The ceremonial county of Merseyside, created in 1974, is divided into 16 parliamentary constituencies (sub-classified into 11 of borough type and five of county status affecting the level of expenses permitted and status of returning officer). Three seats cross the county boundary - two are shared with Cheshire and one with Lancashire.
The area, centred on its largest city of Liverpool, has since that year elected a majority of Labour Party MPs moreover since 1997 at least 13 of 15 seats have been held or won by the party at each general election, with the party winning all seats for the first time in 2024. The two other largest parties nationally in England (Conservatives and Liberal Democrats) have to date won intermittently in the two larger seats within the four in the Wirral, the peninsula facing Liverpool, and, until 2024, had alternately represented the seat centred on the coastal strip in and around the leisure resort of Southport; it had not previously sided with the Labour Party since it was created in 1885. The bulk of seats especially towards the east and the centre of Liverpool have not sided with the Conservative Party since that party actively supported the National Labour Organisation (1931–1947).
See 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies for further details.
For the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which redrew the constituency map ahead of the 2024 United Kingdom general election, the Boundary Commission for England opted to combine Merseyside with Cheshire as a sub-region of the North West Region, with the creation of two cross-county boundary constituencies of Ellesmere Port and Bromborough, and Widnes and Halewood, which avoids the need for a constituency which spans the River Mersey. As a consequence, Garston and Halewood was abolished and Liverpool Garston re-established, and Wirral South was abolished, with its contents being redistributed to Birkenhead, Ellesmere Port and Bromborough, and Wirral West. Four wards in the Lancashire borough of West Lancashire were included in Southport.[6] [7]
The following constituencies resulted from the boundary review:
Containing electoral wards from Knowsley
Containing electoral wards from Liverpool
Containing electoral wards from St Helens
Containing electoral wards from Sefton
Containing electoral wards from Wirral
Under the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the Boundary Commission for England decided to reduce the number of seats in Merseyside from 16 to 15, leading to significant changes. The two Knowsley seats were abolished, with a single Knowsley constituency created. Parts of Knowsley North and Sefton East were added to the new constituency of Sefton Central, which replaced Crosby, and parts of Knowsley South were added to the new constituency of Garston and Halewood, which replaced Liverpool, Garston.
Primary data source: House of Commons research briefing - General election results from 1918 to 2019[8]
The number of votes cast for each political party who fielded candidates in constituencies comprising Merseyside in the 2024 general election were as follows:[9]
| Party | Votes | % | Change from 2019 | Seats | Change from 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | 324,457 | 56.8% | 8.4% | 16 | 2 | |
| Reform | 80,961 | 14.2% | 9.5 | 0 | 0 | |
| Conservative | 60,903 | 10.7% | 9.5% | 0 | 1 | |
| Greens | 54,871 | 9.6% | 6.9% | 0 | 0 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 31,982 | 5.6% | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Others | 17,681 | 3.1% | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 570,855 | 100.0 | 16 |
| Election year | 1983 | 1987 | 1992 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | 39.9 | 47.4 | 51.4 | 61.9 | 58.7 | 53.8 | 52.3 | 61.7 | 71.2 | 65.2 | 56.8 | |
| Reform | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.7 | 14.2 | |
| Conservative | 35.0 | 28.9 | 29.0 | 19.7 | 20.1 | 19.4 | 21.1 | 18.1 | 21.4 | 20.2 | 10.7 | |
| Green Party | - | 0.3 | 3.6 | 1.5 | 2.7 | 9.6 | ||||||
| Liberal Democrat1 | 23.7 | 23.3 | 16.9 | 14.4 | 17.8 | 22.9 | 20.8 | 5.5 | 4.3 | 5.6 | 5.6 | |
| UKIP | - | - | - | 3.2 | 10.3 | 1.1 | ||||||
| Other | 1.4 | 0.3 | 2.7 | 3.9 | 3.4 | 3.9 | 2.2 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 3.1 |
* Included in Other
| Election year | 1983 | 1987 | 1992 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | 11 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 16 | |
| Conservative | 5 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Liberal Democrat1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 17 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 16 |
A cell marked → (with a different colour background to the preceding cell) indicates that the previous MP continued to sit under a new party name.
2contains some areas of Lancashire