Lying about halfway between Manchester and Liverpool, St. Helens is a working-class town which came into its own during the Industrial Revolution thanks to the abundance of ‘black gold’ - coal - in the area. The Sankey Canal that runs into the heart of the town was the first canal in Britain and canals and roads have played an important part in the development of St Helens ever since. The glass industry proved eager to exploit this abundant source of energy. One of the first businesses to utilise coal and the most modern transport system of its time, was the British Cast Plate Glass Company at Ravenhead. This was soon followed by many other firms, including William Pilkington who founded the now world-famous glass manufacturers.
The town has two seats although most of it falls within the boundaries of the St Helens South constituency which has been a slightly stronger Labour seat than its northern neighbour.
Unusually for an urban constituency the electorate here is over 99% white. Originally part of Lancashire, St Helens became a Merseyside Metropolitan district in 1974, although its residents have tenaciously held onto their Lancashire accents and Cheshire postcodes.