1979 Manchester Central by-election
The Manchester Central by-election, 1979 was a parliamentary by-election held on 27 September 1979 for the British House of Commons constituency of Manchester Central.
The seat had become vacant when the constituency's Labour Member of Parliament (MP), Harold Lever had been made a life peer on 3 July 1979. He had held the seat since its creation for the February 1974 general election, having represented previous constituencies in Manchester since the 1945 general election.
Results
Manchester Central was a safe seat for Labour. On a heavily-reduced turnout, the result of the contest was a victory for the Labour candidate, Bob Litherland, who won with the same 70.7% share of the vote which Lever had won at the general election in May 1979.
Litherland held the seat until he retired from the House of Commons at the 1997 general election.
Votes
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Bob Litherland | 7,494 | 70.7 | 0 | |
Liberal | Anthony Parkinson | 1,502 | 14.2 | +8.9 | |
Conservative | Stephen Lea | 1,275 | 12.0 | −10.1 | |
Independent Labour | Syed Ala-Ud-Din | 187 | 1.8 | N/A | |
Ecology | John Foster | 129 | 1.2 | N/A | |
Democratic Monarchist, Public Safety, White Resident. | Bill Boaks | 12 | 0.1 | N/A | |
Majority | 5,992 | 56.5 | +7.9 | ||
Turnout | 10,599 | 33.8 | −29.9 | ||
Labour hold | Swing |
References
- British Parliamentary by-elections: Manchester Central 1983
- Richard Kimber's political science resources: UK General Election results 1979
- Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages [self-published source] [better source needed]