Manchester Central (UK Parliament constituency)

Manchester Central is a constituency in Greater Manchester. It covers the city centre of Manchester and the neighbourhoods to its north and east, including Cheetham, Ancoats, Bradford, Beswick, Clayton, Openshaw and Newton Heath. It also includes the town of Failsworth, which lies outside the city's boundaries and within the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham. Manchester is a major city that grew from textile manufacturing during the Industrial Revolution. The city has undergone strong economic development in the 21st century and is sometimes considered the United Kingdom's "second city".^[2][3] This constituency contains Etihad Stadium, the home of Manchester City F.C. There are high levels of deprivation here; the city centre and Failsworth are wealthier however the rest of the constituency falls within the top 10% most-deprived areas in England.^[4] The city centre houses many students and young professionals whilst the surrounding neighbourhoods contain a high quantity of low-income council housing. House prices are similar to the rest of North West England and lower than the national average.^[5]

In general, residents of Manchester Central are very young and well-educated. They have low rates of homeownership and household income,^[5] and a high proportion of residents work in science, technology and finance.^[6] The constituency has high rates of unemployment and child poverty.^[7] White people made up 61% of the population at the 2021 census. Asians were 18%, including large Pakistani and Chinese communities, and Black people were 12%. The ethnic minority population is mostly concentrated in Cheetham and Openshaw whilst Failsworth is around 90% White.^[8] Most of the constituency is represented by the Labour Party at the local council level, although Liberal Democrats were elected in Beswick and local independents in Failsworth. An estimated 53% of voters supported remaining in the European Union in the 2016 referendum, higher than the nationwide figure of 48%.^[5]

Creation

The main forerunner to the seat was Manchester Cheetham, entirely taken into this area; three of the five wards of former seat Manchester Exchange completed the first set of boundaries of the seat. The seat (including predecessor seats) has been held by the Labour Party since 1945.

Political history

Labour candidates have won Manchester Central by a decidedly non-marginal majority since its 1974 creation.^[9] The current MP Lucy Powell won the seat at a by-election in November 2012 on a turnout of 18%; the lowest since the Second World War.^[10]

Results of other parties

The 2015 general election saw greater-than-national-average swing of +3.4% (by a swing of +6.2%) to the Green Party candidate, achieving third place. Followed next by UKIP in 2015 by number of votes cast (prior to the 2016 UK EU membership referendum, votes cast for the Liberal Democrats – who for two periods had been the runner-up party in Manchester Central – for the first time placed its candidate in fifth place. The Conservative Party returned to second place in 2015 through candidate Xingang Wang (achieving 13.5% of the vote); its second place of 1979 was through its best polling to date of 22.1% of the vote. The maximal second place to date was in 2010, when Liberal Democrat candidate Marc Ramsbottom took 26.6% of the vote.

Turnout

Turnout has changed from a national low within the 2010 general election (of 46.7%) to 55.1% of electors. The greatest turnout was in 1987, with 63.9%.

• Parliamentary constituencies in Greater Manchester