Stretford and Urmston (UK Parliament constituency)

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Stretford and Urmston is a constituency^{[n 1]} in Greater Manchester represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since a 2022 by-election by Andrew Western, a Labour MP.

History

Stretford and Urmston was created in 1997 from significant parts of the former constituencies of Davyhulme – a Conservative-held marginal whose last member was the Conservative Winston Churchill (grandson of the former Prime Minister) – and safely Labour Stretford, whose last member was Tony Lloyd (Labour).

The constituency was first represented by Beverley Hughes, who stood down at the 2010 general election.^[1] Kate Green, a Labour front-bencher, held the seat from 2010 until she resigned in November 2022 after being nominated as Greater Manchester's deputy mayor for policing and crime, taking over from Beverley Hughes once again.^[2]^[3]

Boundaries

Template:Maplink 1997–2010: The Metropolitan Borough of Trafford wards of Bucklow, Clifford, Davyhulme East, Davyhulme West, Flixton, Longford, Park, Stretford, Talbot, and Urmston.

2010–2023: The Metropolitan Borough of Trafford wards of Bucklow-St. Martins, Clifford, Davyhulme East, Davyhulme West, Flixton, Gorse Hill, Longford, Stretford, and Urmston.

2023–present: Following a local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2023,^[4]^[5] the constituency now comprises the following wards of Metropolitan Borough of Trafford:

Bucklow-St. Martins; Davyhulme; Flixton; Gorse Hill & Cornbrook; Longford; Lostock & Barton; Old Trafford; Stretford & Humphrey Park; Urmston.^[6]

The 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which was based on the ward structure in place at 1 December 2020, left the boundaries unchanged.^[7]

Constituency profile

This is one of three seats in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford and covers its north and west. As of 2000, the total electorate for the constituency was 72,414.^[8]

The Conservatives are traditionally strongest in the affluent suburbs of Davyhulme and Flixton, whereas Urmston is often a marginal battle between them and Labour. But in the 2018 and 2019 Local Elections, Labour won every ward in the constituency for the first time ever, gaining Flixton and both Davyhulme wards. These were crucial seats in terms of giving them control of Trafford Council in May 2019. The rest of the wards, which include Stretford and its suburbs, and the areas of Carrington and Partington (Bucklow-St Martins) are strongly Labour. There is significant commercial activity in the north-east of the seat along the ship canal at Trafford Park, which also includes the Trafford Centre, opened in 1998 and is one of the largest shopping centres in the UK.

The seat is also home to Manchester United's Old Trafford football ground as well as the cricket ground of the same name.

The constituency is of approximately average scale in area for Greater Manchester, featuring several green spaces, and is convenient for workers in both the cities of Salford and Manchester. It is the only borough in Greater Manchester to retain state-funded grammar schools, two of which, Stretford Grammar and Urmston Grammar, are in this seat, with the others being in Altrincham in the neighbouring seat.

As to other parties, the Liberal Democrats and UKIP were the only parties to have achieved the retention of deposit threshold of 5% of the vote until 2024, when candidates for Reform UK, the Workers Party, and the Green Party all passed it.

Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 higher the regional average of 4.4%, at 4.6% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian. This in turn was higher than the national average at the time of 3.8%^[9]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member^[10]	Party
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	1997	Beverley Hughes	Labour
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	2010	Kate Green	Labour
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	2022 by-election	Andrew Western	Labour