Dudley North (UK Parliament constituency)

Dudley North
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Dudley North in the West Midlands.
Location of the West Midlands within England.
County	West Midlands
Electorate	61,714 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Dudley, Gornal, Upper Gornal and Sedgley
Current constituency
Created	1997 (1997)
Member of Parliament	Ian Austin (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Dudley East, Dudley West
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	West Midlands

Dudley North is a parliamentary 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.

Boundaries

Dudley North is one of four constituencies covering the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, covering the northern part of the borough. The constituency includes Dudley town centre, and also Gornal, Upper Gornal and Sedgley.

History

Before the 1997 election, Dudley was divided into East and West constituencies, rather than the current North and Dudley South. Dudley North covers a lot of the area previously covered by Dudley East, which included Netherton but excluded the western part of Sedgley, which were part of the Dudley West constituency.

The earlier Dudley constituency, consisting of Dudley, Netherton and Stourbridge, was more prominent before 1974. Colonel George Wigg (later Lord Wigg), Prime Minister Harold Wilson's adviser on security matters and later a Minister of State, held the seat for many years until elevated to the peerage in 1968. At a famous by-election in March of that year, Don Williams (Conservative) won the seat with a swing of 20%. In 1970, however, the seat reverted to Labour with the election of Dr John Gilbert, who subsequently represented Dudley East from February 1974 until its abolition 1997. Gilbert served as a Minister of State under both James Callaghan and (as a peer) Tony Blair. Dudley West meanwhile was represented up until his death in 1994 by Conservative MP Dr John Blackburn. At the subsequent By election it was won for Labour by Ian Pearson who went on to become the MP for the newly created Dudley South seat at the 1997 election

Ross Cranston was the first MP of the new Dudley North seat after winning it at the 1997 election, remaining at the helm until the 2005 general election, when it was retained by his successor Ian Austin.

In 2010, Austin held onto his seat with 38.7% of the vote, a narrow 1.7% ahead of Conservative candidate Graeme Brown, at the first general election in 36 years which resulted in a hung parliament.

Proposed abolition

As part of the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which began in 2011, the Boundary Commission for England has proposed dividing the existing Dudley North between two newly drawn constituencies, effectively abolishing the seat. "Dudley East and Oldbury" would cover Netherton, Dibdale, Tipton Green, Oldbury and Wren's Nest. "Dudley West" would incorporate Kingswinford, Pensnett, Sedgley, and Coseley .

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1997	Ross Cranston	Labour
	2005	Ian Austin	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Dudley North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ian Austin	14,923	38.7	-3.9
	Conservative	Graeme Brown	14,274	37.0	+5.6
	Liberal Democrat	Mike Beckett	4,066	10.5	0.0
	UKIP	Malcolm Davies	3,267	8.5	+3.9
	BNP	Ken Griffiths	1,899	4.9	-6.0
	National Front	Kevin Inman	173	0.4	+0.4
Majority			649	1.7
Turnout			38,602	63.5	+2.2
	Labour hold		Swing	-4.7

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Dudley North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ian Austin	18,306	44.2	−7.9
	Conservative	Ian Hillas	12,874	31.1	−3.4
	Liberal Democrat	Gerry Lewis	4,257	10.3	+1.6
	BNP	Simon Darby	4,022	9.7	+5.0
	UKIP	Malcolm Davis	1,949	4.7	N/A
Majority			5,432	13.1
Turnout			41,408	60.2	+4.3
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.2

General Election 2001: Dudley North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ross Cranston	20,095	52.1	+0.9
	Conservative	Andrew Griffiths	13,295	34.5	+3.1
	Liberal Democrat	Richard Burt	3,352	8.7	+0.5
	BNP	Simon Darby	1,822	4.7	N/A
Majority			6,800	17.6
Turnout			38,564	55.9	-13.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Dudley North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ross Cranston	24,471	51.2	N/A
	Conservative	Charles MacNamara	15,014	31.4	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Gerry Lewis	3,939	8.2	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Mark Atherton	2,155	4.5	N/A
	Referendum Party	S. Bavester	1,201	4.7	N/A
	National Front	George Cartwright	559	1.2	N/A
	National Democrats	Simon Darby	469	1.0	N/A
Majority			9,457		N/A
Turnout				69.5	N/A
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

See also

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