This seat was created during the boundary reviews of 1995. Around 60% of voters were transferred here from the old Tory marginal of Lancaster. The rest of the electorate came from the seaside retirement towns of Poulton-le-Fylde, Thornton, Hambleton and Knott End-on-Sea, all previously in the old Wyre seat held by Conservative Keith Mans from 1987. Despite this potent brew of Conservatism, Hilton Dawson became the first Labour MP for the Lancaster part of this seat since Stanley Henig in 1970.
Lancaster, on the seat’s northern border with Morecambe and Lunsdale, is the largest town in a primarily rural constituency. There is a rich mix of isolated population centres in the division; small and pretty villages such as Pilling and Hambleton, market towns with historic centres such as Garstang and Poulton-le-Fylde and the coastal resort of Cleveleys on the Fylde coast.
Jobs are in reasonable supply and unemployment is below the national average. The University of Lancaster is based 3 miles south of the town and has become one of the main employers in the north of the seat. Tourism is also important to an area with numerous coastal resorts and located near to the Lake District in the north.
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