Blackburn_(UK_Parliament_constituency)

Blackburn (UK Parliament constituency)

Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1955 onwards

Blackburn is a constituency^{[n 1]} in Lancashire, England, which has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament^{[n 2]} since 2015 by Kate Hollern of the Labour Party. From 1979 to 2015, it was represented 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.

Quick Facts County, Population ...

Blackburn
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Blackburn in Lancashire
Location of Lancashire within England
County	Lancashire
Population	107,246 (2011 census)^[1]
Electorate	69,954 (December 2018)^[2]
Major settlements	Blackburn
Current constituency
Created	1955
Member of Parliament	Kate Hollern (Labour)
Seats	One
Created from	Blackburn East and Blackburn West
1832–1950
Seats	Two
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Created from	Lancashire
Replaced by	Blackburn East Blackburn West

Constituency profile

It has elected Labour MPs since its re-creation in 1955.

Boundaries

Map of present boundaries

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]

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.

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.

Audley, Bastwell, Beardwood and Lammack, Corporation Park, Ewood, Higher Croft, Little Harwood, Livesey with Pleasington, Meadowhead, Mill Hill, Queen's Park, Roe Lee, Shadsworth with Whitebirk, Shear Brow and Wensley Fold.

Proposed

Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, from the next general election, due by January 2025, the constituency will be composed of the following wards of the Borough of Blackburn with Darwen (as they existed on 1 December 2020):

Audley & Queen’s Park; Bastwell & Daisyfield; Billinge & Beardwood; Blackburn Central; Blackburn South East; Ewood; Little Harwood & Whitebirk; Livesey with Pleasington; Mill Hill & Moorgate; Roe Lee; Shear Brow & Corporation Park; Wensley Fold.^[7]

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 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)

More information Election, 1st Member ...

Election		1st Member^[11]	1st Party^[12] ^[13]^[14]	2nd Member^[11]	2nd Party
1832		William Feilden	Whig^[15]^[16]^[17]	William Turner	Whig^[15]^[18]^[19]
1841		William Feilden	Conservative^[15]^[16]^[17]	John Hornby	Conservative^[15]
1847		James Pilkington	Whig^[20]^[21]^[22]	John Hornby	Conservative^[15]
1852				William Eccles	Radical^[20]
1853 by-election				Montague Joseph Feilden	Whig^[20]
1857				William Henry Hornby	Conservative
1859			Liberal
1865		Joseph Feilden	Conservative
1869 by-election		Henry Feilden	Conservative	Edward Hornby	Conservative
1874		Henry Feilden	Conservative	William Edward Briggs	Liberal
1875 by-election		Daniel Thwaites	Conservative
1880		Sir William Coddington	Conservative
1885				Sir Robert Peel	Conservative
1886				William Hornby	Conservative
1906		Philip Snowden	Labour	William Hornby	Conservative
1910				Sir Thomas Barclay	Liberal
1910				Sir Henry Norman	Liberal
1918		Percy Dean	Coalition Conservative		Coalition Liberal
1922		Sir Sidney Henn	Conservative		National Liberal
1923		Sir Sidney Henn	Conservative	John Duckworth	Liberal
1929		Thomas Gill	Labour	Mary Hamilton	Labour
1931		Sir George Elliston	Conservative	Sir WD Smiles	Conservative
1945		John Edwards	Labour	Barbara Castle	Labour
1950	constituency abolished: see Blackburn East and Blackburn West

Single member constituency (1955–present)

More information Election, Member ...

Election		Member^[11]	Party
1955		constituency re-established
	1955	Barbara Castle	Labour
	1979	Jack Straw	Labour
	2015	Jack Straw	Independent
	2015	Kate Hollern	Labour