Geography: North West, Greater Manchester. Part of Oldham council area.
Main population centres: Oldham, Shaw, Delph, Uppermill.
Profile: A constituency at the eastern side of Greater Manchester, reaching from central Oldham up into the Pennines and Saddleworth Moor. It covers the East of Oldham itself, an area of deprived terraces and racial tensions, the relatively prosperous (and unusually named) town of Shaw and Crompton and the more middle-class villages and hamlets of Saddleworth. There are racial tensions here - Oldham has a large Muslim population, concentrated in particular areas. In 2001 there were race riots in Oldham and the BNP performed strongly in 2001, getting over 10% of the vote. BNP support has declined, but some of the underlying problems remain - remaining concerns were visible in Phil Woolas`s literature at the 2010 election, which claimed that Woolas was being targetted by Muslim extremists.
Politics: Electorally the seat used to be an ultra-marginal between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. The Lib Dems were strongly represented in local government and narrowly missed winning the seat in 2010. Following the general election the Liberal Democrat candidate, Elwyn Watkins, successfully submitted a petition for an election court, claiming Labour`s election literature had broken the Representation of the People Act by making false statements of fact against him. The election was declared void and Labour MP Phil Woolas banned from holding office for three years. While the Liberal Democrats had succcessfully challenged the election result, the subsequent by-election saw Labour hold the seat relatively easily.
DEBBIE ABRAHAMS (Labour) Born 1960, Sheffield. Educated at Salford University. Former public health consultant. Contested Colne Valley 2010. First elected as MP for Oldham East & Saddleworth in 2011 by-election.
DEBBIE ABRAHAMS (Labour) See above.
RICHARD MARBROW (Liberal Democrat) Born 1974. Educated at de Ferrers High School and Liverpool University. Former research scientist. Liverpool councillor 1998-2007. Contested Liverpool Riverside 2001, 2005, 2010.
PETER KLONOWSKI (UKIP) Born 1959. Oldham councillor.
I agree that it’s hard to see Thornberry having any appeal outside inner London, Cambridge, Brighton etc. I do think her performance has improved since the election though.
(It could also be the case that the media have been forced to take her somewhat seriously given that Labour performed better than expected at the election).
The Lib Dems are within a shout here.
It wasn’t very long ago they gave Labour a real run for their money. The Tories can’t win here.