Prior to 1983 Formby was in the parliamentary constituency of Ormskirk and after Ormskirk's abolition was made part of the Crosby constituency. The Member of Parliament (MP) for Crosby from 1997 until 2010 was Claire Curtis-Thomas, a member of the Labour Party, prior to her election the seat was generally considered to be a safe Conservative Party stronghold with Tory MPs elected at every election barring the 1981 Crosby by-election when Shirley Williams of the Social Democratic Party was elected to represent the constituency.
