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Altrincham and Sale (UK Parliament constituency)

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Altrincham and Sale
Former county constituency
for the House of Commons
Outline map
Altrincham and Sale in Greater Manchester, showing boundaries used from 1983-1997
County1945–1974: Cheshire
1974–1997: Greater Manchester
Major settlementsAltrincham and Sale
1945–1997
SeatsOne
Created fromAltrincham
Replaced byAltrincham and Sale West and Wythenshawe and Sale East

Altrincham and Sale was a parliamentary constituency in Greater Manchester, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election, and existed between 1945 and 1997.

History and boundaries

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The House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1944 set up Boundary Commissions to carry out periodic reviews of the distribution of parliamentary constituencies. It also authorised an initial review to subdivide abnormally large constituencies (those exceeding an electorate of 100,000) in time for the 1945 election.[1] This was implemented by the Redistribution of Seats Order 1945 under which Cheshire was allocated one additional seat, by splitting the constituency of Altrincham into two seats:

  • Altrincham and Sale, comprising the two respective municipal boroughs;[2] and
  • Bucklow, comprising the bulk of the remainder of the constituency

The constituency remained unchanged until 1 April 1974 when, under the terms of the Local Government Act 1972, the boroughs of Altrincham and Sale were absorbed into the new metropolitan borough of Trafford within the county of Greater Manchester. However, the boundaries were not revised until the Third Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies came into effect for the 1983 general election. The revised constituency consisted of the south-eastern area of Trafford, with the main town being Altrincham, and comprised:

The Metropolitan Borough of Trafford wards of Altrincham, Bowdon, Broadheath, Brooklands, Hale, Sale Moor, Timperley, and Village.[3]

Hale and Bowdon were transferred from the abolished Cheshire constituency of Knutsford, while parts of the former municipal borough of Sale, including Ashton upon Mersey, were included in the new constituency of Davyhulme.

The constituency was abolished for the 1997 general election, when it was split in a roughly three to one ratio between the new constituencies of Altrincham and Sale West and Wythenshawe and Sale East.[4]

Political history

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The constituency always elected a Conservative member with a comfortable majority and only had three MPs during its 52 years in existence. From 1945, it was represented by Frederick Erroll, a cabinet minister in Harold Macmillan's government, who was raised to the peerage in 1964. The ensuing by-election (held in 1965) was won by Anthony Barber, who served as Edward Heath's Chancellor of the Exchequer. Barber also entered the House of Lords, and at the October 1974 general election was succeeded by Fergus Montgomery, later Sir Fergus Montgomery, who served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Margaret Thatcher, during her tenure as Secretary of State for Education, and then as Leader of the Opposition. Montgomery held the seat until he retired in 1997.

Members of Parliament

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Election Member[5] Party Notes
1945 Fred Erroll Conservative Disqualified December 1964 on being raised to the peerage
1965 by-election Anthony Barber Conservative Previously MP for Doncaster 1951–64; Chancellor of the Exchequer 1970-74
Oct 1974 Sir Fergus Montgomery Conservative
1997 Constituency abolished: see Altrincham and Sale West & Wythenshawe and Sale East

Elections

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Election in the 1940s

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1945 general election: Altrincham and Sale
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Frederick Erroll 26,656 55.61
Labour M.C. Joseph 21,275 44.39
Majority 5,381 11.22
Turnout 47,931 80.3
Conservative win (new seat)

Elections in the 1950s

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1950 general election: Altrincham and Sale
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Frederick Erroll 30,843 57.41 +1.8
Labour Frank Bibby 16,544 30.79 −13.6
Liberal Lawrence Gordon Bayley 6,340 11.8 New
Majority 14,299 26.6 +15.4
Turnout 53,727 88.4 +8.1
Conservative hold Swing +7.7
1951 general election: Altrincham and Sale
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Frederick Erroll 33,987 66.1 +8.7
Labour James Brian O'Hara 17,465 33.9 +3.1
Majority 16,522 32.2 +5.6
Turnout 51,452 84.0 −4.4
Conservative hold Swing +2.8
1955 general election: Altrincham and Sale
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Frederick Erroll 30,586 62.2 −3.9
Labour Trevor Park 12,174 24.8 −9.1
Liberal Donald Fletcher Burden 6,436 13.1 New
Majority 18,412 37.4 +5.2
Turnout 49,196 80.0 −4.0
Conservative hold Swing +2.7
1959 general election: Altrincham and Sale
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Frederick Erroll 29,992 56.0 −6.2
Labour Norman Atkinson 14,141 26.4 +1.6
Liberal Donald Fletcher Burden 9,415 17.6 +4.5
Majority 15,851 29.6 −7.8
Turnout 53,548 82.6 +2.6
Conservative hold Swing −3.9

