Wirral South by-election, 1997

A by-election was held for the United Kingdom parliament constituency of Wirral South, in Merseyside, England, on 27 February 1997. The seat became vacant on the death of Conservative Party Member of Parliament Barry Porter, and was won by Labour's Ben Chapman.

The Conservative loss in this seat, which came close to the last possible date for a general election, meant that they no longer had a majority in the House of Commons. Wirral South was the last in a run of significant Conservative losses, following a period of dissatisfaction with the Major years. This was the last Conservative loss to Labour in a by-election until the Corby by-election, 2012.

As with almost all constituencies fought at the 1997 May election, Wirral South was subject to boundary changes. Labour has held the seat since the by-election.

Wirral South by-election, 1997

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ben Chapman	22,767	52.6	+18.0
	Conservative	Leslie Byrom	14,879	34.4	-16.5
	Liberal Democrat	Flo Clucas	4,357	10.1	-3.0
	UKIP	Richard North	410	0.9
	Independent	Harold Bence	184	0.4
	Socialist Labour	Michael Cullen	156	0.4
	Disillusioned Conservative	Phillip Gott	148	0.3
	Independent	Roger Taylor	132	0.3
	Independent - anti tobacco donation	Anthony Samuelson	124	0.3
	Natural Law	Geoffery Mead	52	0.1	-0.2
	21st Century Foresters	Colin Palmer	44	0.1
	Independent - Thalidomide Action Group	Frederick Astbury	40	0.1
Majority			7,888	18.2
Turnout				71.5
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	-17.24

External links

• British Parliamentary By Elections: Campaign literature from the by-election

See also

• List of United Kingdom by-elections
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Merseyside