Manchester Withington is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Jeff Smith of Labour.

Constituency profile

Manchester Withington is a suburban constituency located in Greater Manchester. It covers neighbourhoods of Manchester around south of the city centre, including Withington, Chorlton-cum-Hardy and Didsbury. Manchester is a major city that grew from textile manufacturing during the Industrial Revolution. The city has undergone strong economic development in the 21st century and is sometimes considered the United Kingdom's "second city".

Manchester Withington is the wealthiest of Manchester's constituencies; there is some deprivation in Withington but the rest of the constituency is generally affluent, especially in Didsbury. The constituency has a large student and graduate population due to its location close to the University of Manchester's Fallowfield Campus. Much of the area was developed during the Victorian era to house the growing city's middle-class residents and contains leafy suburbs and many large detached and semi-detached properties. House prices here are higher than the national average and considerably higher than the rest of North West England.

Residents of Manchester Withington are generally young and well-educated. Few residents are married and the homeownership rate is low, however household income is high and many residents work in professional occupations, Rates of unemployment and child poverty are lower than the rest of the region. White people made up 72% of the population at the 2021 census, including a large Irish community. Asians were the largest ethnic minority group at 15%, mostly of Pakistani origin.

The constituency is mostly represented by the Labour Party at the local city council, with some Liberal Democrats in West Didsbury and some Green Party representatives in the constituency's north. Voters in Manchester Withington overwhelmingly supported remaining in the European Union in the 2016 referendum; an estimated 80% voted to remain compared to 48% nationwide, making it the fifth most remain-supporting constituency out of 650 across the United Kingdom according to Electoral Calculus.

1983–2018: The City of Manchester wards of Barlow Moor, Burnage, Chorlton, Didsbury, Old Moat, and Withington.2018–2024: The City of Manchester wards of Burnage (part), Chorlton (part), Chorlton Park (part), Didsbury East, Didsbury West, Old Moat, and Withington.

Following a local government review of ward boundaries which became effective from May 2018, the contents of the constituency were adjusted, but this did not affect its boundaries.

Current

Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency is composed of the following wards of the City of Manchester (as they existed on 1 December 2020):

  • Chorlton; Chorlton Park; Didsbury East; Didsbury West; Old Moat; Withington.

The boundaries were subject to minor changes to align with the revised ward boundaries, with the whole of the Burnage ward being included in new constituency of Gorton and Denton.

Members of Parliament

{|class="wikitable"

!Election

!Member

!colspan="2"|Party

|-

| 1918

| Alfred Deakin Carter

|

|-

| 1922

| Thomas Watts

|

|-

| 1923

| Ernest Simon

|

|-

| 1924

| Sir Thomas Watts

|

|-

| 1929

| Ernest Simon

|

|-

| 1931

| Edward Fleming

|

|-

| 1950

| Frederick Cundiff

|

|-

| 1951

| Sir Robert Cary

|

|-

| Feb 1974

| Fred Silvester

|

|-

| 1987

| Keith Bradley

|

|-

| 2005

| John Leech

|

|-

| 2015

| Jeff Smith

|

|}

Elections

thumb|centre|upright=2.5|Election results 1983-2024

Elections in the 2020s

Elections in the 2010s

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! colspan="4" | 2019 notional result

|-

! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="130px" colspan="2" | Party

! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="50px" | Vote

! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="30px" | %

|-

|

| Labour ||align=right| 33,100 ||align=right| 66.5

|-

|

| Liberal Democrats ||align=right| 7,803 ||align=right| 15.7

|-

|

| Conservative ||align=right| 5,607 ||align=right| 11.3

|-

|

| Green ||align=right| 2,015 ||align=right| 4.0

|-

|

| Brexit Party ||align=right| 1,269 ||align=right| 2.5

|-

|colspan="4" bgcolor="#EAECF0"|

|-

|colspan="2"|Turnout

|align=right|49,794

|align=right|69.5

|-

|colspan="2"|Electorate

|align=right|71,614

|}

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

Election in the 1940s

Election in the 1930s

<!-- Commented out: thumb|Philip Guedalla -->

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1910s

See also

  • List of parliamentary constituencies in Greater Manchester

Notes

References

  • Manchester, Withington UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK
  • Manchester, Withington UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
  • Manchester Withington UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK