Worsley and Eccles South | |
Parliament: | uk |
Map1: | WorsleyEcclesSouth2007 |
Map2: | EnglandGreaterManchester |
Map Entity: | Greater Manchester |
Map Year: | 2010 |
Year: | 2010 |
Abolished: | 2024 |
Type: | County |
Electorate: | 73,409 (December 2010)[1] |
Region: | England |
European: | North West England |
Elects Howmany: | One |
Worsley and Eccles South was a county constituency in Greater Manchester in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was represented since its 2010 creation until abolition by Barbara Keeley of the Labour Party.
Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was abolished. Subject to boundary changes, incorporating in the whole of the town of Eccles, it was reformed as Worsley and Eccles, to be first contested at the 2024 general election.[2]
The constituency covered the western half of the City of Salford, mostly safe Labour territory, but the seat also contained two of the Conservatives' strongest wards in the relatively affluent areas of Worsley and Boothstown & Ellenbrook; these are also the only two Remain-voting wards in the constituency. Worsley itself is a desirable area with attractions including historic manor houses along the Bridgewater Canal and the recently-opened 150-acre RHS Garden Bridgewater.
The largest town is Walkden, mostly Labour-leaning, and it also includes the Little Hulton council estate. The "Eccles South" signifies the Barton and Winton suburbs of the town of Eccles. In the far south-west of the constituency along the ship canal were the villages of Irlam and Cadishead, separated from the other settlements by swathes of green belt land and farms in the form of Chat Moss, a protected peatland area.
In the 2019 general election, the BBC's exit poll forecast it as a Conservative gain, but it was not in fact among the many leave-supporting red wall seats to fall, and Labour held on although with a reduced, albeit comfortable, majority.[3]
Following its 2006 review of parliamentary representation in Greater Manchester, the Boundary Commission for England recommended the creation of a modified Worsley constituency, incorporating a part of Eccles, to be called Worsley and Eccles South.[4]
Following council boundary changes that took effect in 2021,[5] the electoral wards included in the Worsley and Eccles South constituency are currently Barton & Winton, Boothstown and Ellenbrook, Cadishead & Lower Irlam, Higher Irlam & Peel Green Ward, Little Hulton, Walkden North, Walkden South, Worsley & Westwood Park.
The electoral wards originally making up the seat were named Barton, Boothstown and Ellenbrook, Cadishead, Irlam, Little Hulton, Walkden North, Walkden South, Winton, Worsley.