St Helens South and Whiston

St Helens South and Whiston is a constituency in Merseyside in North West England. It covers the central and southern areas of the town of St Helens (Eccleston, Thatto Heath and Sutton), most of the town of Whiston and the village of Rainhill.

St Helens is a large, industrial town. It was a rural hamlet until the Industrial Revolution when it grew rapidly as a centre for coal mining, glassmaking and metalworking. Whiston was mostly developed as an overspill town for Liverpool (located around 8 miles (13 km) to the west) after large parts of the city were damaged in World War II. Whiston and much of St Helens are highly-deprived, with most residents living in dense terraced or semi-detached properties, many of which are socially rented.^[2] Sutton and Rainhill are wealthier and Eccleston is affluent and suburban in character.^[3] House prices across the constituency are generally lower than the rest of North West England and the average price is around half the UK average.^[4]

Residents of St Helens South and Whiston have a similar age profile to the rest of the country.^[5] They have low rates of income and average levels of homeownership and child poverty.^[4][6] Residents generally have low levels of education and many residents are religious; like much of Merseyside, there is a large Roman Catholic population here due to historic Irish migration.^[4] A high proportion of residents work in the health sector and the percentage claiming unemployment benefits is in line with the overall UK figure.^[7][6] White people made up 96% of the population at the 2021 census.^[8]

Most of the constituency is represented by Reform UK at the local council level, although some Green Party councillors were elected in Whiston, Liberal Democrats in Eccleston and independents in Rainhill. An estimated 56% of voters in St Helens South and Whiston supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum, higher than the UK-wide figure of 52%.^[4]

Creation

Following the Fifth periodic review of Westminster constituencies the Boundary Commission for England expanded and renamed the St Helens South seat, covering the south of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens and three wards of the Knowsley borough which were in the neighbouring seat of Knowsley South (abolished).

Further to the completion of the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was subject to minor boundary changes, with parts of Whiston and Cronton ward being included in the new constituency of Widnes and Halewood, first contested at the 2024 general election.^[9]

Results of the winning party

The predecessor seats of St Helens and St Helens South had been held by the Labour Party since the 1935 election.

This seat's first MP was Shaun Woodward who had been MP for St Helens South from 2001 to 2010. He had first been elected to Parliament in 1997 as the Conservative MP for Witney, defecting to Labour in 1999. He was succeeded by Marie Rimmer at the 2015 election. The 2015 result made the seat the 24th safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority.^[10]

Results of other parties

The 2015 general election saw (with 11.3%) more than the national average swing (+9.5%) to UKIP (narrowly placed third). Labour's candidate won more than fivefold those votes, scoring 59.8%.

The Liberal Democrats came second in 2010 with 22.2% of the vote; this has gradually declined and by the 2024 general election they came in sixth with 5.8%. Reform UK were runners-up in 2024, having increased its vote to 18.3% from 10.6% in 2019 (as the Brexit Party). The Conservatives were relegated to fourth place in 2024 by independent candidate James Tasker.^[11]

Turnout

Turnout has ranged from 53.3% (2024) to 66.9% (2017).

St Helens South prior to 2010

• St Helens South parliamentary constituency
• Parliamentary constituencies in Merseyside