Birmingham Ladywood (UK Parliament constituency)

Birmingham, Ladywood
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Birmingham, Ladywood in Birmingham.
Location of Birmingham within England.
County	West Midlands
Electorate	74,008 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1918 (1918)
Member of Parliament	Shabana Mahmood (Labour)
Number of members	One
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	West Midlands

Birmingham, Ladywood is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election. In the recession of 2008–09, it was the first place in Britain where the claimant count rate of unemployment surpassed 10%, breaching that level in January 2009.

Boundaries

The constituency includes the entirety of Birmingham City Centre, which falls within Ladywood ward, as well as the deprived inner-city wards of Aston, Nechells and Soho. Aston University is located within the seat, as are Birmingham's two league football clubs, Aston Villa and Birmingham City.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Birmingham and the West Midlands, the Boundary Commission for England has created a modified Ladywood constituency with the following electoral wards:

• Aston, Ladywood, Nechells and Soho.

Birmingham Ladywood is an area of Birmingham city centre along with the areas of Aston, Newtown, Lozells, Handsworth, Soho & Nechells. The area is one of the most multicultural in Birmingham and Britain.^{[citation needed]}.

Ladywood has the highest unemployment rate in whole of the West Midlands, at just over 18% in July 2008 (by the international standardised measure, which is usually higher than the claimant count), compared with neighbouring Birmingham seats Perry Barr (8.1%), Sparkbrook and Small Heath (13.9%), and Yardley (7%).

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

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Neville Chamberlain	Conservative
	1929	Wilfrid Whiteley	Labour
	1931	Geoffrey Lloyd	Conservative
	1945	Victor Yates	Labour
	1969 by-election	Wallace Lawler	Liberal
	1970	Doris Fisher	Labour
	Feb 1974	Brian Walden	Labour
	1977 by-election	John Sever	Labour
	1983	Clare Short	Labour
	2006		Independent Labour
	2010	Shabana Mahmood	Labour

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".

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Birmingham, Ladywood
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Shabana Mahmood	19,950	55.7	+3.0
	Liberal Democrat	Ayoub Khan	9,845	27.5	-1.9
	Conservative	Nusrat Ghani	4,277	11.9	+3.5
	UKIP	Christopher Booth	902	2.5	-3.0
	Green	Peter Beck	859	2.4	+2.1
Majority			10,105	28.2
Turnout			35,833	48.7	+3.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.5%

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Birmingham, Ladywood
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Clare Short	17,262	51.9	-17.0
	Liberal Democrat	Ayoub Khan	10,461	31.5	+23.3
	Conservative	Philippa Stroud	3,515	10.6	-0.7
	UKIP	Lyn Nazemi-Afshar	2,008	6.0	+5.1
Majority			6,801	20.5
Turnout			33,246	46.8	+2.5
	Labour hold		Swing	-20.1

General Election 2001: Birmingham, Ladywood
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Clare Short	21,694	68.9	-5.2
	Conservative	Benjamin Prentice	3,551	11.3	-2.0
	Liberal Democrat	Mahmood Chaudhry	2,586	8.2	+0.3
	People's Justice	Allah Ditta	2,112	6.7	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Surinder Virdee	443	1.4	N/A
	Muslim Party	Mahmood Hussain	432	1.4	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	James Caffery	392	1.2	N/A
	UKIP	Anneliese Nattrass	283	0.9	N/A
Majority			18,143	57.6
Turnout			31,493	44.3	-9.9
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1992: Birmingham, Ladywood
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Clare Short	24,887	66.26	+8.59
	Conservative	Mrs Barbara Ashford	9,604	25.57	−5.78
	Liberal Democrat	Brian L. Worth	3,068	8.17	−1.10
Majority			15,283	40.69	0.90
	Labour hold		Swing	+7.1

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Birmingham, Ladywood
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Clare Short	21,971	57.67	+6.72
	Conservative	S T Lee	11,973	31.35	+4.27
	SDP–Liberal Alliance	G Sangha	3,532	9.27	N/A
	Green	J Millington	650	1.71	N/A
Majority			10,028	26.32
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Birmingham, Ladywood
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Clare Short	19,278	50.95	-12.58
	Conservative	P le Hunte	10,248	27.08	+0.2
	SDP–Liberal Alliance	K Hardeman	7,758	20.5	N/A
	Stop Deportation of Black People	B Bakhtaura	355	0.94	N/A
	Workers Revolutionary	R W Atkinson	198	0.52	N/A
Majority			9,030	23.87
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Birmingham, Ladywood
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Sever	13,450	63.53
	Conservative	A Newhouse	5,691	26.88
	Liberal	K G Hardeman	2,030	9.59	N/A
Majority			7,759	36.65
	Labour hold		Swing

Birmingham Ladywood by-election, 1977
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Sever	8,227	53.13	-11.34
	Conservative	Quentin Davies	4,402	28.43	+6.33
	National Front	Anthony Reed Herbert	888	5.73	N/A
	Liberal	Kenneth Hardeman	765	4.94	-8.49
	Socialist Unity	Raghib Ahsan	534	3.49	N/A
	Independent	James Hunte	336	2.17	N/A
	Independent Conservative	George Matthews	71	0.46	N/A
	Reform Party	Peter Courtney	63	0.41	N/A
	Air Road Public Safety	Bill Boaks	46	0.30	N/A
Turnout			15,484
	Labour hold		Swing

Birmingham Ladywood by-election, 1969
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Wallace Lawler	5,104	54.35	+30.64
	Labour	Doris Fisher	2,391	25.46	-33.46
	Conservative	Dr. Louis Glass	1,580	16.82	-0.54
	British Movement	Colin Jordan	282	3.0	N/A
	Fellowship	James Haigh	34	0.36	N/A
Turnout			9,391
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in the West Midlands (county)

External links

• Birmingham city council constituency page

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Bewdley	Constituency represented by the Chancellor of the Exchequer 1923–1924	Succeeded by Colne Valley