County Lancashire Electorate 72,112 (December 2010) Created 1955 | Population 107,246 (2011 census) Major settlements Blackburn Member of parliament Kate Hollern (Labour) | |
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Blackburn is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Kate Hollern of the Labour Party.
Contents
Constituency profile
It has elected Labour MPs since its re-creation in 1955.
Boundaries
The constituency encompasses the town of Blackburn in the North West of England. It borders four other constituencies: Ribble Valley to the north, Hyndburn to the east, Rossendale and Darwen to the south and Chorley to the west.
Following the review of parliamentary representation in Lancashire, including the unitary authority of Blackburn with Darwen in the run up to the United Kingdom general election, 2010 the Boundary Commission for England made minor boundary changes to the existing constituency.
The electoral wards in the Blackburn seat fought at the UK general election in 2010 were entirely within the district of Blackburn with Darwen.
History
For more details, see the Politics section of the Blackburn article.
Blackburn was first enfranchised by the Reform Act 1832, as a two member constituency, and was first used at the 1832 General Election. It was abolished for the 1950 General Election, when it was then replaced by two new single member constituencies, Blackburn East and Blackburn West.
Blackburn was re-established as a single-member constituency for the 1955 General Election, partially replacing the Blackburn East and Blackburn West constituencies which had been created only five years earlier. After its re-establishment in 1955, the constituency was initially a marginal, but Blackburn is now considered to be a Labour Party stronghold.
2005 General election
Blackburn's MP, Jack Straw, was challenged in the 2005 General Election primarily again by the Conservative Party but the former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray also stood for election in Blackburn. Murray said: "I've been approached by several people in the Asian community who are under huge pressure from Labour activists [talking up the BNP's chances] to apply for a postal vote rather than a ballot vote and then hand their postal vote over to the Labour party." Over 50% more people used postal votes in the 2005 General Election in Blackburn than in 2001. Unlike in 1997 and 2001, the BNP had a candidate, who polled 5.4% of the vote.
2015 General Election
In August 2011, Jack Straw announced he had no plans to retire, despite hitting 65 earlier that month.
On 25 October 2013, Straw announced that he would stand down as Blackburn's MP at the next election. In March 2014, Kate Hollern was selected, via an all women shortlist, as the candidate for Labour for the 2015 General Election, and held the seat.
Elections in the 1940s
General Election 1939/40: Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;