Walsall South (UK Parliament constituency)

Walsall South
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Walsall South in West Midlands.
Location of West Midlands within England.
County	West Midlands
Electorate	66,082 (December 2010)^[1]
Major settlements	Darlaston and Walsall (part)
Current constituency
Created	1955
Member of parliament	Valerie Vaz (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Walsall
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	West Midlands

Walsall South is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Valerie Vaz, a member of the Labour Party.^{[n 2]}

Boundaries

1955-1974: The County Borough of Walsall wards of Bridge, Caldmore, Paddock, Palfrey, and Pleck, and the Urban District of Aldridge (the civil parishes of Aldridge, Great Barr, Pelsall, and Rushall).

1974-1983: The County Borough of Walsall wards of Darlaston North, Darlaston South, Hatherton, Paddock, Palfrey, Pleck, and St Matthew's.

1983-2010: The Metropolitan Borough of Walsall wards of Bentley and Darlaston North, Darlaston South, Paddock, Palfrey, Pheasey, Pleck, and St Matthew's.

2010-present: The Metropolitan Borough of Walsall wards of Bentley and Darlaston North, Darlaston South, Paddock, Palfrey, Pheasey Park Farm, Pleck, and St Matthew’s.

Walsall South is one of three constituencies in the metropolitan borough and specifically covers Darlaston, Moxley, Pheasey and the southern part of Walsall.

History

The constituency was first contested in 1955 largely from Walsall constituency, and won by its only Conservative MP to date, Major-General Henry d'Avigdor-Goldsmid.

Bruce George of the Labour Party won the seat when the Major-General stood down in the February 1974 general election, he too was an prominent supporter of the armed services and led Britain's NATO delegation to its Parliament, subsequently becoming its Vice-President. While never a prominent frontbencher, George held Walsall South until his retirement at the 2010 general election, when he was succeeded by Valerie Vaz (also of the Labour Party).

Synopsis of results

The Conservative holding of the seat through the First Wilson Ministry reveals that in these early elections the seat was not a bellwether. On the 1974 transfer in power to Wilson again, here the result proved to be a watershed election. Labour's majorities since this, only in fairly good years for the Conservatives, such as during the Thatcher ministry as well as in 1992 and General Election 2010 have been marginal ^{[n 3]}. In terms of length of a party's representation, Labour will have represented this area for a total of 40 years in February 2014.

Constituency profile

The constituency is in the heart of an area traditionally focussed on manufacturing, see Walsall, which retains many mechanical and engineering jobs in its economy and this seat has good links to the cities of Wolverhampton and Birmingham.

Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 higher than the national average of 3.8% and regional average of 4.7%, at 7.7% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.^[2]

Members of Parliament

	Member^[3]	Party
1955	Sir Henry d'Avigdor-Goldsmid	Conservative
Feb 1974	Bruce George	Labour
2010	Valerie Vaz	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Walsall South^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Valerie Vaz	19,740	47.2	+7.5
	Conservative	Sue Arnold^[5]	13,733	32.8	-2.5
	UKIP	Derek Bennett^[6]	6,540	15.6	+7.2
	Green	Charlotte Fletcher^[7]	1,149	2.7	+2.7
	Liberal Democrat	Joel Kenrick^[8]	676	1.6	-12.8
Majority			6,007	14.4	+10.1
Turnout			41,838	61.8	-1.3
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.0

UKIP originally announced Kenneth Turner as candidate for 2015,^[9] but Derek Bennett stood as the candidate instead.^[10]

General Election 2010: Walsall South^[11]^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Valerie Vaz	16,211	39.7	-9.5
	Conservative	Richard Hunt	14,456	35.4	+6.9
	Liberal Democrat	Murli Sinha	5,880	14.4	+4.6
	UKIP	Derek Bennett	3,449	8.4	+3.6
	Christian	Gulzaman Khan	482	1.2	+1.2
	Independent	Mohammed Mulia	404	1.0	+1.0
Majority			1,755	4.3
Turnout			40,882	63.1	+3.1
	Labour hold		Swing	−8.2

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Walsall South^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Bruce George	17,633	49.9	−9.1
	Conservative	Kabir Sabar	9,687	27.4	−3.1
	Liberal Democrat	Mohamed Hanif Asmal	3,240	9.2	+2.4
	UKIP	Derek Bennett	1,833	5.2	+2.4
	BNP	Kevin Smith	1,776	5.0	N/A
	Respect	Nadia Fazal	1,146	3.2	N/A
Majority			7,946	22.5
Turnout			35,365	58.5	+2.8
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.0

