Liverpool Walton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Dan Carden of the Labour Party.
Constituency profile Liverpool Walton is an urban and suburban constituency in Merseyside. It covers the neighbourhoods in the north-east of the city of Liverpool, including Walton, Clubmoor, Norris Green, Orrell Park, Fazakerley, Gillmoss and Croxteth. It also includes the village of Aintree, which lies outside the city's boundaries in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton. Liverpool is a large port city with a history of slave trading and importation of goods for Lancashire's industry. The city underwent economic decline in the 1970s as the docks and manufacturing industries declined in importance, but has experienced regeneration in the 21st century. Aintree is known for its racecourse which hosts the Grand National horse race, one of the country's most popular annual sporting events. Liverpool Walton is a highly-deprived constituency; Croxteth Park has average levels of wealth and is suburban in character, whilst the rest of the constituency falls within the top 10% most-deprived areas in England and consists largely of dense terraced housing and council estates. The average house price is lower than the rest of North West England and less than half the national average.
In general, residents of Liverpool Walton have low levels of education and homeownership, and are less likely to be married compared to the rest of the country. Rates of household income and professional employment are low. A high proportion of residents work in the health and transport sectors. The child poverty rate is higher than the UK-wide figure and a high percentage of residents claim unemployment benefits. Like the rest of Liverpool, the percentage of residents identifying as Christian is high and there is a large population of Catholics due to historic Irish migration. White people made up 92% of the population at the 2021 census. At the local council level, almost all seats in the constituency are represented by the Labour Party, although Orrell Park elected a local independent group. An estimated 51% of voters in Liverpool Walton supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum, similar to the nationwide figure of 52%.
Boundaries
Historic
1918–1950: The County Borough of Liverpool wards of Fazakerley, Walton, and Warbreck.
1950–1955: As above plus the civil parish of Aintree in the Rural District of West Lancashire.
1955–1983: The County Borough of Liverpool wards of County, Fazakerley, Pirrie, and Warbreck.
1983–2010: The City of Liverpool wards of Anfield, Breckfield, County, Fazakerley, Melrose, and Warbreck.
2010–2024: The City of Liverpool wards of Anfield, Clubmoor, County, Everton, Fazakerley, and Warbreck.
Current Further to the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency was defined as being composed of the following wards of the City of Liverpool as they existed on 1 December 2020:
The City of Liverpool wards of: Clubmoor; County; Croxteth; Fazakereley; Norris Green; Warbreck.
The Metropolitan Borough of Sefton ward of Molyneux (polling districts C4, C5 and C6).
The constituency was subject to significant change, with the addition of the (former) wards of Croxteth and Norris Green from Liverpool West Derby and the Aintree district in the Sefton Borough ward of Molyneux from Sefton Central. These were partly offset by the transfer of the Anfield and Everton wards to Liverpool Riverside.
Liverpool was subject to a comprehensive local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2023. As a result, the new constituency boundaries do not align with the revised ward boundaries. The constituency now comprises the following wards or part wards from the 2024 general election:
The City of Liverpool wards or part wards of: Clubmoor East; Clubmoor West; County; Croxteth; Croxteth Country Park; Fazakerley East; Fazakerley North; Fazakerley West; Norris Green; Orrell Park; Tuebrook Larkhill (part); Walton; West Derby Muirhead (small part).
Part of the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton ward of Molyneux1. 1 Renamed Aintree and Maghull South ward from May 2026, further to a local government boundary review in Sefton.
The constituency is one of five covering the city of Liverpool and covers the north of the city, taking in the communities of Walton, Clubmoor, Orrell Park, Fazakerley, Croxteth and Norris Green. It also includes the village of Aintree, along with the eponymous racecourse, which are situated in the Borough of Sefton.
History Created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, Liverpool Walton has been held by the Labour Party since the 1964 general election, and is the party's safest seat by size of majority. In 2010 and 2015, it had the largest Labour majority in the country by percentage terms. Labour has won over 70% of the vote at every general election in the Walton constituency since 1992, although for many years it was looked on as a reasonably safe Conservative seat. Until 1964, Labour had only gained Walton once, at their landslide victory after the Second World War in 1945. Like other seats in Merseyside, the Conservative Party's share of the vote declined rapidly during the 1990s, and Conservative candidates failed to poll in second place from 1997 until 2017. From 1964 until his death in 1991, the seat was held by the notable left-winger Eric Heffer; the subsequent by-election was won by Peter Kilfoyle, who held the seat until 2010. Steve Rotheram won the seat in 2010 after Kilfoyle stood down.
At both the 2010 and 2015 general elections, Liverpool Walton saw the highest share of the vote for a winning candidate in the country, and in the latter election, the 81.3% of the vote won by Rotheram was the highest of any candidate in an election in the UK since 1997.
In 2015, Liverpool Walton was the only constituency in England where the Conservative candidate (Norsheen Bhatti) lost their deposit.
In May 2017, Steve Rotheram was elected as Mayor of the Liverpool City Region and chose not to stand for re-election as an MP at the 2017 general election held one month later. In that election, the seat was won by the Labour candidate Dan Carden with the highest vote share for any Labour candidate nationally at 85.7%.
Members of Parliament ElectionMemberParty 1885 John George Gibson Conservative 1888 by-election Miles Walker Mattinson Conservative 1892 James Henry Stock Conservative 1906 F. E. Smith Conservative 1918 Warden Chilcott Conservative 1929 Reginald Purbrick Conservative 1945 James Haworth Labour 1950 Kenneth Thompson Conservative 1964 Eric Heffer Labour 1991 by-election Peter Kilfoyle Labour 2010 Steve Rotheram Labour 2017 Dan Carden Labour
Elections
Elections in the 2020s
Elections in the 2010s
In percentage terms, Carden's vote share and majority were unmatched by any candidate in any constituency at the 2019 election, although higher turnouts and larger electorates saw fifteen other MPs – twelve Labour in London and one in Merseyside, and three Conservatives in Lincolnshire and Essex — win with bigger numerical majorities.
Elections in the 2000s
Elections in the 1990s
Elections in the 1980s
Elections in the 1970s
Elections in the 1960s
Elections in the 1950s
Elections in the 1940s
Elections in the 1930s
Election results 1885–1929 Elections in the 1880s
Gibson was appointed Solicitor-General for Ireland, requiring a by-election.
Gibson resigned after being appointed a Judge of the Queen's Bench Division in the High Court of Justice in Ireland, causing a by-election.
Elections in the 1890s
Elections in the 1900s
Elections in the 1910s
General Election 1914–15:
Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected; Unionist: F. E. Smith Liberal: Thomas BerridgeLiverpool Daily Post 27 June 1914
Elections in the 1920s
See also List of parliamentary constituencies in Merseyside
Notes
References
External links Liverpool Street Gallery – Liverpool 4 Liverpool Street Gallery – Liverpool 9 Liverpool, Walton UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK Liverpool, Walton UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK Liverpool Walton UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK