Chorley is a constituency in Lancashire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by Sir Lindsay Hoyle. Hoyle was originally elected for the Labour Party, but in 2019 became the Speaker, making him unaffiliated.
Constituency profile
The Chorley constituency is located in Lancashire and covers most of the Borough of Chorley. It is centred on the town of Chorley, which has a population of around 40,000, and contains the rural areas surrounding the town including part of the upland West Pennine Moors. The constituency also contains the villages of Adlington, Coppull, Euxton, Clayton-le-Woods and Whittle-le-Woods. Chorley has an industrial heritage; coal mining and cotton milling were traditionally important to the town. There is some deprivation in Clayton Brook and parts of Chorley, however the villages north of the town are generally affluent.
On average, residents of the constituency are more religious and have average levels of wealth and education compared to the rest of the country. White people make up 95% of the population. The constituency is represented entirely by Labour Party councillors at the local district council, whilst some Reform UK councillors were elected in parts of the town at the county council. An estimated 57% of voters in the constituency supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum, higher than the nationwide figure of 52%.
:Minor changes to bring the electorate within the permitted range and align with revised ward boundaries.
History
From its creation in 1885 until the 1945 general election, Chorley was held by Conservative Party members. In 1945, it was won by Clifford Kenyon of the Labour Party who held it, sometimes with very small majorities, until his retirement in 1970. It then proved to be a bellwether for the next 40 years, changing hands between Labour and the Conservatives; however, this pattern was broken in 2010 when Labour MP Lindsay Hoyle retained the seat against the national trend.
Hoyle has been MP for Chorley since 1997. In November 2019, he was elected as Speaker of the House of Commons following the resignation of John Bercow; Sir Lindsay had been Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons under Bercow since 2010. There is an inconsistently followed convention, which is mostly kept by the major parties, not to oppose the Speaker at elections. In keeping with this, the previously announced Liberal Democrat candidate for the 2019 UK general election, Paul Valentine, subsequently withdrew from the general election once Sir Lindsay was appointed Speaker. However the Green Party candidate, James Melling, stood against the incumbent Speaker.
Members of Parliament
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="2"|Election
!Member
!Party
|-
| rowspan="3" style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1885
| Joseph Feilden
| rowspan="3"|Conservative
|-
| 1895 by-election <!-- 7 June -->
| Lord Balcarres
|-
| 1913 by-election <!-- 19 February -->
| Henry Hibbert
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1918
| rowspan="2"| Douglas Hacking
| Coalition Conservative
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1922
| Conservative
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1945
| Clifford Kenyon
| Labour
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1970
| Connie Monks
| Conservative
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Feb 1974
| George Rodgers
| Labour
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1979
| Den Dover
| Conservative
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|1997
| rowspan="2" |Sir Lindsay Hoyle
| Labour
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|2019
| Speaker
|-
|}
Elections
thumb|Chorley Constituency Election Results
Elections in the 2020s
The Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives, and Labour traditionally do not stand against the sitting Speaker of the House of Commons. Reform UK originally listed Simon Evans as their candidate before instead listing him as their candidate for West Lancashire.
Elections in the 2010s
The Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives, and Labour traditionally do not stand against the sitting Speaker of the House of Commons, and consequently did not oppose Lindsay Hoyle's re-election bid. The Brexit Party did not stand an official candidate, however their former candidate stood as an independent, having changed his name via deed poll to Mark Brexit-Smith. The Green Party does not follow the convention of standing aside for the Speaker, and also fielded a candidate in the election.