Bolton North East Peter Thurnham (Retiring) 14,952 27,621 4,862 0 676 Bolton North East 23,477 26,494 5,638 0 213 Labour Bolton, a proud ex-textile town on the north west edge of Greater Manchester's urban sprawl, has long been the site of tight parliamentary contests. In the 1950s, a Conservative-Liberal pact was in operation which involved the two parties standing down in each other's favour, resulting in the election of a Liberal MP in West and a Conservative in East. This arrangement broke down in 1964, and Labour won both seats; since then there has always been at least one Labour-Conservative marginal in Bolton. In 1992 Peter Thurnham held Bolton NE for the Conservatives by just 185 votes, but a lot has happened here since then. Having initially announced his retirement, Thurnham then fell out with the Tories when he was not interviewed for a safe seat elsewhere, and in 1996 after some time as an Independent he announced his conversion to the Liberal Democrats. Whoever wins in North East next time, it will not be Peter Thurnham, who is not standing, or any Liberal Democrat, who will come a poor third. The hot favourites must be Labour, who have benefited considerably by the transfer of an inner city ward, Halliwell, from Bolton West. Indeed, they probably would have won this seat by about 3,000 votes had the new boundaries existed in 1992.

	2,954	7.40	9.03	82
	2,753	6.90	11.17	62
	6,013	15.07	11.25	134
	4,983	12.48	14.70	85
	4,248	10.64	10.45	102
	0	0.00	2.81	0
	3,041	7.62	8.01	95
	7,569	18.96	15.25	124
	2,769	6.94	7.13	97
	5,462	13.69	10.17	135