Salford (UK Parliament constituency)

Salford is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Boundaries

A very safe Labour seat which has some of the UK's most deprived areas, typified by council estates like Ordsall, Pendleton and Langworthy, which are now due for apparent redevelopment. Higher Broughton has a considerable Jewish population and has some very decent residential housing, but even here Labour are usually in the lead at local level; the Tories, like all the other neighbouring Manchester seats, are now in third place in General Elections.

Boundary Review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Greater Manchester, the borough of Salford has been split into three constituencies.

Blackley and Broughton is a cross-border constituency formed with wards in the current Manchester Blackley seat.

Salford and Eccles takes the existing Salford seat and marries it with central electoral wards of Eccles

Worsley and Eccles South brings Walkden, Worsley and Eccles together in a new seat following the removal of the Wigan-Salford link

Members of Parliament

• Hazel Blears, Labour (1997 - Present)

A point of contention in Ms Blears constituency is the rationalisation of the health service in this area. As Labour party chair, she took the unprecedented step of strategically planning health service cuts that would be optimised in seats that either did not elect Labour MP’s or would ever be likely to do so. Safe Labour seats were deemed possible targets of cuts whereas marginal Labour seats were seen as crucial to the long-term interest of the government and therefore the Labour Parties parliamentary majority.

The decision to attend such a meeting has caused Ms Blears a local problem in her constituency as it has been short listed for swinging cuts in services and the diversion of financial resources in an experiment that may cost peoples lives. Due to expected boundary changes and the amalgamation of two parliamentary seats which encompasses Ms Blears current seat, she will have to undergo a bloody and vicious contest with rival candidates to be adopted in this new seat.

This has lead Ms Blears to undergo a second unprecedented gesture in actively campaigning against a policy that she had collective cabinet responsibility for and more importantly been the Labour parties representative at the strategic planning stage. Given Ms Blears involvement in cabinet, strategic planning and formally holding the office of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health, her future in parliament is less than assurred.

Election results

General Election 2005: Salford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hazel Blears	13,007	57.6	−7.5
	Liberal Democrats	Norman Owen	5,062	22.4	+6.2
	Conservative	Laetitia Cash	3,440	15.2	−0.1
	UKIP	Lisa Duffy	1,091	4.8	+4.8
Majority			7,945	35.2
Turnout			22,600	35	−6.6
	Labour hold		Swing	-6.9%

General Election 2001: Salford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hazel Blears	14,649	65.1	−3.9
	Liberal Democrats	Norman Owen	3,637	16.2	+5.9
	Conservative	Christopher King	3,446	15.3	−2.1
	Socialist Alliance	Peter Grant	414	1.8	N/A
	Independent	Hazel Wallace	216	1.0	N/A
	Independent	Roy Masterson	152	0.7	N/A
Majority			11,012	48.9
Turnout			22,514	41.6	−14.7
	Labour hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater Manchester