Our Campaigns - UK Parliament - Oldham West & Royton Race

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UK Parliament - Oldham West & Royton

RACE DETAILS

Parents

> United Kingdom > England > North West > North West > Oldham West & Royton

Office

Parliament

Honorific

Member of Parliament - Abbr: MP

Type

General Election

Filing Deadline

April 19, 2005 - 12:00pm Central

Polls Open

May 05, 2005 - 01:00am Central

Polls Close

May 05, 2005 - 05:00pm Central

Term Start

May 17, 2005 - 12:00pm

Term End

May 17, 2010 - 11:00am

Contributor

Wishful Thinking

Last Modified

Wishful Thinking June 22, 2005 09:26pm

Data Sources

[Link]

Description

Oldham West and Royton was created in 1995. Half of the electorate came from the former Oldham Central & Royton seat, represented since 1983 by Labour's Bryan Davies. The other half came from Oldham West, which Michael Meacher had held since 1970. The constituency is made up of two towns - Royton and Chadderton - and four inner Oldham wards including the town centre. There is a substantial Asian population, mainly Bangladeshi and three Oldham West wards are among the 80 most deprived in the country with high levels of unemployment. Racial tension ignited riots which took place just before the 2001 General Election. British National Party leader Nick Griffin was a candidate here - polling more than 6,500 votes (or 16.4%) and beating the Liberal Democrats and almost catching the Conservatives for second place. Most employment opportunities are found in defence-related industries, food processing plants and with catalogue companies. A substantial proportion of the working population is employed in the retail and wholesale sector.