County West Midlands Electorate 69,039 (December 2010) Member of parliament Gisela Stuart (Labour) | Population 96,568 (2011 census) Created 1885 Number of members One | |
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Birmingham, Edgbaston is a constituency in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by Gisela Stuart MP of the Labour Party.
Contents
Its best-known MP internationally was Neville Chamberlain (Prime Minister 1937-1940), and since 1953 it has been represented only by women MPs. Since 1992 it has been a marginal constituency between the Labour Party and the Conservative Party.
Boundaries
1885-1918: The Municipal Borough of Birmingham ward of Edgbaston, part of Rotton Park ward, the local government district of Harborne, and part of the local government district of Balsall Heath.
1918-1974: The County Borough of Birmingham wards of Edgbaston, Harborne, and Market Hall.
1974-1983: The County Borough of Birmingham wards of Deritend, Edgbaston, Harborne, and Quinton.
1983-1997: The City of Birmingham wards of Edgbaston, Harborne, and Quinton.
1997–present: The City of Birmingham wards of Bartley Green, Edgbaston, Harborne, and Quinton.
Situated to the south west of Birmingham city centre, this is a neat and mostly middle-class constituency with limited social housing, with parks, Warwickshire's cricket ground and two grammar schools. It was a safe Conservative seat for decades, emphasised by solid Tory areas like Edgbaston itself and Bartley Green, but some areas, such as the more Labour-inclined Quinton and Harborne, have pockets of considerable deprivation and of low incomes, helping Labour hold the seat since 1997. It contains the University of Birmingham's main campus, and most of the student halls.
History
The seat was held by the Conservatives until the 1997 Election. At that election it was the ninth seat to declare and the first seat to be gained by Labour from the Conservatives on a 10% swing, presaging the Labour landslide of that year.
Edgbaston has returned a female MP since 1953, longer than any other constituency. The sitting MP is Gisela Stuart. It has been classified as a marginal seat.