County West Midlands Electorate 74,008 (December 2010) European Parliament constituency West Midlands Number of members 1 | Population 126,693 (2011 census) Created 1918 Member of parliament Shabana Mahmood | |
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Birmingham, Ladywood is a constituency of part of the city of Birmingham, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Shabana Mahmood of the Labour Party.
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Constituency profile
Birmingham Ladywood is an area of Birmingham city centre along with the areas of Aston, Newtown, Lozells, Soho, and Nechells. The area is one of the most multicultural in Birmingham and Britain. In the recession of 2008–09 it was the first place in Britain where the claimant count rate of unemployment exceeded 10%, breaching that level in January 2009. In July 2008 Ladywood had the highest unemployment rate in the whole of the West Midlands (by the international standardised measure, which is usually higher than the claimant count) at just over 18%, compared with neighbouring Birmingham seats Perry Barr (8.1%), Sparkbrook and Small Heath (13.9%), and Yardley (7%). For the year ending September 2014 the unemployment rate was 12.4%, although the employment rate had increased only slightly, from 46.1% to 46.6% (compared with 69.7% for the West Midlands as a whole).
The average house price in Ladywood is just under £155,000 making it much lower than the national average of just over £288,000.
Boundaries
1918-1950: The County Borough of Birmingham wards of Ladywood and Rotton Park.
1950-1955: The County Borough of Birmingham wards of All Saints', Ladywood, and Rotton Park.
1955-1974: The County Borough of Birmingham wards of Duddeston, Ladywood, and St Paul's.
1974-1983: The County Borough of Birmingham wards of All Saints', Ladywood, Rotton Park, and Soho.
1983-1997: The City of Birmingham wards of Ladywood, Sandwell, and Soho.
1997-2010: The City of Birmingham wards of Aston, Ladywood, Nechells, and Soho.
2010-present: The City of Birmingham wards of Aston, Ladywood, Nechells, and Soho. Although the official description of the constituency remained the same, the boundaries were redrawn.
The constituency includes the entirety of Birmingham City Centre (Ladywood ward), as well as Aston, Nechells and Soho which (based on the indices of Multiple Deprivation) are the city wards of highest deprivation. Aston University is within the seat, as are Birmingham's two league football clubs, Aston Villa and Birmingham City.
History
The constituency has undergone several boundary changes since its creation in 1918 but has remained a safe Labour seat since the Second World War, with the exception of a by-election in 1969 when Wallace Lawler won the seat for the Liberal Party. The seat was regained for Labour by Doris Fisher at the 1970 general election.
The constituency's first MP was the future Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who transferred to the Edgbaston seat in 1929. Its current MP is Shabana Mahmood, one of the country's first three female Muslim MPs.
Members of Parliament
Clare Short, elected as a Labour MP from the 1983 general election onwards, resigned the Labour whip on 20 October 2006 and wished it to be known that she would continue to sit in the Commons as an Independent Labour MP and a true "Social Democrat".