Like other northern cities such as Leeds and Liverpool, the population in the centre of Manchester has dwindled in recent decades, a factor which has naturally had a knock-on effect on the city’s electorate and parliamentary seats. Prior to 1983, there were a total of eight seats with a prefix of "Manchester". Following the most recent boundary review of 1995, that figure has been trimmed down to 4.
Labour first won this seat during their landslide victory of 1945, only to lose it again in 1951 when Churchill triumphantly led the Conservatives back to power. The next time Labour wrested the seat from the Tories was in 1964 when the party again formed a new government. Since then, Blackley has ceased to be a weather vane seat which swings with the country and instead has stayed with Labour in every subsequent election.
Pronounced "Blakely", the seat lies in the north of Manchester and borders the suburbs of Prestwich to the west and Chadderton and Failsworth to the east. It is mainly a residential area of declining suburbs, with deprivation particularly noticeable to the north of the seat.