Salford is a borough constituency in Greater Manchester represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The constituency was re-established for the 2024 general election and is represented by Rebecca Long-Bailey of the Labour Party until she was suspended and had the whip removed on 23 July 2024, as a result of voting to scrap the two child benefit cap. Long-Bailey was MP for the predecessor seat of Salford and Eccles from 2015 to 2024.

History

The constituency was first established as a single-member parliamentary borough by the Reform Act 1832. It returned two MPs from 1868. It was abolished by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, when it was replaced by three single member (North, South and West). The borough constituency was created for the 1997 general election, primarily from the abolished Salford East seat. This was abolished and absorbed into the new Salford and Eccles constituency for the 2010 election. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was re-established for the 2024 general election, replacing the now abolished Salford and Eccles seat once again.

Boundaries

1832–1885

In 1832 the constituency was formed from the townships of Broughton, Pendleton and Salford, with part of the township of Pendlebury. The exact boundaries were defined in the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832: "From the Northernmost Point at which the Boundary of the Township of Salford meets the Boundary of the Township of Broughton, Northward, along the Boundary of the Township of Broughton, to the Point at which the same meets the Boundary of the Township of Pendleton; thence, Westward, along the Boundary of the Township of Pendleton to the Point at which the same meets the Boundary of the detached Portion of the Township of Pendlebury; thence, Southward, along the Boundary of the detached Portion of the Township of Pendlebury to the Point at which the same meets the Boundary of the Township of Salford; thence, Westward, along the Boundary of the Township of Salford to the Point first described." In 1883 the detached portion of Pendlebury was absorbed by Pendleton.

1997–2010

The constituency was re-created for the 1997 election. It boundaries were defined by the Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1995, and consisted of eight wards of the City of Salford: Blackfriars, Broughton, Claremont, Kersal, Langworthy, Ordsall, Pendleton, and Weaste & Seedley. A very safe Labour seat which had some of the UK's most deprived areas, typified by council estates like Ordsall, Pendleton and Langworthy, which are now due for apparent redevelopment. Higher Broughton has a considerable Jewish population and has some very decent residential housing, but even here Labour are usually in the lead at local level; the Conservatives, like all the other neighbouring Manchester seats, are now in third place in General Elections.

2010 boundary review

Following its review of parliamentary representation in Greater Manchester the Boundary Commission for England recommended that Salford be split into three new constituencies and this was enacted in 2010:

Current

The re-established constituency is composed of the following wards of the City of Salford (as they existed on 1 December 2020): ''The constituency comprises the majority of, and replaces, the constituency of Salford and Eccles - excluding the towns of Eccles and Swinton, which formed part of the new constituency of Worsley and Eccles. It also includes Broughton, previously part of the abolished constituency of Blackley and Broughton.''

Members of Parliament

MPs 1832–1868

MPs 1868–1885

MPs 1997–2010

MPs 2024–present

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1880s

Elections in the 1870s

Elections in the 1860s

Elections in the 1850s

Elections in the 1840s

Elections in the 1830s

Notes and references