Smethwick is a parliamentary constituency, centred on the town of Smethwick in Staffordshire. It returns one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system. The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, abolished for the February 1974 general election, and re-established for the 2024 general election. It is formed from the abolished Warley constituency, with the addition of most of the Blackheath ward.[2]
Smethwick | |
---|---|
Borough constituency for the House of Commons | |
![]() Boundaries since 2024 | |
![]() Boundary of Smethwick in West Midlands region | |
County | West Midlands |
Electorate | 71,195 (2023)[1] |
Major settlements | Smethwick, Brandhall, Langley Green, Blackheath |
Current constituency | |
Created | 2024 |
Member of Parliament | Gurinder Josan (Labour) |
Seats | One |
Created from | Warley |
1918–1974 | |
Seats | One |
Created from | Handsworth |
Replaced by | Warley East |
Boundaries
editThe County Borough of Smethwick.
2024–present
editThe established constituency is composed of the following wards (as they existed on 1 December 2020):
- The Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell wards of: Abbey; Blackheath (polling districts BLA, BLB, BLC, BLD, BLE, BLF and BLH); Bristnall; Langley; Old Warley; St. Pauls; Smethwick; Soho and Victoria.[3]
It comprises the whole of the current Warley constituency, with the addition of the bulk of the Blackheath ward from Halesowen and Rowley Regis, thus bringing its electorate within the permitted range.
History
editThe constituency gained national interest during the 1918 general election when the Suffragette leader Christabel Pankhurst decided to stand as a Woman's Party candidate supporting the Coalition. She was one of 17 women candidates standing for Parliament at the first opportunity. This was her one and only parliamentary campaign which she lost to the Labour candidate.[4]
In 1945 the constituency held the first post-war by-election when the winning Labour candidate, Alfred Dobbs, was killed in a road traffic accident less than twenty four hours after the count.[5] The constituency was the subject of national media coverage during the 1964 general election when Peter Griffiths, the Conservative Party candidate, gained the seat against the national trend, unseating the Labour Party sitting member, Patrick Gordon Walker, a front bench opposition spokesman in the previous Parliament, in a campaign with racial overtones.[6]
Members of Parliament
editMPs 1888-1999
editElection | Member | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
1918 | John Davison | Labour | |
1926 | Sir Oswald Mosley | Labour | |
1931 | New Party | ||
1931 | Roy Wise | Conservative | |
1945 | Alfred Dobbs | Labour | |
1945 | Patrick Gordon Walker | Labour | |
1964 | Peter Griffiths | Conservative | |
1966 | Andrew Faulds | Labour | |
Feb 1974 | constituency abolished: see Warley East |
MPs since 2024
editWarley prior to 2024
Election | Member | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
2024 | Gurinder Josan | Labour |
Elections
editElections in the 2020s
editParty | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Gurinder Josan | 16,858 | 48.0 | 9.0 | |
Reform UK | Pete Durnell | 5,670 | 16.1 | 10.1 | |
Conservative | Kate Fairhurst | 4,546 | 12.9 | 17.3 | |
Green | Rod MacRorie | 2,741 | 7.8 | 5.5 | |
Workers Party | Nahim Rubani | 2,449 | 7.0 | New | |
Independent | Jay Anandou | 1,322 | 3.8 | New | |
Liberal Democrats | Oliver Patrick | 1,018 | 2.9 | 1.6 | |
Independent | Christopher Graham | 348 | 1.0 | New | |
TUSC | Ravaldeep Bath | 163 | 0.5 | New | |
Majority | 11,188 | 31.9 | |||
Turnout | 35,125 | 48.2 | 9.3 | ||
Labour hold | Swing |
Elections in the 1970s
editParty | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Andrew Faulds | 16,077 | 52.2 | −2.2 | |
Conservative | Brian Rathbone | 13,968 | 45.4 | +1.3 | |
Liberal | Mihir Gupta | 747 | 2.4 | New | |
Majority | 2,109 | 6.8 | −3.5 | ||
Turnout | 30,792 | 68.1 | −7.3 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -1.7 |
Elections in the 1960s
editParty | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Andrew Faulds | 18,440 | 54.4 | +11.8 | |
Conservative | Peter Griffiths | 14,950 | 44.1 | −3.5 | |
British National | R. Stanley | 508 | 1.5 | New | |
Majority | 3,490 | 10.3 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 33,898 | 75.4 | +1.3 | ||
Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | −7.6 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Peter Griffiths | 16,690 | 47.6 | +2.3 | |
Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 14,916 | 42.6 | −12.1 | |
Liberal | David Hugill | 3,172 | 9.0 | New | |
Independent | Dudley Trevor Davies | 262 | 0.8 | New | |
Majority | 1,774 | 5.0 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 35,040 | 74.1 | −1.8 | ||
Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | −7.2 |
Elections in the 1950s
editParty | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 20,670 | 54.7 | −3.5 | |
Conservative | Peter Griffiths | 17,126 | 45.3 | +3.5 | |
Majority | 3,544 | 9.4 | −7.0 | ||
Turnout | 37,796 | 75.9 | +0.4 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -3.5 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 23,151 | 58.2 | −2.4 | |
Conservative | John Wells | 16,656 | 41.8 | +2.4 | |
Majority | 6,495 | 16.4 | −4.8 | ||
Turnout | 39,807 | 75.5 | −8.5 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -2.5 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 27,739 | 60.6 | −1.5 | |
Conservative | A. Norman Giles | 18,012 | 39.4 | +1.5 | |
Majority | 9,727 | 21.2 | −3.0 | ||
Turnout | 45,751 | 83.5 | −3.4 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -1.5 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 28,750 | 62.1 | −6.7 | |
Conservative | J. Fallon | 17,553 | 37.9 | +6.7 | |
Majority | 11,197 | 24.2 | −13.4 | ||
Turnout | 46,303 | 86.9 | +21.5 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -6.7 |
Elections in the 1940s
editParty | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 19,364 | 68.8 | +2.9 | |
Conservative | Gilbert Harold Samuel Edgar | 8,762 | 31.2 | −2.9 | |
Majority | 10,602 | 37.6 | +5.8 | ||
Turnout | 43,020 | 65.4 | −7.0 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −2.9 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Alfred Dobbs | 20,522 | 65.9 | +18.4 | |
Conservative | Gilbert Harold Samuel Edgar | 10,637 | 34.1 | −18.4 | |
Majority | 9,885 | 31.8 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 31,159 | 72.4 | +1.7 | ||
Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | −18.4 |
Elections in the 1930s
editParty | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Roy Wise | 16,575 | 52.5 | −7.6 | |
Labour | Charles Wortham Brook | 15,023 | 47.5 | +7.6 | |
Majority | 1,552 | 5.0 | −17.2 | ||
Turnout | 31,598 | 70.7 | −4.0 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | −7.7 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Roy Wise | 20,945 | 60.1 | +25.9 | |
Labour | W. Ernest Lawrence | 13,927 | 39.9 | −14.9 | |
Majority | 7,018 | 20.2 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 34,872 | 74.7 | −4.2 | ||
Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | +20.3 |
Elections in the 1920s
editParty | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Oswald Mosley | 19,550 | 54.8 | −2.3 | |
Unionist | Roy Wise | 12,210 | 34.2 | +0.5 | |
Liberal | Maude Egerton Marshall | 3,909 | 11.0 | +1.8 | |
Majority | 7,340 | 20.6 | −2.8 | ||
Turnout | 35,669 | 78.9 | +0.3 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -1.4 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Oswald Mosley | 16,077 | 57.1 | +4.8 | |
Unionist | Marshall James Pike | 9,495 | 33.7 | −14.0 | |
Liberal | Edwin Bayliss | 2,600 | 9.2 | New | |
Majority | 6,582 | 23.4 | +18.8 | ||
Turnout | 35,862 | 78.6 | +0.4 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −9.4 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Davison | 14,491 | 52.3 | −2.4 | |
Unionist | Marshall James Pike | 13,238 | 47.7 | +2.4 | |
Majority | 1,253 | 4.6 | −4.8 | ||
Turnout | 27,729 | 78.2 | +6.5 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -2.4 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Davison | 13,550 | 54.7 | +4.0 | |
Unionist | Edmund Brocklebank | 11,217 | 45.3 | −4.0 | |
Majority | 2,333 | 9.4 | +8.0 | ||
Turnout | 24,767 | 71.7 | −4.2 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −4.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Davison | 13,141 | 50.7 | −1.5 | |
Unionist | Arthur Henry Addenbrooke Simcox | 12,759 | 49.3 | +1.5 | |
Majority | 382 | 1.4 | −3.0 | ||
Turnout | 25,900 | 75.9 | +21.2 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | -1.5 |
Elections in the 1910s
editParty | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | John Davison | 9,389 | 52.2 | ||
Women's Party | Christabel Pankhurst | 8,614 | 47.8 | ||
Majority | 775 | 4.4 | |||
Turnout | 18,003 | 54.7 | |||
Labour win (new seat) |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition – West Midlands". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
- ^ "West Midlands | Boundary Commission for England". boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
- ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 1 Part 8 West Midlands region.
- ^ Hallam, David J.A. Taking on the Men: the first women parliamentary candidates 1918, Studley 2018, chapter two "Pankhurst in Smethwick".
- ^ Ibid page 24, footnote.
- ^ Jeffries, Stuart (15 October 2014). "Britain's most racist election: the story of Smethwick, 50 years on". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ Smethwick
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig (1983). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
- ^ Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench
External links
edit- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 3)
- Smethwick UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK