Oldham East and Saddleworth

Oldham East and Saddleworth is a constituency in Greater Manchester in North West England. It covers the eastern half of the town of Oldham (including the neighbourhoods of Glodwick, Abbey Hills, Derker and Waterhead), the outer residential areas of Lees, Moorside, Sholver, Shaw and Crompton, and the parish of Saddleworth which includes the connected villages of Springhead, Grasscroft, Greenfield, Uppermill, Dobcross, Delph and Diggle.

Oldham is a large town that was traditionally reliant on the textile trade, especially cotton spinning. It grew rapidly as a mill town during the Victorian era, and in the early 20th century the town hosted more than one-tenth of the world's operational cotton-spinning machines.^[4] Oldham also has a history of coal mining;^[5] however, neither industry survived into the 21st century. Dense terraced housing, built to house factory workers, is typical of the town's central neighbourhoods. Saddleworth is a mostly rural area at the foot of the Pennine hills; its villages also had textile-based economies.

As with much of industrial Northern England, the decline of the textile and coal industries in the late 20th century left the area highly deprived; most of eastern Oldham falls within the top 10% most deprived areas in England. Lees, Shaw and Crompton are wealthier and more suburban in character, while rural Saddleworth is mostly affluent.^[6] House prices across the constituency are generally lower than the regional and UK averages.^[7] For the constituency's 2011 by-election, The Guardian commented on the diversity in the area by describing it as a "shotgun marriage [...] Coronation Street meets Last of the Summer Wine".^[8]

Residents of Oldham East and Saddleworth have a similar age profile to the rest of the country.^[9] They have below-average levels of income and average rates of homeownership.^[7] The child poverty rate is nearly double the UK-wide figure.^[10] Residents have low levels of education and a high proportion work in the manufacturing sector.^[7][11] The percentage claiming unemployment benefits is high.^[10] White people made up 72% of the population at the 2021 census. Asians, mostly of Pakistani origin, were the largest ethnic minority group at 21%. The Asian community was concentrated close to the town centre around Glodwick where they made up around three-quarters of the population, while the areas outside the town centre were over 90% White.^[12]

At the local borough council, the dense urban areas are represented by Labour Party, Workers Party and independent councillors. The outer suburbs elected Conservative and Reform UK representatives and Saddleworth elected Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. An estimated 59% of voters in Oldham East and Saddleworth supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum, higher than the UK-wide figure of 52%.^[7]

The seat was established for the 1997 general election from parts of the former Littleborough and Saddleworth and Oldham Central and Royton constituencies.^[13] Oldham Central and Royton was a safe Labour seat whereas Littleborough and Saddleworth had had a Conservative MP, Geoffrey Dickens, from its creation until a 1995 close three-party fought by-election where it was lost to a Liberal Democrat. Ahead of the 1997 general election the new seat was notionally Conservative, though from 1997 to 2011 the seat was a Labour/Liberal Democrat marginal;^{[n 1][13]} Phil Woolas of the Labour Party (defeated candidate in the 1995 by-election) was victorious in all four general elections in that period, but his majorities were not substantial and the Conservative vote increased from 16% to 24%.

At the 2001 general election, the far-right British National Party gained over 5,000 votes (an 11.2% share), retaining their deposit partly as Nick Griffin stood in the neighbouring West seat.^[1] Along with the BNP's showing in the neighbouring Oldham West and Royton constituency, this was interpreted as a reaction to the 2001 Oldham riots.^[14][15] At the 2005 election the BNP's share of the vote dropped to 4.9%.^[1]

For the 2010 general election the seat lost the Milnrow and Newhey ward to the neighbouring Rochdale constituency and gained part of Alexandra ward from Oldham West and Royton.^[16]

After losing the 2010 general election by 103 votes, Liberal Democrat candidate Elwyn Watkins submitted a petition for a hearing by an election court, claiming that campaign literature issued by his Labour opponent Phil Woolas breached the Representation of the People Act 1983 by making false statements about his personal character.^[17][18] On 5 November 2010, the election court^{[n 2]} upheld the petition and declared the election void after reporting Phil Woolas guilty of making false election statements.^[19][20][21] Woolas sought a judicial review of the decision in the Administrative Division of the High Court, which upheld the decision of the Election Court in relation to two statements, whilst quashing the decision in relation to a third.^[22] As a result, the 2011 Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election was needed.^[23] By the time it was held, the Liberal Democrats had supported an increase in tuition fees, despite a manifesto commitment to oppose any such increase. This caused a significant drop in their polling numbers nationally, but one media report nevertheless stated the seat was "ultra-marginal between Labour and the Liberal Democrats".^[3] The by-election took place on 13 January 2011 and was contested by ten candidates.^[24] The Labour Party candidate Debbie Abrahams won, and held the seat in subsequent general elections.

1997–2010: The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham wards of Crompton, Lees, St James', St Mary's, Saddleworth East, Saddleworth West, Shaw, and Waterhead, and the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale ward of Milnrow.

2010–present: The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham wards of Alexandra, Crompton, St James', St Mary's, Saddleworth North, Saddleworth South, Saddleworth West and Lees, Shaw, and Waterhead.

The 2023 review of Westminster constituencies, which was based on the ward structure in place at 1 December 2020, left the boundaries unchanged.^[25]

• Parliamentary constituencies in Greater Manchester