Wolverhampton South West (UK Parliament constituency)

Wolverhampton South West was a constituency in the West Midlands created in 1950 and was represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament.^{[n 1]}

Wolverhampton South West
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Wolverhampton South West in West Midlands
Location of West Midlands within England
County	West Midlands
Electorate	59,846 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	Wolverhampton
1950–2024
Seats	One
Replaced by	Wolverhampton West

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was abolished. Subject to moderate boundary changes, it was reformed as Wolverhampton West, to be first contested at the 2024 general election.^[2]

History

Wolverhampton South West was represented by the Conservative Party for 47 years after its formation, with Labour winning it for the first time in its 1997 landslide victory. The Conservatives regained the seat in 2010, only for Labour to regain it at the next general election in 2015, before losing it again in 2019 to the Conservative Party.

The constituency was held by Enoch Powell from 1950 to 1974, a period covering his unsuccessful bid for the Conservative Party leadership in 1965 and his controversial 1968 Rivers of Blood speech, which criticised mass immigration, especially Commonwealth immigration to Britain.

Constituency profile

This, in the 21st century, repeatedly marginal seat contains a mix of different areas; St Peter's, Graiseley and Park are relatively deprived inner city wards, with significant ethnic minority populations, mainly of Asian origin and are Labour voting-areas. Penn and Merry Hill are more mixed and suburban with mostly Conservative voters in times of economic prosperity. Tettenhall Regis and Tettenhall Wightwick are affluent suburbs on the western fringe of the West Midlands conurbation and are the strongest Tory wards in the seat.

The seat includes Molineux stadium, home to Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.

Boundaries

Map of boundaries 2010-2024

Wolverhampton South West is one of three constituencies covering the city of Wolverhampton, covering the city centre (including the University and Civic Centre) as well as western and south-western parts of the city. The boundaries run south from the city centre towards Penn and north-west towards Tettenhall.

1950–1955: The County Borough of Wolverhampton wards of Blakenhall and St John's, Graiseley, Penn, St George's, St Mark's and Merridale, St Matthew's, and St Philip's.

1955–1974: As above plus Park.

1974–1983: The County Borough of Wolverhampton wards of Graiseley, Merry Hill, Park, Penn, St Peter's, Tettenhall Regis, and Tettenhall Wightwick.

1983–2010: The Metropolitan Borough of Wolverhampton wards as named above

2010–2024: The City of Wolverhampton wards as named above

History

Prominent frontbenchers

The unit is heavily associated with the controversial Conservative politician Enoch Powell who was MP for the seat from 1950 until 1974, when he departed to the Ulster Unionist Party. It was during this time that he served in Edward Heath's shadow cabinet, from which he was dismissed in 1968 after his controversial Rivers of Blood speech in which he predicted severe civil unrest if mass immigration from the Commonwealth continued. This speech was reportedly the result of Powell's meeting with a woman in the constituency who was the last white person living in her street.^[3]

He was succeeded by fellow Conservative Nicholas Budgen, who held the seat until 1997. Budgen is best known as one of the Maastricht Rebels of the mid-1990s.

Summary of results

Wolverhampton South West returned Conservative until a Labour candidate gained it in their 1997 landslide. Budgen was defeated in the 1997 election by Labour's Jenny Jones, a landslide victory for the party. As the next general election loomed, she announced that she would not be seeking re-election. From the 2001 general election, the constituency was represented by Rob Marris of the Labour Party for nine years until he lost it in the 2010 general election to Paul Uppal of the Conservative Party, by a margin of 691 votes. Marris regained the seat from Uppal at the 2015 general election. The 2015 result gave the seat the 14th-smallest majority of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority.^[4] In 2017, despite Marris standing down after 11 (non-consecutive) years as an MP and Uppal standing for a third time, the new Labour candidate, Eleanor Smith, more than doubled the Labour majority. In 2019, riding the surge from Boris Johnson's Conservative Party, Stuart Anderson was elected as the new Conservative MP for the constituency.

Other parties' candidates

Of the four other candidates standing in 2015, the UKIP candidate kept his deposit by winning more than 5% of the vote, in the year before the 2016 EU referendum. He failed to do so in the 2017 election.

