Rochdale
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Rochdale in North West England
County	Greater Manchester
Electorate	77,782 (2023)[1]
Major settlements	Rochdale, Littleborough, Wardle
Current constituency
Created	1950
Member of Parliament	vacant (parliament dissolved)
Seats	One
1832–1950
Seats	One
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Created from	Lancashire

Rochdale is a constituency, which was most recently represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by George Galloway. Galloway is the leader of the Workers Party of Britain, and was elected at the 2024 by-election. Rochdale has elected one Member of Parliament (MP) since its creation in 1832.^[a]

Boundaries

Map of current boundaries

As there were no township boundaries in 1832, the original constituency was defined as a circular area in a radius of three-quarters of a mile from the old market place in Rochdale. In 1868 the boundary was extended to include Wardleworth, Spotland, Wuerdle, Belfield, Newbold, Buersill, and Marland.^[2]

1918–1950: The County Borough of Rochdale

1950–1983: As prior but with redrawn boundaries

1983–1997: The Borough of Rochdale wards of Balderstone, Brimrod and Deeplish, Castleton, Central and Falinge, Healey, Newbold, Norden and Bamford, Smallbridge and Wardleworth, and Spotland

1997–2010: The Borough of Rochdale wards of Balderstone, Brimrod and Deeplish, Central and Falinge, Healey, Littleborough, Newbold, Smallbridge and Wardleworth, Spotland, and Wardle

2010–present: The Borough of Rochdale wards of Balderstone and Kirkholt, Central Rochdale, Healey, Kingsway, Littleborough Lakeside, Milkstone and Deeplish, Milnrow and Newhey, Smallbridge and Firgrove, Spotland and Falinge, and Wardle and West Littleborough

Proposed

Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, the composition of the constituency from the 2024 general election will be reduced to bring the electorate within the permitted range. This will be achieved by transferring the Spotland and Falinge ward to the new constituency of Heywood and Middleton North.^[3]

History

Rochdale was one of the constituencies created by the Reform Act of 1832, and has been a Labour/Liberal Democrat marginal for many years, although it was held by the Conservatives for part of the 1950s, until a 1958 by-election.

It was held for two decades by Cyril Smith, first of the Liberal Party and then of the Liberal Democrats. He won a by-election in 1972, taking the seat from Labour, and held it until his retirement in 1992. After Smith's death it emerged that he had been a serial child abuser.^[4]

Since Smith's retirement, contests have been tighter. The Liberal Democrats held the seat with Liz Lynne at the 1992 general election, but lost to Labour's Lorna Fitzsimons at the 1997 election. However, the Liberal Democrats regained the seat at the 2005 election, with Paul Rowen.

In 2010, the town was brought to national attention when the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown was caught on a tape recording describing a local woman, Gillian Duffy, as a "bigot" after having a conversation with her while campaigning (later described as Bigotgate by the UK media). Despite this unfavourable publicity, Labour still managed to narrowly win the seat from the Liberal Democrats; and in 2015 achieved their highest majority in the seat's history, with the Liberal Democrats falling to fourth place.

Constituency profile

The constituency is one of two covering the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. It contains most of the town of Rochdale itself as well as Littleborough, Wardle and some of the surrounding rural area.

For the 2010 UK general election, the seat gained the villages of Milnrow and Newhey from Oldham East and Saddleworth and lost the areas of Sudden, Marland, and part of Norden to Heywood and Middleton, a 19.16% boundary change. Those changes made the seat a notional Labour victory in the Rallings and Thrasher figures^[5] which were used by the Press Association for determining gains, losses and swings. However, other predictions by political commentator Martin Baxter^{[6][failed verification]} showed the seat maintaining a narrow Lib Dem majority. The Times Guide to the House of Commons 2010 estimated that had the seat been fought on these boundaries in 2005, Labour would have won the seat with approximately 40.9% of the vote to the Liberal Democrats' 40.7%.^[7]

Demographics

The population was recorded as 114,386 in 2021. The racial composition was 62.7% White, 29.6% Asian, and 3.1% Black.^[8] The religious composition was 38.1% Christian, 30.5% Muslim, and 0.9% other. 26.0% claimed no religious affiliation.^[8]

Members of Parliament

Results

Elections in the 2020s