Solihull (UK Parliament constituency)

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox UK constituency main Solihull was a constituency in West Midlands represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament.

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was abolished and its area was split three ways. The bulk of the constituency was reformed as Solihull West and Shirley, first contested at the 2024 general election.^[1] Other parts of the constituency moved into the new seats of Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North and Meriden and Solihull East.^[2]

Constituency profile

The Solihull area is home to some of the West Midlands's more affluent residents and includes a high proportion of Birmingham workers and the managerial classes in manufacturing, retail, industry and the public sector. There are smaller villages and undeveloped green belt areas in its peripheral countryside, though the seat was primarily suburban and middle-class, with low levels of deprivation throughout. Workless claimants stood at only 2% of the population in November 2012, below every regional average in the UK. In the study of that date, only three of the 59 West Midlands seats had a lower proportion of registered jobseekers.^[3]

Following boundary changes, the northernmost tip of the seat contained the point in England furthest from the coast in any direction.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Boundaries

Template:Maplink The constituency was one of two covering the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull. It covered the town of Solihull itself, as well as Shirley and Olton. It is a largely well-off, residential area, in the south-east of the West Midlands conurbation.

1945–1950: The part of the County Borough of Birmingham in the present Tamworth constituency, and the urban district of Solihull.^[4]

1950–1974: The Urban District of Solihull.^[5]

1974–1983: The County Borough of Solihull.

1983–2024: The Metropolitan Borough of Solihull wards of Elmdon, Lyndon, Olton, St Alphege, Shirley East, Shirley South, Shirley West, and Silhill.

History

Conservative candidates won the seat from its outset in 1945 until a loss in 2005, the seat meanwhile seeing boundary changes covered above. In the 2005 general election Solihull was won by the Liberal Democrats, with Lorely Burt beating the incumbent John Taylor by a majority of 279 votes. Burt won the seat again at the 2010 general election, this time by just 175 votes following two recounts.

The seat was represented by Julian Knight since 2015, who won the seat from Burt with a majority of 12,902. At the 2017 election, Knight increased his majority to just over 20,000, with a similar result in 2019, making Solihull a safe Conservative seat.

However, following allegations of serious sexual assault made to the Metropolitan Police against Knight in December 2022, Knight sat as an independent MP, having had the Conservative whip suspended.^[6]

Members of Parliament

Tamworth prior to 1945

Election		Member^[7]	Party
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	1945	Sir Martin Lindsay	Template:Party shortname linked
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	1964	Percy Grieve	Template:Party shortname linked
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	1983	John Taylor	Template:Party shortname linked
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	2005	Lorely Burt	Template:Party shortname linked
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	2015	Julian Knight	Template:Party shortname linked
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	2022	Julian Knight	Template:Party shortname linked^[6]
	2024	Constituency abolished

Election results 1945–2024

File:Solihull 2005 to date.svg

Results of UK House of Commons seat Solihull, created in 1945, since 2005.