County Lancashire Electorate 67,003 (December 2010) Created 1868 | Population 87,059 (2011 census) Major settlements Burnley | |
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Member of parliament Julie Cooper (Labour Party) | ||
Burnley is a constituency centred on the town of Burnley in Lancashire, which has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Julie Cooper of the Labour Party.
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History
The seat was created in 1868. From World War II until 2010 it was won by Labour candidates, generally on safe, large majorities; even Ann Widdecombe could not snatch the seat from the former leading cotton town's close affinity with Labour Party values as they stood in 1979. The closest second place was to a Conservative Party candidate, Ian Bruce, who came 787 votes (1.6%) short of taking the seat in 1983.
Burnley saw strong opposition support for the Liberal Democrats in 2005 who moved into second place, meanwhile a local independent pushed Yousuf Miah, a Conservative into fourth position. Following controversy regarding outgoing Labour MP Kitty Ussher's personal expenses, Gordon Birtwistle, who first contended the seat in 1992, gained the seat in 2010 with a heavy swing of 9.6%.
However, Birtwistle was one of the many casualties faced by the Liberal Democrats in the 2015 election, losing the seat to Julie Cooper, who had also stood as Labour's candidate in 2010, although the 6.2% swing away from Birtwistle was less than half the 15.2% national swing against his party. As in 2005, the Conservatives came fourth, behind UKIP as well as Labour and the Lib Dems this time.
The review of parliamentary representation in Lancashire by the Boundary Commission for England in the 2000s proposed no change to the boundaries of the Burnley seat. The seat remains coterminous with the boundaries of the borough of Burnley.
Elections in the 1880s
At the Burnley by-election, 1889, Jabez Balfour was elected unopposed.