An earlier Liverpool Wavertree constituency existed until 1983; this was further to the south-east in the city and was predominantly a Conservative seat, occasionally with large majorities. It had been created in 1918, but a declining population in the 1970s caused it to be split between Liverpool Garston, the newly-formed Liverpool Broadgreen and Liverpool Mossley Hill constituencies. While the Conservatives have fared badly in the new Wavertree constituency (polling under 7% at the 2005 general election), a direct comparison must take into account the differing boundaries since the 1997 recreation: with more inner-city areas than its previous incarnation, the seat is home to constituents on a lower income than the average in the North West and who are traditionally less sympathetic to Conservative policies. The 2015 general election result made the seat the seventh-safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority.