Heywood and Middleton North is a

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

of the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

since 2024 by

Elsie Blundell Elsie-Jane Blundell (née Wraighte; born August 1990) is a British Labour politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Heywood and Middleton North since 2024. Early life and education Blundell is from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, Engl ...

of the Labour Party. Prior to the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

, the constituency was known as Heywood and Middleton. The

2023 review of Westminster constituencies The 2023 review of Westminster constituencies was the most recent cycle of the process to redraw the constituency map for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The new constituency boundaries were approved by the Privy Council on 15 Nov ...

proposed that two of the Middleton wards be included in a new constituency named Blackley and Middleton South and this seat be renamed Heywood and Middleton North.

Constituency profile

The constituency covers the west half of the

Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale The Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in England. Its largest town is Rochdale and the wider borough covers other outlying towns and villages, including Heywood, Greater Manchester, Heywood, Littleb ...

, including the towns of Heywood and half of the town of Middleton, and some of the western fringes of

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

itself such as Castleton, and

Spotland Spotland ( ) is a district of Rochdale in Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseysi ...

and Falinge.

Norden Norden is a Scandinavian and German word, directly translated as "the North". It may refer to: Places England * Norden, Basingstoke, a ward of Basingstoke and Deane * Norden, Dorset, a hamlet near Corfe Castle * Norden, Greater Manchester, a vill ...

and

Bamford Bamford is a village in the Peak District, Derbyshire, England, close to the Derwent Reservoir (Derbyshire), River Derwent. To the north-east is Bamford Edge, and to the north-west the Ladybower Reservoir, Ladybower, Derwent Reservoir (Derbyshir ...

are strong Conservative areas, with several million-pound houses, but all other wards are mostly favourable to Labour. The part of Middleton in this constituency includes the large overspill council estate of Langley. The 2024 boundary changes added the ward of Spotland and Falinge, a ward close to

town centre, to the constituency, in place of East and South Middleton, which included the relatively affluent area of

Alkrington Garden Village Alkrington Garden Village is a suburban area of Middleton, in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. Alkrington lies on the northern edge of the city of Manchester with the suburb of Blackley directly to the south. ...

which were added to the new Blackley and Middleton South constituency.

Electoral Calculus Electoral Calculus is a political consultancy and pollster, known for its political forecasting website that attempts to predict future United Kingdom general election results. It uses MRP (Multi-level Regression and Post-stratification) to c ...

categorises the seat as a "Somewhere" demographic, indicating socially conservative, economically soft left views and strong support for

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

History

The constituency was created in 1983 from parts of the former seats of Heywood and Royton and

Middleton and Prestwich Middleton and Prestwich was a United Kingdom constituencies, parliamentary constituency centred on the Middleton, Greater Manchester, Middleton and Prestwich districts of Greater Manchester. It returned one Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), ...

and was held by the Labour Party since then until the 2019 Election. From 1983 until his retirement in 1997, the MP was

Jim Callaghan Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005) was a British statesman and Labour Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from ...

, not to be confused with a former Prime Minister with the same name. In a 2014 by-election

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...

came within 617 votes of winning the seat, which was on the same day as the

Rochester and Strood Rochester and Strood is a constituency in Kent represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Lauren Edwards from the Labour Party. It was previously represented from 2015 by Kelly Tolhurst, a Conservative, who served ...

by-election, and in 2015 it produced one of their largest results in the country. Subsequently, the constituency heavily voted to Leave in the EU referendum and swung to the Conservatives for the first time in 2019, in line with many other Leave-voting Labour seats in the North and Midlands. Under the 2023 boundary changes, it was estimated that the newly named seat would notionally have been held by Labour on a slim majority. As a result, the sitting Conservative MP,

Chris Clarkson Christopher Clarkson (born 7 April 1990) is an English professional rugby league footballer who last played in the forward for the York Knights in the RFL Championship, Championship. He is an England Knights international. He has previously ...

, decided not to stand in 2024 and he was selected for the previously safe seat of

Stratford-on-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon ( ), commonly known as Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-west of ...

, where he was defeated. The Labour Party candidate,

, duly won this seat with a majority of 16.4% over

Reform UK Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Nigel Farage has been Leader of Reform UK and Richard Tice deputy leader since 2024. It has five members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons and one membe ...

, with the Conservatives dropping down to third place.

Boundaries

1983–1997: The Borough of Rochdale wards of Heywood North, Heywood South, Heywood West, Middleton Central, Middleton East, Middleton North, Middleton South, and Middleton West. 1997–2010: The Borough of Rochdale wards of Castleton, Heywood North, Heywood South, Heywood West, Middleton Central, Middleton East, Middleton North, Middleton South, Middleton West, and Norden and Bamford. 2010–2024: The Borough of Rochdale wards of Bamford, Castleton, East Middleton, Hopwood Hall, Norden, North Heywood, North Middleton, South Middleton, West Heywood, and West Middleton. 2024–present: The Borough of Rochdale wards of Bamford, Castleton, Hopwood Hall, Norden, North Heywood, North Middleton, Spotland and Falinge, West Heywood, and West Middleton. :''East Middleton and South Middleton wards were transferred to the new constituency of Blackley and Middleton South, partly compensated by the addition of the Spotland and Falinge ward from

.''

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

Heywood and Middleton North was the only constituency (in England or Wales) where the

Green Party of England and Wales The Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW; ), often known simply as the Green Party or the Greens, is a Green politics, green, Left-wing politics, left-wing political party in England and Wales. Since October 2021, Carla Denyer and Adrian Ram ...

did not stand a 2024 candidate. This was because the Green Party of England and Wales officially endorsed independent candidate Chris Furlong.

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

References

External links

Heywood and Middleton UK Parliament constituency
(boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at ''MapIt UK''

(boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at ''MapIt UK''

(boundaries from June 2024) at ''MapIt UK'' {{Coord, 53.57, -2.21, display=title, region:GB, format=dms Parliamentary constituencies in Greater Manchester Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1983 Politics of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale Middleton, Greater Manchester Heywood, Greater Manchester