Turnout

Turnout has ranged from 87.2% in 1950 to 62.1% in 2001 and in 2005.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[5]	Party
	1950	Enoch Powell	Conservative
	Feb 1974	Nicholas Budgen
	1997	Jenny Jones	Labour
	2001	Rob Marris
	2010	Paul Uppal	Conservative
	2015	Rob Marris	Labour
	2017	Eleanor Smith
	2019	Stuart Anderson	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Wolverhampton South West^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stuart Anderson	19,864	48.3	4.1
	Labour	Eleanor Smith	18,203	44.3	5.1
	Liberal Democrats	Bart Ricketts	2,041	5.0	3.1
	Brexit Party	Leo Grandison	1,028	2.5	New
Majority			1,661	4.0	1.2
Turnout			41,136	67.5	3.1
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	4.6

General election 2017: Wolverhampton South West^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Eleanor Smith	20,899	49.4	6.2
	Conservative	Paul Uppal	18,714	44.2	3.0
	UKIP	Rob Jones	1,012	2.4	8.3
	Liberal Democrats	Sarah Quarmby	784	1.9	0.2
	Green	Andrea Cantrill	579	1.4	1.2
	Independent	Jagmeet Singh	358	0.8	New
Majority			2,185	5.2	3.2
Turnout			42,461	70.6	4.0
	Labour hold		Swing	1.5

General election 2015: Wolverhampton South West^[8][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rob Marris	17,374	43.2	4.2
	Conservative	Paul Uppal	16,573	41.2	0.5
	UKIP	Dave Everett	4,310	10.7	7.0
	Green	Andrea Cantrill	1,058	2.6	New
	Liberal Democrats	Neale Upstone	845	2.1	13.9
	Independent	Brian Booth	49	0.1	New
Majority			801	2.0	N/A
Turnout			40,209	66.6	1.3
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	1.9

General election 2010: Wolverhampton South West^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Paul Uppal	16,344	40.7	2.6
	Labour	Rob Marris	15,653	39.0	4.5
	Liberal Democrats	Robin Lawrence	6,430	16.0	2.5
	UKIP	Amanda Mobberley	1,487	3.7	1.2
	Equal Parenting Alliance	Raymond Barry	246	0.6	New
Majority			691	1.7	N/A
Turnout			40,160	67.9	4.8
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	3.5

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Wolverhampton South West^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rob Marris	18,489	44.4	3.9
	Conservative	Sandip Verma	15,610	37.5	2.2
	Liberal Democrats	Colin Ross	5,568	13.4	5.0
	UKIP	Douglas Hope	1,029	2.5	0.8
	BNP	Edward Mullins	983	2.4	New
Majority			2,879	6.9	1.7
Turnout			41,679	62.1	0.0
	Labour hold		Swing	0.8

General election 2001: Wolverhampton South West^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rob Marris	19,735	48.3	2.1
	Conservative	David Chambers	16,248	39.7	0.2
	Liberal Democrats	Mike Dixon	3,425	8.4	0.2
	Green	Wendy Walker	805	2.0	New
	UKIP	Doug Hope	684	1.7	New
Majority			3,487	8.6	1.9
Turnout			40,897	62.1	10.3
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Wolverhampton South West^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jenny Jones	24,657	50.4	10.5
	Conservative	Nicholas Budgen	19,539	39.9	9.4
	Liberal Democrats	Matthew Green	4,012	8.2	0.3
	Liberal	Mike Hyde	713	1.5	0.8
Majority			5,118	10.5	N/A
Turnout			48,921	72.4	5.8
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	9.9

General election 1992: Wolverhampton South West^[14][15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Budgen	25,969	49.3	1.4
	Labour	Simon Murphy	21,003	39.9	9.2
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Wiggin	4,470	8.5	10.1
	Liberal	Colin Hallmark	1,237	2.3	New
Majority			4,966	9.4	10.6
Turnout			52,679	78.2	2.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	5.3

