Weaver Vale (UK Parliament constituency)

Weaver Vale
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Weaver Vale in Cheshire.
Location of Cheshire within England.
County	Cheshire
Electorate	66,008 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Northwich and Frodsham
Current constituency
Created	1997
Member of parliament	Graham Evans (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Eddisbury, Tatton, Halton, and Warrington South
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	North West England

Weaver Vale is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Graham Evans, a Conservative.

Boundaries

1997-2010: The District of Vale Royal wards of Castle, Church, Forest, Frodsham East, Frodsham North West, Frodsham South, Gorst Wood, Hartford, Helsby Central, Helsby North, Helsby South and Alvanley Ward, Kingsley, Milton, Northwich, Weaver, Winnington, Witton North, and Witton South; and the Borough of Halton wards of Brookfields, Castlefields, Clough, Daresbury, Murdishaw, and Norton.

2010-present: The Borough of Vale Royal wards of Forest, Frodsham North, Frodsham South, Hartford & Whitegate, Helsby, Kingsley, Leftwich & Kingsmead, Milton Weaver, Northwich Castle, Northwich Winnington, Northwich Witton, and Weaverham; and the Borough of Halton wards of Beechwood, Daresbury, Halton Lea, Norton North, Norton South, and Windmill Hill.

The constituency covers the northern part of the Cheshire West and Chester unitary authority in Cheshire, including the towns of Northwich and Frodsham and the villages of Helsby and Weaverham. It also includes part of the borough of Halton, covering the easternmost suburbs of Runcorn.

History

Weaver Vale was created in 1997 from parts of Eddisbury, Tatton, Halton, and Warrington South, when the number of constituencies in Cheshire was increased from 10 to 11.

From the 1997 general election, the seat was held by the Labour Party's Mike Hall, who first entered Parliament in 1992 for Warrington South. Labour held the seat relatively easily in the succeeding two general elections however lost the 2010 election here on a swing of 8.15% with minor boundary changes mentioned likely affecting this swing.

In February 2010 Mike Hall, who had held the seat since it was created in 1997, announced that he was standing down at the 2010 election due to health reasons. The present MP for the seat is the Conservative Graham Evans, elected at the 2010 general election.

Constituency profile

The area has economic sectors as diverse as plastics and chemicals to construction. Other areas include telecommunications/bank communication centres, with in addition, a large national bakery and a supermarket distribution centre. Salt used to comprise a major mining industry of the area, much more of which is extracted today from large reserves in Northern Ireland. Workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 slightly higher than the national average of 3.8%, at 4.1% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian. This was, however, lower than the regional average of 4.4%.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1997	Mike Hall	Labour
	2010	Graham Evans	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Weaver Vale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Graham Evans	20,227	43.2	+4.6
	Labour	Julia Tickridge	19,421	41.4	+5.2
	UKIP	Amos Wright	4,547	9.7	+7.4
	Liberal Democrat	Mary Di Mauro	1,395	3.0	-15.7
	Green	Chris Copeman	1,183	2.5	+1.8
	TUSC	Joseph Whyte	94	0.2	+0.2
Majority			806	1.7
Turnout			46,867	68.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 2010: Weaver Vale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Graham Evans	16,953	38.5	+6.9
	Labour	John Stockton	15,962	36.3	−9.4
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Hampson	8,196	18.6	−1.1
	BNP	Colin Marsh	1,063	2.4	N/A
	UKIP	Paul Remfry	1,018	2.3	−0.5
	Green	Howard Thorp	338	0.8	N/A
	Independent	Mike Cooksley	270	0.6	N/A
	Independent	Tom Reynolds	133	0.3	N/A
	Independent	Will Charlton	57	0.1	N/A
Majority			991	2.3
Turnout			43,990	66.1	+10.5
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	8.15

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Weaver Vale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mike Hall	18,759	47.6	−4.9
	Conservative	Jonathan Mackie	11,904	30.2	+2.3
	Liberal Democrat	Trevor Nigel Griffiths	7,723	19.6	+5.2
	UKIP	Brenda Swinscoe	1,034	2.6	+1.2
Majority			6,855	17.4
Turnout			39,420	57.1	−0.5
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 2001: Weaver Vale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mike Hall	20,611	52.5	−3.9
	Conservative	Carl Cross	10,974	27.9	−0.6
	Liberal Democrat	Trevor Nigel Griffiths	5,643	14.4	+2.1
	Independent	Mike Cooksley	1,484	3.8	N/A
	UKIP	Jim Bradshaw	559	1.4	N/A
Majority			9,637	24.6
Turnout			39,271	57.6	−15.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Weaver Vale

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mike Hall	27,244	56.4	N/A
	Conservative	James P. Byrne	13,796	28.6	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Trevor Nigel Griffiths	5,949	12.3	N/A
	Referendum	Roger E. Cockfield	1,312	2.7	N/A
Majority			13,448	27.8	N/A
Turnout			48,301	73.0	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Cheshire