Created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, Liverpool Walton has been held by the Labour Party since the 1964 general election, and is the party's safest seat by size of majority. In 2010 and 2015, it had the largest Labour majority in the country by percentage terms. Labour won over 70% of the vote at every general election in the Walton constituency since 1992, although for many years; it was looked on as a reasonably safe Conservative seat. Until 1964, Labour had only gained Walton once, at their landslide victory after the Second World War ended in 1945. Like other seats in Merseyside, the Conservative Party's share of the vote declined rapidly during the 1980s, and Conservative candidates failed to poll in second place from 1997 until 2017. From 1964 until his death in 1991, the seat was held by the notable left-winger Eric Heffer; the subsequent by-election was won by Peter Kilfoyle, who held the seat until 2010. Steve Rotheram won the seat in 2010 after Kilfoyle stood down.