Crewe and Nantwich is a constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It is located in Cheshire. It was created in 1983, and has been represented since 2019 by Kieran Mullan of the Conservative Party. The seat had been a marginal seat since 2008, as its winner's majority had not exceeded 11.8% of the vote since the 18.9% majority won in that year. A swing seat, it has changed hands twice since 2008. Its 2017 general election result was the eighth-closest result, a winning margin of 48 votes. In 2019, the Conservative candidate secured a 15.7% majority.
History
The constituency was created for the 1983 general election. The Labour MP Gwyneth Dunwoody had served for the previous constituency of Crewe, and came close to losing her second seat in 1983, when she scraped in by just 290 votes. Dunwoody increased her majorities at the general elections of 1987, 1992 and 1997. Her majority was slightly reduced at the 2001 and 2005 general elections. She died on 17 April 2008, after 34 years representing the seat and its predecessor, leading to a by-election held on 22 May 2008 which was won by the Conservative candidate Edward Timpson. The Labour candidate, Dunwoody's daughter Tamsin, came a distant second. Having previously enjoyed a considerable lead in support over the Conservatives, the Labour government had lost support due to the onset of the global recession and Gordon Brown’s relatively weak image as a leader. The by-election produced the first Conservative MP for the seat and nationally the first gain for a Conservative Party candidate at a parliamentary by-election since the Mitcham and Morden by-election in 1982 during the Falklands War, and the first from Labour since the Ilford North by-election of 1978. Timpson held the seat until 2017, where Labour's Laura Smith gained it with a narrow majority of just 48 votes, the closest margin in the seat's history and the second-narrowest Labour gain of the election. In the 2019 the Conservatives regained the seat with a majority of 8,508 on a swing of 7.9% to the Conservatives.
Boundaries
1983–1997: The Borough of Crewe and Nantwich wards of Acton, Alexandra, Audlem, Barony Weaver, Bunbury, Combermere, Coppenhall, Delamere, Grosvenor, Maw Green, Minshull, Peckforton, Queens Park, Ruskin Park, St Barnabas, St John's, Shavington, Waldron, Wellington, Weston Park, Willaston East, Willaston West, Wistaston, Wrenbury, and Wybunbury. 1997–2010: The Borough of Crewe and Nantwich wards of Alexandra, Barony Weaver, Coppenhall, Delamere, Grosvenor, Haslington, Maw Green, Queens Park, Ruskin Park, St Barnabas, St John's, Shavington, Waldron, Wellington, Weston Park, Willaston East, Willaston West, Wistaston, and Wybunbury. 2010–present: The Borough of Cheshire East wards of Alexandra, Barony Weaver, Birchin, Coppenhall, Delamere, Englesea, Grosvenor, Haslington, Leighton, Maw Green, St Barnabas, St John's, St Mary's, Shavington, Valley, Waldron, Wellington, Wells Green, Willaston, Wistaston Green, and Wybunbury. The constituency was created from parts of the constituencies of Crewe and Nantwich. Crewe had elected Labour MPs since 1945, while Nantwich had only elected Conservative MPs since its creation in 1955. The boundaries of the constituency include the towns of Crewe and Nantwich in the unitary authority of Cheshire East; however, much of the rural area west of Nantwich, and parts of the north of the town of Crewe are in the Eddisbury constituency.
