HALTON has been a solidly Labour seat since it was created in 1983 from the old Widnes and Runcorn constituencies.

With the exception of the 1983 election, Labour has never secured less than 50% of the vote and last time out Derek Twigg increased his majority to more than 25,000 votes.

The seat backed Leave in 2016, with 57% voting for Brexit, but UKIP's candidate achieved only 3% of the vote at the election the following year suggesting it may not be fertile ground for the Brexit Party's campaign.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives have traditionally hovered at around 20% of the vote, leaving them a distant second with well below half Mr Twigg’s vote share.

For Labour to lose Halton would be a huge upset and seems unlikely at this stage.

Boundaries

The seat covers all of Widnes, Hale village and west Runcorn with an electorate of around 73,500 and an average turnout over the last three elections of 63% – slightly below the national level.

The candidates

Janet Balfe – Brexit Party

Brexit candidate Jan Balfe lives in Northwich where she runs a cleaning company.

Steve Gribbon – Liberal Democrat

Fire officer Steve Gribbon is a Liberal Democrat councillor in Stockport, where he has lived since 2002.

David O’Keefe – Green

St Helens councillor David O’Keefe leads his borough’s Green Party group. In Knowsley, however, he sits on Whiston Town Council.

Charles Rowley – Conservative

Conservative Charlie Rowley is a councillor in East Hertfordshire, where he was first elected in May this year.

Derek Twigg – Labour

Born and brought up in Widnes, Derek Twigg has lived in Halton all his life and represented the area since 1997.

He is the only candidate to actually live in the Halton constituency.