General Election 2001: Walsall South^[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Bruce George	20,574	59.0	+1.1
	Conservative	Michael Bird	10,643	30.5	-1.2
	Liberal Democrat	Bill Tomlinson	2,365	6.8	+0.5
	UKIP	Derek Bennett	974	2.8	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	Peter Smith	343	1.0	N/A
Majority			9,931	28.5
Turnout			34,899	55.7	-11.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Walsall South^[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Bruce George	25,024	57.87
	Conservative	Leslie Leek	13,712	31.71
	Liberal Democrat	Harry Harris	2,698	6.24
	Referendum	Thomas Dent	1,662	3.84
	Natural Law	Linda Meads	149	0.35
Majority			11,312	26.16
Turnout				67.34
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1992: Walsall South^[16]^[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Bruce George	24,133	48.2	+3.3
	Conservative	LC Jones	20,955	41.9	−0.8
	Liberal Democrat	GE Williams	4,132	8.3	−4.1
	Green	RJ Clarke	673	1.3	N/A
	Natural Law	JD Oldbury	167	0.3	N/A
Majority			3,178	6.3	+4.1
Turnout			50,060	76.3	+0.8
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.1

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Walsall South^[18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Bruce George	22,629	44.91
	Conservative	GE Postles	21,513	42.70
	Liberal	LA King	6,241	12.39
Majority			1,116	2.22
Turnout				75.48
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Walsall South^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Bruce George	21,735	43.48
	Conservative	David John Nicholson	21,033	42.08
	Social Democratic	B Silver	6,586	13.18
	BNP	J Parker	632	1.26
Majority			702	1.40
Turnout				74.32
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Walsall South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Bruce George	22,539	50.90
	Conservative	A Hill	20,951	47.31
	National Front	V Parker	795	1.80
Majority			1,588	3.59
Turnout				76.74
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Walsall South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Bruce George	20,917	48.00
	Conservative	H Smith	16,255	37.30
	Liberal	GFA Hooper	5,031	11.54
	National Front	JC Parker	1,226	2.81
	More Prosperous Britain	Tom Keen	150	0.34
Majority			4,662	10.70
Turnout				73.56
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Walsall South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Bruce George	20,775	45.16
	Conservative	H Smith	19,195	41.72
	Liberal	D Haines	6,038	13.12
Majority			1,580	3.43
Turnout				78.28
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1970: Walsall South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Henry d'Avigdor-Goldsmid	35,545	59.50
	Labour	GS Rea	24,196	40.5
Majority			11,349	19.00
Turnout				72.96
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: Walsall South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Henry d'Avigdor-Goldsmid	30,161	53.44
	Labour	RG Drake	26,280	46.56
Majority			3,881	6.88
Turnout				77.23
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1964: Walsall South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Henry d'Avigdor-Goldsmid	32,602	57.06
	Labour	Bryan Stanley	24,532	42.94
Majority			8,070	14.12
Turnout				79.12
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Walsall South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Henry d'Avigdor-Goldsmid	30,471	58.42
	Labour	JAF Ennals	21,689	41.58
Majority			8,782	16.84
Turnout				83.05
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Walsall South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Henry d'Avigdor-Goldsmid	24,077	52.65
	Labour	JAF Ennals	21,651	47.35
Majority			2,426	5.31
Turnout				80.24
	Conservative hold		Swing

Notes and references

Notes

↑ A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
↑ As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
↑ 6.3% and 4.3% of the vote respectively in the specific election years given.

References

↑ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
↑ Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 1)
↑ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
↑ https://www.conservatives.com/OurTeam/Prospective_Parliamentary_Candidates/Arnold_Sue.aspx
↑ http://ukipwalsall.org/
↑ https://my.greenparty.org.uk/candidates/106266
↑ https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelkenrick
↑ http://ukipwalsall.org/ukip-launches-three-pronged-attack-against-cons-labour-and-lib-dems/
↑ https://yournextmp.com/person/5492/derek-bennett
↑ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
↑ "BBC NEWS – Election 2010 – Walsall South". BBC News.
↑ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
↑ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

Constituencies in the West Midlands (59)

Conservative (34)	Aldridge-Brownhills Bromsgrove Burton Cannock Chase Dudley South Halesowen and Rowley Regis Hereford and South Herefordshire Kenilworth and Southam Lichfield Ludlow Meriden Mid Worcestershire North Herefordshire North Shropshire North Warwickshire Nuneaton Redditch Rugby Shrewsbury and Atcham Solihull South Staffordshire Stafford Staffordshire Moorlands Stone Stourbridge Stratford-on-Avon Sutton Coldfield Tamworth Telford The Wrekin Warwick and Leamington West Worcestershire Worcester Wyre Forest

Labour (25)	Birmingham, Edgbaston Birmingham, Erdington Birmingham, Hall Green Birmingham, Hodge Hill Birmingham, Ladywood Birmingham, Northfield Birmingham, Perry Barr Birmingham, Selly Oak Birmingham, Yardley Coventry North East Coventry North West Coventry South Dudley North Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke-on-Trent Central Stoke-on-Trent North Stoke-on-Trent South Walsall North Walsall South Warley West Bromwich East West Bromwich West Wolverhampton North East Wolverhampton South East Wolverhampton South West

West Midlands European constituency: Conservative (2) Labour (2) UKIP (3)

Coordinates: 52°34′N 1°59′W / 52.57°N 1.98°W / 52.57; -1.98

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