Eddie O’Hara, MP for Knowsley South since 1990, retained the seat with the largest numerical majority for any party in 1997 - 30,708, although there were 10 Labour seats with greater percentage majorities. The seat derives its name from Knowsley Park, ancestral seat of leading local aristocrats the Stanleys (Earls of Derby) - which is actually in Knowsley North.
Knowsley South is based upon the former Huyton constituency - forever associated with Harold Wilson. When he retired in 1983, he had represented the seat for nearly 40 years and transformed it from a marginal to a very safe Labour seat.
Today, the seat of Knowsley South include some old rural communities, in Whiston, Tarbock and Cronton, but overwhelmingly they are Scousers, living in large pre and post-war overspill housing estates. The seat includes the Ford plant at Halewood. At the beginning of February, Ford announced that the plant would produce its new X-type Jag. For the 3,000 workers at the plant, the investment marks a big change in fortune after the factory faced closure in 1997 with the planned phasing out of Escort production, which ended last July.