This seat was only created in 1983 and is made up of a number of small towns and villages along the Cheshire plain. The constituency is composed equally of agricultural land and a number of fairly affluent towns, of which Congleton is the largest.
Congleton itself, along with Buglawton and Middlewich - an old salt-mining town - have had strong Labour elements in the past but Sandbach, Holmes Chapel, Alsager and the villages have traditionally been Conservative.
The council, however, is run by the Liberal Democrats. They polled more than any other in Cheshire county council elections and, in 1997, hoped to beat the 9,000 Conservative’s 1992 majority. But Conservative candidate Ann Winterton, first elected to Congleton in 1983, was returned with a majority of over 6,000 and the Liberal Democrats saw their share of the vote fall to Labour.
Retailing is the main industry here, with 60% of the workforce engaged in non-manual professions and it is helped by the region's handy communication links - the M6 and three important rail routes - making it known as the "gateway to the north west".