Blackburn

Lab

Hold

1997 Result:	Straw, Jack Lab 26,141 55.00% Sidhu, Sangeeta Kaur Con 11,696 24.60% Fenn, Stephen LibDem 4,990 10.50% Bradshaw, David Ref 1,892 4.00% Wingfield, Tina NatDem 671 1.40% Drummond, Helen SLP 635 1.30% Field, Robin Green 608 1.30% Carmichael-Grimshaw, Margo KBFIP 506 1.10% Batchelor, William Common Sense 362 0.80% Majority 14,445 9.7% swing from Con to Lab
1992 Notional Result:	Lab 26,633 48.44%   Con 20,606 37.48%   LibDem 6,332 11.52%   Others 1,407 2.56% Notional Majority 6,027 10.96%
Description:	The constituency has not undergone any changes to its boundary. The seat is a Lancashire textile town represented by the Shadow Home Secretary, Jack Straw, but it is still popularly associated with Barbara Castle. Blackburn used to be the weaving centre of the world but now textiles form a much smaller proportion of the town's manufacturing output. There is a large engineering sector and it is a brewing centre for a large part of the north. Other products include paint and car accessories. Blackburn's economy benefits from the proximity of the M6, and the M65 links towns in North East Lancashire. These two motorways will be joined by the M65 Southern Bypass around Blackburn which is being built at a cost of £142 million. Asians form 18% of the constituency's population and they have settled in the town's inner areas of terraced housing. In the early 1970s, the far right National Party won a couple of seats on the town council.