished: see Blackburn East and Blackburn West

Single member constituency (1955–present)

ElectionMemberParty
1955Barbara CastleLabour
1979Jack StrawLabour
2015Independent
2015Kate HollernLabour
2024Adnan HussainIndependent

Elections

Elections in the 1950s

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Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1939–40:Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

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Elections in the 1930s

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Elections in the 1920s

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Elections in the 1910s

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Elections in the 1900s

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Elections in the 1890s

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Elections in the 1880s

thumb|120px|Briggs

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Elections in the 1870s

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Elections in the 1860s

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Elections in the 1850s

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Elections in the 1840s

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Elections in the 1830s

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See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Blackburn: Usual Resident Population, 2011 . Neighbourhood Statistics . Office for National Statistics . 31 January 2015.
  2. Web site: The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition – North West . Boundary Commission for England . 4 July 2024 . dmy .
  3. Web site: The statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 2 & 3 William IV. Cap. LXIV. An Act to settle and describe the Divisions of Counties, and the Limits of Cities and Boroughs, in England and Wales, in so far as respects the Election of Members to serve in Parliament.. London . His Majesty's statute and law printers . 1832 . 300–383 . 23 May 2020.
  4. Book: . The Public General Acts of the United Kingdom passed in the forty-eighth and forty-ninth years of the reign of Queen Victoria . London . Eyre and Spottiswoode . 111–198 . 1885 . Chap. 23. Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885 .
  5. Book: Mayer, Sylvain . 1918 . Representation of the People Act 1918 and the Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918 . London . Waterlow and Sons Limited . 152 .
  6. si . 1955 . 14 . The Parliamentary Constituencies (Blackburn, Chorley and Darwen) Order 1955 . 5 January 1955 . 6 February 2022 .
  7. Web site: The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023 . Schedule 1 Part 5 North West region.
  8. Could the election be won by fraud?, Robert Winnett and Abul Taher, The Sunday Times, 10 April 2005
  9. News: Jack Straw has no plans to retire despite hitting 65. Lancashire Telegraph. 14 August 2011. 5 August 2016.
  10. News: Jack Straw to step down as Labour MP for Blackburn. BBC News. 25 October 2013. 25 October 2013.
  11. Book: Craig , FWS . British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 . 1977 . 2nd . 1989 . Parliamentary Research Services . Chichester . 0-900178-26-4 . 49–50.
  12. Book: Craig , FWS . British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 . 1974 . 2nd . 1989 . Parliamentary Research Services . Chichester . 0-900178-27-2 . 76.
  13. Book: Craig , FWS . British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 . 1969 . 3rd . 1983 . Parliamentary Research Services . Chichester . 0-900178-06-X . 92.
  14. Book: Stooks Smith , Henry. . Craig, FWS . The parliaments of England, from 1715 to 1847 . 1844–1850 . 2nd . 1973 . Parliamentary Research Services . Chichester . 0-900178-13-2 . 175–176 . registration . Archive.org .
  15. Book: Edward. Churton. The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer: 1838. 1838. 88.
  16. Book: Dutton, HI . King, JE . Ten Per Cent and No Surrender: The Preston Strike 1853–1854 . 1981 . Cambridge University Press . Cambridge . 0-521-23620-7 . 92 .
  17. News: Scandal gripped the nation . 27 October 2018 . Lancashire Telegraph . 19 June 2003.
  18. Book: Lewis . Brian . The Middlemost and the Milltowns: Bourgeois Culture and Politics in Early Industrial England . 2001 . Stanford University Press . Stanford . 0-8047-4174-3 . 544 .
  19. Book: Pink, William Dumcombe. Beavan, Alfred B.. The Parliamentary Representation of Lancashire (County and Borough) 1258–1885 with Biographical and Genealogical Notices of the Members. 1889. Henry Gray. London. 317. 14 April 2018.
  20. News: The General Election. 14 April 2018. The Spectator. 31 July 1847. 2.
  21. Web site: The Diary of Charles Tiplady. Cotton Town. 14 April 2018.
  22. News: Blackburn Election Petition. 28 January 2018. Preston Chronicle. 20 March 1869. 2. British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
  23. News: Blackburn Election. 14 April 2018. Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 26 March 1853. 5. British Newspaper Archive. subscription .