Elections in the 1960s

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1964 general election: Altrincham and Sale
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Frederick Erroll 24,982 46.8 −9.2
Labour Roy Roebuck 14,945 28.0 +1.6
Liberal Donald Fletcher Burden 13,429 25.2 +7.6
Majority 10,037 18.8 −10.8
Turnout 53,356 81.9 −0.7
Conservative hold Swing −5.4
By-election 1965: Altrincham and Sale
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Anthony Barber 20,380 50.0 +3.2
Labour Roy Roebuck 11,837 29.0 +1.0
Liberal Donald Fletcher Burden 7,898 19.4 −5.8
Independent G.O. Symes 634 1.6 New
Majority 8,543 21.0 +2.2
Turnout 40,749
Conservative hold Swing +1.1
1966 general election: Altrincham and Sale
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Anthony Barber 24,736 48.0 +1.2
Labour Joyce Cope 17,899 34.7 +6.7
Liberal Alan Cooper 8,891 17.3 −7.9
Majority 6,837 13.3 −5.5
Turnout 51,526 78.0 −3.9
Conservative hold Swing −5.5

Elections in the 1970s

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1970 general election: Altrincham and Sale
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Anthony Barber 27,904 53.2 +5.2
Labour Barry E. Jones 16,671 31.8 −2.9
Liberal Lawrence Gordon Bayley 7,875 15.0 −3.3
Majority 11,233 21.4 +8.1
Turnout 52,450 74.1 −3.9
Conservative hold Swing +4.1
February 1974 general election: Altrincham and Sale
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Anthony Barber 26,434 44.3 −8.9
Liberal Desmond Blackburn 17,738 29.7 +14.7
Labour Derek Rutherford 15,550 26.0 −5.8
Majority 8,696 14.6 −6.8
Turnout 59,722 82.2 +8.1
Conservative hold Swing −11.82
October 1974 general election: Altrincham and Sale
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Fergus Montgomery 23,910 42.8 −1.5
Labour Eric Wood 16,998 30.4 +4.4
Liberal Desmond Blackburn 14,980 26.8 −2.9
Majority 6,912 12.4 −2.2
Turnout 55,888 76.3 −5.9
Conservative hold Swing −2.9
1979 general election: Altrincham and Sale
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Fergus Montgomery 29,873 51.6 +8.8
Labour Co-op Garth Pratt 14,643 25.3 −5.1
Liberal John Campbell 12,603 21.8 −5.0
Ecology C. Marsh 796 1.4 New
Majority 15,230 26.3 +13.9
Turnout 57,915 77.7 +1.4
Conservative hold Swing +4.1

Elections in the 1980s

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1983 general election: Altrincham and Sale[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Fergus Montgomery 25,321 52.5 +0.9
Liberal Brian Clancy 14,410 29.9 +8.1
Labour Alexander Erwin 7,684 15.9 −9.4
Ecology C. Marsh 629 1.3 −0.1
Independent Lee J. Wolstenholme 152 0.3 New
Majority 10,911 22.6
Turnout 48,196 73.0 −4.7
Conservative hold Swing
1987 general election: Altrincham and Sale[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Fergus Montgomery 27,746 53.5 +1.0
Liberal John Mulholland 13,518 26.1 −3.8
Labour David Hinder 10,617 20.5 +4.6
Majority 14,228 27.4 +4.8
Turnout 51,881 76.7 +3.7
Conservative hold Swing +2.4

Elections in the 1990s

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1992 general election: Altrincham and Sale[8][9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Fergus Montgomery 29,066 54.7 +1.2
Labour Mary E. Atherton 12,275 23.1 +2.6
Liberal Democrats John Mulholland 11,601 21.8 −4.3
Natural Law John C. Renwick 212 0.4 New
Majority 16,791 31.6 +4.2
Turnout 53,154 80.2 +3.5
Conservative hold Swing

See also

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Notes and references

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  1. ^ Gay, Oonagh (30 December 2020). "The Rules for the Redistribution of Seats- history and reform". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ^ Craig, Fred W. S. (1972). Boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 1885-1972. Chichester: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 0-900178-09-4. OCLC 539011.
  3. ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1983" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 May 2021.
  4. ^ C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, p.187 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995)
  5. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "A" (part 1)
  6. ^ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  7. ^ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  8. ^ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  9. ^ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
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