West Bromwich West (UK Parliament constituency)

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox UK constituency main West Bromwich West was a constituency^{[n 1]} in the West Midlands in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It was represented from 1974 until 2019 by members of the Labour Party,^{[n 2]} and by the Conservatives from 2019 until 2024.^{[n 3]}

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was abolished at the 2024 general election, with most of the seat becoming part of the new Tipton and Wednesbury constituency, with the Oldbury and Tividale wards being transferred to the revived West Bromwich constituency, which is largely the successor to the abolished West Bromwich East.

In exchange the Friar Park and Hateley Heath wards from West Bromwich East, and the Coseley East ward from Wolverhampton South East, were transferred to the new Tipton and Wednesbury.^[1]

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 early recessions of the 1970s and early 1980s, West Bromwich West has suffered from an acute, persistently high levels of unemployment. During the Great Recession of 2008, unemployment peaked at 14.3%—only the nearby constituency of Birmingham Ladywood had higher unemployment rates in all of Britain.^[2]

As of November 2012, unemployed social security claimants who were registered jobseekers were higher than the national average of 3.8%, standing at 8.1% of the local 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.^[3]

Boundaries

Template:Maplink West Bromwich West was one of four constituencies covering the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, covering its west and north-west. Its main settlements were the towns of Tipton and Wednesbury, alongside the villages or suburbs of Great Bridge, Princes End and Tividale.

1974–1983: The County Borough of West Bromwich wards of Greets Green, Hill Top, Horseley Heath, Lyng, Market, Tibbington, Tipton Green, and Wood Green.

1983–1997: The Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell wards of Great Bridge, Greets Green and Lyng, Princes End, Tipton Green, Wednesbury North, and Wednesbury South.

1997–2024: The Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell wards of Great Bridge, Oldbury, Princes End, Tipton Green, Tividale, Wednesbury North, and Wednesbury South.

Political history

The seat was held by either the Labour Party or one of its members as the Speaker of the House of Commons from its creation until December 2019.

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 4]} The ensuing by-election was won by the Labour Co-operative candidate Adrian Bailey, who held the seat until 2019. Shaun Bailey, the Conservative Party candidate in the 2019 general election, took the seat from Labour with a 50.5% vote share on an 11.7% swing. He became the first-ever Conservative member for the constituency.

At local level, Labour held most of the wards of the constituency. From 2008 until 2012, it was followed by the controversial British National Party, which had four councillors, ahead of the Conservatives with three. This came after a fairly strong BNP showing in the 2005 general election, when it received nearly 10% of the vote.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member^[4]	Party
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color"\|	Feb 1974	Betty Boothroyd	Labour
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color"\|	1992	Betty Boothroyd	Speaker
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color"\|	2000 by-election	Adrian Bailey	Labour Co-op
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	2019	Shaun Bailey	Conservative