| Manchester, Withington | |
| Parliament: | uk |
| Year: | 1918 |
| Type: | Borough |
| Elects Howmany: | One |
| Electorate: | 71,614 (2023)[1] |
| Region: | England |
| European: | North West England |
| Towns: | Burnage, Chorlton, Didsbury, Withington |
Manchester Withington is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Jeff Smith of Labour.
Demographically contrasting with neighbouring inner-city seats with similarly high Labour majorities, this constituency is the most affluent of all the Manchester seats, as it contains the medium-to-high income average areas of Chorlton and Didsbury, as well as mixed[2] Old Moat and Withington neighbourhoods.[3] Manchester Withington is a seat south of Manchester's city centre with a sizeable student population. It also has a particularly high number of young professionals and graduates. The southern border with Wythenshawe is the River Mersey, along which there are mostly green spaces, such as Fletcher Moss Park and Chorlton Water Park. Chorlton and Didsbury are mostly middle-class areas, with houses on leafy roads and thriving independent shops on their respective high streets. House prices are higher than other parts of Manchester, and the area has one of the highest proportion of graduates in the city. Many of the large Victorian family houses in Didsbury have been split into apartments for young professionals moving into the area.[4]
In the post-war period, Manchester Withington has elected all three major parties. Mostly Conservative before 1987 (with three years of Liberal Party representation near its 1918 inception), it even resisted being gained by Labour in its landslide victories in 1945 and 1966. However, in 1987 the seat turned red for the first time and remained so until 2005 when it was gained by Liberal Democrat John Leech. Leech took the seat with an 18% swing – the largest of the 2005 general election. He retained the seat in 2010, with both of the major parties' losing candidates becoming MPs elsewhere by the next election: Lucy Powell of Labour in Manchester Central in a 2012 by-election, and Conservative Chris Green in Bolton West in 2015.
Amidst a UK-wide collapse in support for the Lib Dems, the seat swung back to Labour in 2015 and in 2017 it became one of the safest Labour seats in the country, with an almost 30,000 majority for Jeff Smith. It was also one of the few seats in England outside London in 2015 where UKIP lost their deposit.
Smith retained the seat in 2019 with a slightly reduced majority, but this was halved in 2024 when a resurgent Green Party jumped from fourth to second place, overtaking the Liberal Democrats.
1918–1950: The County Borough of Manchester wards of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Didsbury, and Withington.
1950–1955: The County Borough of Manchester wards of Rusholme and Withington.
1955–1974: The County Borough of Manchester wards of Barlow Moor, Burnage, Levenshulme, Old Moat, and Withington.
1974–1983: The County Borough of Manchester wards of Barlow Moor, Burnage, Didsbury, Old Moat, and Withington.[5]
1983–2018: The City of Manchester wards of Barlow Moor, Burnage, Chorlton, Didsbury, Old Moat, and Withington.2018–2024: The City of Manchester wards of Burnage (part), Chorlton (part), Chorlton Park (part), Didsbury East, Didsbury West, Old Moat, and Withington.
Following a local government review of ward boundaries which became effective from May 2018, the contents of the constituency were adjusted, but this did not affect its boundaries.[6]
Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency is composed of the following wards of the City of Manchester (as they existed on 1 December 2020):
The boundaries were subject to minor changes to align with the revised ward boundaries, with the whole of the Burnage ward being included in the re-established constituency of Manchester Rusholme.
| 2019 notional result[8] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Vote | % | |
| 33,100 | 66.5 | ||
| 7,803 | 15.7 | ||
| 5,607 | 11.3 | ||
| 2,015 | 4.0 | ||
| 1,269 | 2.5 | ||
| Turnout | 49,794 | 69.5 | |
| Electorate | 71,614 | ||