1979 Liverpool Edge Hill by-election

UK Parliamentary by-election

← Oct. 1974

29 March 1979

1979 →

Constituency of Liverpool Edge Hill

	First party	Second party	Third party
		Lab	Con
Candidate	David Alton	Bob Wareing	Nicholas Ward
Party	Liberal	Labour	Conservative
Popular vote	12,945	4,812	1,906
Percentage	64.1%	23.8%	9.4%
Swing	36.8%	28.1%	11.3%

MP before election

Arthur Irvine
Labour

Elected MP

David Alton
Liberal

The 1979 Liverpool Edge Hill by-election was a parliamentary by-election held in England on 29 March 1979 to elect a new Member of Parliament (MP) for the UK House of Commons constituency of Liverpool Edge Hill.

Polling in the by-election took place one day after the government of James Callaghan had lost a vote of no confidence in parliament and slightly over a month before the 1979 general election. The seat had become vacant on the death the previous December of the constituency's Labour Party MP Sir Arthur Irvine, who had held the seat since a by-election in 1947.

The result was a gain for the Liberal Party, represented by David Alton. Having made his maiden speech on 3 April, just before the house rose for the election, he was re-elected a few weeks later and from 1983 held the Mossley Hill seat until he stood down from the commons in 1997, 18 years after the by-election.

Result

Liverpool Edge Hill by-election, 1979^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Alton	12,945	64.1	+36.8
	Labour	Bob Wareing	4,812	23.8	−28.1
	Conservative	Nicholas Ward	1,906	9.4	−11.3
	Law and Order	Joan Jonker	337	1.7	New
	Socialist Unity	Ann Walker	127	0.6	New
	Gay Liberal	Michael Taylor	40	0.2	New
	Democratic Monarchist, Public Safety, White Resident	Bill Boaks	32	0.2	New
Majority			8,133	40.3	N/A
Turnout			20,199	20.2	-41.0
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing	+30.2

References

^ "1979 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2015.

External links

David Alton's account of the by-election

By-elections in Liverpool

1801–1832

Liverpool, 1830

1832–1885

1885–1900

1900–1918

1918–1945

1945–present

Lists of UK by-elections: 1868–1885; 1885–1900; 1900–1918; 1918–1931; 1931–1950; 1950–1979; 1979–2010; 2010–present

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1975	June: Woolwich West
1976	March: Coventry North West Carshalton Wirral June: Rotherham July: Thurrock November: Newcastle-upon-Tyne Central Walsall North Workington December: Cambridge
1977	February: City of London and Westminster South March: Birmingham Stechford April: Ashfield Great Grimsby July: Saffron Walden August: Birmingham Ladywood November: Bournemouth East
1978	March: Ilford North April: Glasgow Garscadden Lambeth Central Epsom and Ewell Wycombe May: Hamilton July: Manchester Moss Side Penistone October: Berwick and East Lothian Pontefract and Castleford
1979	March: Clitheroe Knutsford Liverpool Edge Hill
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