The seat was created in 1868. From World War II until 2010 it was won by Labour candidates, generally on safe, large majorities; Ann Widdecombe failed to take the seat from the Labour Party 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.[3]
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 contested 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.
At the 2017 election, Labour held the seat with an increased majority. Birtwistle stood again, but saw his share of the vote halved; this was widely seen to be due to his party's stance on Brexit. This election saw one of the biggest increases in the share of the vote for the Conservatives in the whole country, who more than doubled their share of the vote. UKIP lost two-thirds of their vote from 2015, but did retain their deposit. This meant that Burnley was one of the few constituencies in England where four parties retained their deposits.
At the 2019 election, Antony Higginbotham won the seat for the Conservatives, thus becoming the first Conservative to represent Burnley in parliament for over 100 years.[4] The Conservative vote share increased by over 9% compared with the previous election, while the Labour vote share declined by about 10%.[5]
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 (as it has been since 1983; before then, it was coterminous with the county borough of the same name).[6]
The Borough of Pendle wards of: Brierfield East & Clover Hill; Brierfield West & Reedley.[8]
The constituency will be expanded to bring the electorate within the permitted range by transferring the community of Brierfield from the (to be abolished) constituency of Pendle.
A General Election was due to take place by the end of 1915. By the summer of 1914, the following candidates had been adopted to contest that election. Due to the outbreak of war, the election never took place.
^Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 6)
^"Antony Higginbotham reselected as Conservative candidate for Burnley and Padiham". Burnley Express. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
^"Burnley Labour parliamentary candidate Oliver Ryan gives in-depth interview on fight to become town's next MP". Burnley Express. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
^"Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidates". Mark Pack. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
^"Full list of all Green Party candidates at the next general election". Bright Green. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
^"Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 December 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^"ELECTION 2017: The five Lib Dem target seats in the North West". ITV News. 27 April 2017.
^"Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^"Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^"Election 2010 | Constituency | Burnley". BBC News. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
^"Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"UK General Election results April 1992". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
^"Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"BURNLEY BY-ELECTION". The Register (Adelaide). Vol. LXXXIX, no. 25, 952. South Australia. 1 March 1924. p. 10. Retrieved 18 May 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^"British Socialist Party". Manchester Guardian. 13 April 1914.
^ abcdefghijkCraig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 9781349022984.
^ abcdefghijThe Constitutional Year Book, National Unionist Association of Conservative and Liberal Unionist Organizations (1916)
^ ab"The Election at Burnley". Preston Herald. 8 February 1893. p. 2. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
^"The Burnley Election". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 21 February 1887. p. 8. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
^"Burnley". Preston Herald. 9 February 1887. p. 5. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
^Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1886
^ abcdCraig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
^"Burnley Election". Sheffield Daily Telegraph. 14 February 1876. Retrieved 5 October 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ ab"The nomination of candidates to fill the vacancy in Burnley". Bradford Observer. 10 February 1876. p. 8. Retrieved 28 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
External linksedit
nomis Constituency Profile for Burnley – presenting data from the ONS annual population survey and other official statistics.