| Wigan | |
| Parliament: | uk |
| Year: | 1885 |
| Type: | County |
| Previous: | Wigan, South West Lancashire |
| Electorate: | 75,706 (2023)[1] |
| Mp: | Lisa Nandy |
| Party: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Region: | England |
| County: | Greater Manchester |
| European: | North West England |
| Seats: | 1 |
| Year2: | 1545 |
| Abolished2: | 1885 |
| Type2: | Borough |
| Next2: | Wigan |
| Elects Howmany2: | Two |
Wigan is a constituency in Greater Manchester, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The seat has been respresented Lisa Nandy of the Labour Party since 2010. Nandy currently serves as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport under the government of Keir Starmer.
Wigan was incorporated as a borough on 26 August 1246, after the issue of a charter by Henry III.[2] In 1295 and January 1307 Wigan was one of the significant places called upon to send a representative, then known as a 'burgess', to the Model Parliament. However, for the remainder of the medieval period the seat was not summoned to send an official despite being one of only four boroughs in Lancashire possessing Royal Charters; the others were Lancaster, Liverpool and Preston. This changed in the Tudor period with Henry VIII's grant of two Members of Parliament to the town.
Following the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, single-member constituencies were imposed nationwide, meaning the seat saw a reduction of the number of its members.
The death of Roger Stott in office in 1999 made him the fourth Wigan MP in the twentieth century to die in office (uniquely for a constituency in the United Kingdom); the others were John Parkinson, Ronald Williams and William Foster.
Wigan is considered a safe seat given that it has been held by the Labour Party since 1918, with solid majorities ranging from 1,018 votes (2.2%) in 1931 to 22,643 votes (51.7%) in 1997.
| Member of Parliament | Notability | |
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty (1874–80) | ||
| Vice-Chamberlain of the Household (1968–70) | ||
| ||
|
1832–1918: The Township of Wigan.[3]
1918–1983: The County Borough of Wigan[10] [13] [14] [15]
1983–1997: The Metropolitan Borough of Wigan wards of Aspull-Standish, Beech Hill, Ince, Langtree, Newtown, Norley, Swinley, Whelley.[17]
1997–2010: The Metropolitan Borough of Wigan wards of Aspull-Standish, Beech Hill, Langtree, Newtown, Norley, Swinley, Whelley.[18]
2010–present: The Metropolitan Borough of Wigan wards of Aspull, New Springs and Whelley; Douglas; Ince; Pemberton; Shevington with Lower Ground; Standish with Langtree; Wigan Central; Wigan West as existed from the 2004 local elections until new ward boundaries were created for the 2023 local elections.[19]
Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, the composition of the constituency from the 2024 United Kingdom general election will be unchanged.[20]
The seat is productive and has excellent links to Manchester, as well as close links to the M6, which lies just within its western border. However, over the past century, Wigan has witnessed a fall in manufacturing, particularly in the production of textiles, which have been unable to compete with the Indian subcontinent and the Far East. Another industry which has suffered is coal mining, which had been a large employer in this part of Lancashire up until the mid-20th century. There are some industrial areas remaining in and around the town centre. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal flows through the town, including the famous Wigan Pier area.
As of May 2018, the rate of JSA and Universal Credit claimants was 3.9%, higher than the national average of 2.8% and regional average of 3.7%, based on a statistical compilation by the House of Commons Library.[21] The constituency also includes more desirable semi-rural residential villages to the north of Wigan town centre, such as Standish, which are relatively more affluent.
| Parliament | First member | Second member | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1295 | William le Teinterer | Henry le Bocher | |
| 1306–7 (Jan) | Simon Payer | John de Mersee | |
| 1307–1545 | No Members returned to Parliament | ||
| 1545 | Thomas Chaloner | John Eston[22] | |
| 1547 (Nov) | Alexander Barlowe | Thomas Carus | |
| 1552–3 (Mar) | Alexander Barlowe | Gilbert Gerard[23] | |
| 1553 (Oct) | Alexander Barlowe | Gilbert Gerard | |
| 1554 (Apr) | Alexander Barlowe | William Barnes | |
| 1554 (Nov) | Alexander Barlowe | John Barnes | |
| 1555 | Alexander Barlowe | Gilbert Gerard | |
| 1558 | Ralph Barton | Thomas Smith | |
| 1559 (Jan) | William Gerard II | Thomas Bromley[24] | |
| 1562–3 (Mar) | William Gerard II | John Ratcliffe | |
| 1571 | William Gerard II | Owen Ratcliffe | |
| 1572 | Edward Fitton (the younger) on Queen's Service and repl. 1581 by Richard Molyneux | Edward Elrington | |
| 1584 (Nov) | Thomas Grimsditch | William Gerard III | |
| 1586 | William Gerard III | Peter Legh | |
| 1588 (Dec) | Peter Legh | William Leycester | |
| 1593 | William Gerard III | Michael Heneage | |
| 1597 (Oct) | Edward Legh | Nicholas Smyth | |
| 1601 (Oct) | Roger Downes | John Pulteney | |
| 1604 | Sir William Cooke | Sir John Pulteney | |
| 1614 | Sir Gilbert Gerard[25] | Sir Richard Molyneux | |
| 1621 | Sir Thomas Gerard, 1st Baronet (died and replaced 1621 by George Garrard) | Roger Downes | |
| 1624 | Sir Anthony St John | Francis Downes | |
| 1625 | Francis Downes | Edward Bridgeman | |
| 1626 | Sir Anthony St John | Sir William Pooley | |
| 1628 | Edward Bridgeman | Sir Anthony St John | |
| 1629–1640 | No Parliaments convened | ||
| Year | First member | First party | Second member | Second party | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 1640 | Orlando Bridgeman | Royalist | Alexander Rigby | Parliamentarian | |||
| November 1640 | |||||||
| May 1642 | Bridgeman expelled – seat vacant | ||||||
| 1646 | John Holcroft | ||||||
| December 1648 | Holcroft excluded in Pride's Purge – seat vacant | ||||||
| August 1650 | Rigby died – seat vacant | ||||||
| 1653 | Wigan was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate | ||||||
| January 1659 | Robert Markland | Hugh Forth | |||||
| May 1659 | Not represented in the restored Rump | ||||||
| April 1660 | William Gardiner | Hugh Forth | |||||
| October 1660 | John Molyneux | Roger Stoughton | |||||
| 1661 | The Earl of Ancram | < | -- party --> | Geoffrey Shakerley | |||
| February 1679 | Roger Bradshaigh | ||||||
| September 1679 | William Banks | ||||||
| 1681 | Viscount Colchester | ||||||
| 1685 | Lord Charles Murray | ||||||
| 1689 | Sir Edward Chisenhall | William Banks | |||||
| 1690 | Sir Richard Standish | Peter Shakerley | < | -- party --> | |||
| 1694 | John Byrom | ||||||
| 1695 | Sir Roger Bradshaigh | Tory | |||||
| 1698 | Orlando Bridgeman | ||||||
| 1701 | Sir Alexander Rigby | ||||||
| 1702 | Orlando Bridgeman | ||||||
| 1705 | Brigadier Emanuel Scrope Howe | Whig | |||||
| 1708 | Major Henry Bradshaigh | ||||||
| 1713 | George Kenyon | ||||||
| 1715 | The Earl of Barrymore | ||||||
| 1727 | Peter Bold | Tory | |||||
| 1734 | The Earl of Barrymore | < | -- party --> | ||||
| March 1747 | Richard Clayton | < | -- party --> | ||||
| June 1747 | Hon. Richard Barry | < | -- party --> | ||||
| 1754 | Sir William Meredith | Tory | |||||
| 1761 | Fletcher Norton | Simon Luttrell | |||||
| 1768 | George Byng | < | -- party --> | Beaumont Hotham | |||
| 1775 | John Morton | Tory | |||||
| August 1780 | Henry Simpson Bridgeman | < | -- party --> | ||||
| September 1780 | Hon. Horatio Walpole | Tory[26] | |||||
| 1782 | John Cotes | Tory | |||||
| 1784 | Orlando Bridgeman[27] | Tory | |||||
| 1800 | George Gunning | ||||||
| 1802 | John Hodson | Tory | Sir Robert Holt Leigh | Tory | |||
| 1820 | James Alexander Hodson | Tory | Lord Lindsay | Tory | |||
| 1825 | Lieutenant-Colonel James Lindsay | Tory | |||||
| March 1831 | John Hodson Kearsley | Tory | |||||
| May 1831 | Ralph Thicknesse | Whig | |||||
| 1832 | Richard Potter | Radical[28] [29] [30] | |||||
| 1835 | John Hodson Kearsley | Conservative | |||||
| 1837 | Charles Strickland Standish | Whig | |||||
| 1839 | William Ewart | Radical[31] [32] [33] [34] [35] | |||||
| 1841 | Peter Greenall | Conservative | Thomas Bright Crosse[36] | Conservative | |||
| 1842 | Charles Strickland Standish | Whig | |||||
| 1845 | Hon. James Lindsay | Conservative | |||||
| 1847 | Ralph Anthony Thicknesse | Whig[37] [38] | |||||
| 1854 | Joseph Acton | Whig[39] | |||||
| 1857 | Francis Powell | Conservative | Henry Woods | Whig | |||
| 1859 | Hon. James Lindsay | Conservative | Liberal | ||||
| 1866 | Nathaniel Eckersley | Conservative | |||||
| 1868 | John Lancaster | Liberal | |||||
| 1874 | Lord Lindsay | Conservative | Thomas Knowles | Conservative | |||
| 1881 | Francis Powell[40] | Conservative | |||||
| 1881 | Writ suspended following corrupt election – seat vacant | ||||||
| December 1882 | Hon. Algernon Egerton | Conservative | |||||
| 1883 | Nathaniel Eckersley | Conservative | |||||
| 1885 | Representation reduced to one member | ||||||
| Election | Member | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | ||||
| Labour | ||||
| Conservative | ||||
| Labour | ||||
| Labour | ||||
| Labour | ||||
| Labour | ||||
| Labour | ||||
| Labour | ||||
| Labour | ||||
General Election 1914–15:
Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;
After the 1841 election, Crosse was unseated on petition and Standish was declared elected in his place on 11 April 1842.