The seat has been won by Conservative Party members during the entirety of its two creations.

The constituency has four main population centres, namely Kirkham/Wesham, Lytham St Annes, Freckleton and Poulton-le-Fylde.

Kirkham, Wesham and Freckleton are small towns with some light industrial development and have a considerable Labour vote, but Lytham and St Annes are comfortable seaside resorts, favoured by families and retired couples, and along with the more rural parts of the seat, are safely Conservative, as is the market town of Poulton-le-Fylde.

1945–1950: Part of the County Borough of Preston; the Municipal Borough of Fleetwood; the Urban Districts of Kirkham, Longridge, Poulton-le-Fylde, Thornton Cleveleys, Walton-le-Dale, and part of Fulwood; and, the Rural District of Fylde, and parts of Blackburn, and Preston.

The seat was reduced in the boundary review leading to the 2010 United Kingdom general election, losing most of its elements from the Borough of Wyre and the City of Preston to the new seat of Wyre and Preston North.