Smethwick is a parliamentary constituency, centred on the town of Smethwick in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell. It returns one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system. The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, abolished for the February 1974 general election, and re-established for the 2024 general election, when it was formed from the abolished Warley constituency, with the addition of most of the Blackheath ward. It is currently represented by Gurinder Josan of the Labour Party.

Constituency profile

Smethwick is a constituency in the West Midlands county of England, within the borough of Sandwell. It covers the towns of Smethwick and Blackheath and the residential areas of Warley and Brandhall.

This is an urban constituency covering towns and suburbs around west of the centre of Birmingham. Smethwick is an industrial town generally considered part of the Black Country, a region of connected towns and villages between Birmingham and Wolverhampton associated with coal mining, steelmaking and the birth of the Industrial Revolution. Smethwick and Blackheath are highly-deprived with most residents living in dense flats or terraces, many of which are socially rented. Brandhall is wealthier and more suburban in character with mostly interwar-period semi-detached properties. House prices across the constituency are generally lower than the rest of the West Midlands region and considerably lower than the UK average.

Residents of Smethwick are younger than average with a low retired population. They have low levels of income and homeownership and the child poverty rate is double the nationwide figure. Residents have low levels of education and a high proportion work in the retail, education and transport sectors. The percentage claiming unemployment benefits is nearly double the overall UK rate.

The Smethwick constituency is ethnically diverse. White people made up 47% of the population at the 2021 census. Asians were the largest ethnic minority group at 31%, mostly of Indian or Pakistani origin and largely concentrated in Smethwick town where they made up a majority of residents. Most of the Asian population were Muslims, although Smethwick contains one of the country's largest Sikh communities, who made up 13% of the constituency's population. Black people were 11% of residents.

At the local borough council, Smethwick town is mostly represented by the Labour Party whilst the west of the constituency (Blackheath and Brandhall) elected primarily Reform UK councillors. Voters in this constituency strongly supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum; an estimated 61% voted in favour of Brexit compared to the UK-wide figure of 52%.

Boundaries

19181974 The County Borough of Smethwick.

2024present The re-established constituency is composed of the following (as they existed on 1 December 2020):

The Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell wards of: Abbey; Blackheath (polling districts BLA, BLB, BLC, BLD, BLE, BLF and BLH); Bristnall; Langley; Old Warley; St. Pauls; Smethwick; Soho and Victoria.

It comprises the whole of the former Warley constituency, with the addition of the bulk of the Blackheath ward from the abolished constituency of Halesowen and Rowley Regis, thus bringing its electorate within the permitted range.

History The constituency gained national interest during the 1918 general election when the Suffragette leader Christabel Pankhurst decided to stand as a Woman's Party candidate supporting the Coalition. She was one of 17 women candidates standing for Parliament at the first opportunity. This was her one and only parliamentary campaign which she lost to the Labour candidate.Hallam, David J.A. Taking on the Men: the first women parliamentary candidates 1918, Studley 2018, chapter two "Pankhurst in Smethwick".

In 1945 the constituency held the first post-war by-election when the winning Labour candidate, Alfred Dobbs, was killed in a road traffic accident less than twenty four hours after the count.Ibid page 24, footnote. The constituency was the subject of national media coverage during the 1964 general election when Peter Griffiths, the Conservative Party candidate, gained the seat against the national trend, unseating the Labour Party sitting member, Patrick Gordon Walker, a front bench opposition spokesman in the previous Parliament, in a campaign with racial overtones.

In 1966, 6.5% of the constituency was born in the New Commonwealth.

Members of Parliament MPs 1888–1999 ElectionMemberParty 1918 John Davison Labour 1926 by-electionSir Oswald Mosley Labour 1931 New Party 1931 Roy Wise Conservative 1945 Alfred Dobbs Labour 1945 Patrick Gordon Walker Labour 1964 Peter Griffiths Conservative 1966 Andrew Faulds LabourFeb 1974 constituency abolished: see Warley East

MPs since 2024

Warley prior to 2024

ElectionMemberParty 2024 Gurinder Josan Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1940s

Elections in the 1930s

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1910s

See also List of parliamentary constituencies in the West Midlands (county) List of parliamentary constituencies in West Midlands (region) Smethwick (the town) 1926 Smethwick by-election 1945 Smethwick by-election Smethwick in the 1964 general election

References

External links

Smethwick UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK