West Bromwich West (UK Parliament constituency)

West Bromwich West is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2000 by Adrian Bailey, a member of the Labour Party and of the Cooperative Party.^{[n 2]}

Members of Parliament

Constituency profile

Wednesbury and Tipton are economic centres and historic towns with considerable suburbs although overshadowed in the service sector by nearby Birmingham. Since the recessions of the 1970s and early 1980s, West Bromwich West has suffered from an acute, stubbornly great minority of unemployment, and as a result of the current recession which began in 2008 unemployment peaked at 14.3%. Only Birmingham, Ladywood nearby had higher unemployment rates in all of Britain.^[3]

Workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 higher than the national average of 3.8%, at 8.1% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian, this also exceeded the regional average of 4.7% of those of working age in receipt of this benefit, which is seen as the lower gauge of the breadth of unemployment.^[4]

Boundaries

West Bromwich West is one of four constituencies covering the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, covering its west and north-west. Main settlements are the towns of Tipton and Wednesbury, others the villages or suburbs of Great Bridge, Princes End and Tividale.

1997-present: The Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell wards of Great Bridge, Oldbury, Princes End, Tipton Green, Tividale, Wednesbury North, and Wednesbury South.

1983-1997: The Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell wards of Great Bridge, Greets Green and Lyng, Princes End, Tipton Green, Wednesbury North, and Wednesbury South. 1974-1983: The County Borough of West Bromwich wards of Greets Green, Hill Top, Horseley Heath, Lyng, Market, Tibbington, Tipton Green, and Wood Green.

History

The constituency was created in 1974 and took its present boundaries (except for partial ward shares with West Bromwich East) in 1997.

Political history

The seat has been held by either the Labour Party or one of its members as the Speaker of the House of Commons since its creation - the most marginal majority in 2005 was still a majority of 16.3% of the vote, and Labour has polled at more than 50% of votes cast on all but two occasions since the constituency's formation.

At local level, Labour safely hold most of the wards of the constituency, who were, from 2008 until 2012 followed by the controversial British National Party who held four councillors, ahead of the Conservatives with three, hence a fairly strong BNP showing in the 2005 general election, receiving nearly 10% of the vote.

Prominent frontbenchers

From 1974 until 2000 this was the constituency of Betty Boothroyd, who was first elected for the former West Bromwich in its by-election in 1973 and became the first woman to be Speaker of the House of Commons in 1992. She retired as Speaker in 2000.^{[n 3]} The ensuing by-election was won by Labour Co-operative candidate Adrian Bailey, who has held the seat to date.

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2017: West Bromwich West^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour Co-op	Adrian Bailey	18,789	52.1	4.7
	Conservative	Andrew Hardie	14,329	39.7	15.8
	UKIP	Star Anderton	2,320	6.4	18.8
	Liberal Democrat	Flo Clucas	333	0.9	0.6
	Green	Robert Buckman	323	0.9	1.1
Majority			4,460	12.4
Turnout			36,094	54.7
	Labour hold		Swing	4.7

General Election 2015: West Bromwich West^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour Co-op	Adrian Bailey	16,578	47.3	2.4
	UKIP	Graham Eardley	8,836	25.2	20.9
	Conservative	Paul Ratner	8,365	23.9	5.5
	Green	Mark Redding	697	2.0	2.0
	Liberal Democrat	Karen Trench	550	1.6	10.4
Majority			7,742	22.1
Turnout			35,026		-
	Labour hold		Swing	9.3

General Election 2010: West Bromwich West^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour Co-op	Adrian Bailey	16,263	45.0	8.7
	Conservative	Andrew Hardie	10,612	29.3	6.6
	Liberal Democrat	Sadie Smith	4,336	12.0	1.8
	BNP	Russ Green	3,394	9.4	0.5
	UKIP	Malcolm Ford	1,566	4.3	1.8
Majority			5,651	15.6
Turnout			36,171	55.6	4.0
	Labour hold		Swing	7.6

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: West Bromwich West^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour Co-op	Adrian Bailey	18,951	54.3	6.5
	Conservative	Mimi Harker	8,057	23.1	2.0
	Liberal Democrat	Martyn Smith	3,583	10.3	3.5
	BNP	James Lloyd	3,456	9.9	5.4
	UKIP	Kevin Walker	870	2.5	0.9
Majority			10,894	31.2
Turnout			34,917	52.3	4.6
	Labour hold		Swing	2.3

General Election 2001: West Bromwich West^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour Co-op	Adrian Bailey	19,352	60.8	N/A
	Conservative	Karen Bissell	7,997	25.1	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Sadie Smith	2,168	6.8	N/A
	BNP	John Salvage	1,428	4.5	N/A
	UKIP	Kevin Walker	499	1.6	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Baghwant Singh	396	1.2	N/A
Majority			11,355	35.7
Turnout			31,840	47.7	6.7
	Labour gain from Speaker		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

¹Boothroyd stood as "The Speaker seeking re-election."

General Election 1992: West Bromwich West^[11][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Betty Boothroyd	22,251	54.8	4.3
	Conservative	Desmond Swayne	14,421	35.5	1.6
	Liberal Democrat	Sarah Broadbent	3,925	9.7	2.7
Majority			7,830	19.3	6.0
Turnout			40,597	70.4	3.4
	Labour hold		Swing	3.0

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in West Midlands

Notes and references

Notes

References

Coordinates: 52°32′N 2°03′W / 52.53°N 2.05°W / 52.53; -2.05