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Wolverhampton South West^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Budgen	26,235	50.7	0.1
	Labour	Roger Lawrence	15,917	30.7	3.2
	Alliance (SDP)	Beris Lamb	9,616	18.6	2.9
Majority			10,318	20.0	3.1
Turnout			51,768	75.5	3.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1983: Wolverhampton South West^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Budgen	25,214	50.6	1.1
	Labour	Bob Jones	13,694	27.5	4.7
	Alliance (SDP)	Edgar Harwood	10,724	21.5	8.0
	Anti-Common Market	John Deary	201	0.4	New
Majority			11,520	23.1	3.6
Turnout			49,833	72.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1979: Wolverhampton South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Budgen	26,587	52.4	8.3
	Labour	Ivan Geffen	15,827	31.2	1.8
	Liberal	Joseph Wernick	6,939	13.7	5.8
	National Front	June Lees	912	1.8	1.5
	Anti-Common Market	John Deary	401	0.8	New
Majority			10,760	21.3	10.1
Turnout			50,666	76.6	2.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Wolverhampton South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Budgen	20,854	44.2	1.5
	Labour	Ivan Ernest Geffen	15,554	33.0	0.9
	Liberal	Joseph Abraham Wernick	9,215	19.5	0.3
	National Front	Garth Anthony Cooper	1,573	3.3	0.3
Majority			5,300	11.2	2.4
Turnout			47,196	73.7	5.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Wolverhampton South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Budgen	23,123	45.7	24.4
	Labour	Helene Middleweek	16,222	32.1	8.8
	Liberal	Joseph Abraham Wernick	9,691	19.2	New
	National Front	Garth Anthony Cooper	1,523	3.0	New
Majority			6,901	13.6	23.2
Turnout			50,559	79.6
	Conservative win (new boundaries)

General election 1970: Wolverhampton South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Enoch Powell	26,220	64.3	5.2
	Labour	Joshua Andrew Nicholas Bamfield	11,753	28.8	12.1
	Liberal	Eric Robinson	2,459	6.0	New
	Communist	Pete Carter	189	0.5	New
	Independent	Gavin Menzies[18]	77	0.2	New
	Independent	Dharam Dass	52	0.1	New
Majority			14,467	35.5	17.3
Turnout			40,750	76.0	2.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1966: Wolverhampton South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Enoch Powell	21,466	59.1	1.7
	Labour	Alexander Collier	14,881	40.9	9.5
Majority			6,585	18.2	11.8
Turnout			36,347	73.6	1.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1964: Wolverhampton South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Enoch Powell	21,736	57.4	6.5
	Labour	Antony Gardner	11,880	31.4	4.7
	Liberal	Nick Lloyd	4,233	11.2	New
Majority			9,856	26.0	1.8
Turnout			37,849	75.3	3.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1959: Wolverhampton South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Enoch Powell	25,696	63.9	3.9
	Labour	Eric Thorne	14,529	36.1	3.9
Majority			11,167	27.8	7.8
Turnout			40,225	78.4	0.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1955: Wolverhampton South West^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Enoch Powell	25,318	60.0	6.4
	Labour Co-op	Lewis Burgess	16,898	40.0	6.4
Majority			8,420	20.0	12.8
Turnout			42,216	77.7	8.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1951: Wolverhampton South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Enoch Powell	23,660	53.6	7.6
	Labour	Annie Llewelyn-Davies	20,464	46.4	2.0
Majority			3,196	7.2	5.6
Turnout			44,124	86.3	0.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1950: Wolverhampton South West

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Enoch Powell	20,239	46.0
	Labour	Billy Hughes	19,548	44.4
	Liberal	William Frederick Hubert Rollason	4,229	9.6
Majority			691	1.6	N/A
Turnout			44,016	87.2
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

See also

• List of Members of Parliament for Wolverhampton
• List of parliamentary constituencies in the West Midlands (county)
• List of parliamentary constituencies in Wolverhampton

Notes

1. As with all current parliamentary constituencies it elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

References

1. "Electorate Figures – Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
2. "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume one: Report – West Midlands | Boundary Commission for England". boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
3. "Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood Speech". Archived from the original on 7 February 2007.
4. "Labour Members of Parliament 2015". UK Political.info. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018.
5. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 5)
6. "Wolverhampton South West Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
7. "Wolverhampton South West results". BBC News. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
8. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
9. "Wolverhampton South West". BBC News. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
10. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
11. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
12. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
13. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
14. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
15. "UK General Election results April 1992". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
16. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
17. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
18. Peter Evans (5 June 1970). "Immigrant girl will vote in despair—Powellism". News. The Times. No. 57888. London. col C, p. 9.
19. The Times' Guide to the House of Commons. 1955.

External links

• United Kingdom Election Results
• United Kingdom General Election results since 1832
• Wolverhampton South West UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK
• Wolverhampton South West UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK

52.59°N 2.17°W / 52.59; -2.17