Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath (UK Parliament constituency)

Last updated

Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath
Former borough constituency
for the House of Commons
BirminghamSparkbrookSmallHeathConstituency.svg
Boundary of Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath in Birmingham for the 2005 general election
EnglandBirmingham.svg
Location of Birmingham within England
County West Midlands
19972010
Created from Birmingham Sparkbrook and Birmingham Small Heath
Replaced by Birmingham Hall Green

Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election. The constituency was notable for having the largest percentage of Muslim voters of any UK constituency at 48.8% (based on 2001 census figures).

Contents

The seat was abolished following a review of parliamentary boundaries by the Boundary Commission for England.

History

Boundaries

The City of Birmingham wards of Fox Hollies, Small Heath, Sparkbrook, and Sparkhill.

This was an inner-city residential seat in the south-east of Birmingham, noted for its large immigrant population.

In the first half of the 20th century, it was home to many Irish families. In more recent times it is populated by people of Asian origin, who now account for some 50% of residents—the highest proportion of any seat in the country. The majority of ethnic minorities in this area are of Pakistani and British Pakistani origin.

By 2010, unemployment was high, at well over 10%. There are hardly any white collar workers in the seat and it has the third highest proportion of only partly skilled workers in the country.

However, it is a major site for urban regeneration and some £35m is to be invested in local redevelopment initiatives over the next five years.

The constituency was historically a safe seat Labour, but in 2005 their incumbent MP Roger Godsiff saw his majority slashed to just over 3,000 following a strong challenge from RESPECT. Labour also lost many local council seats in the constituency, primarily to the Liberal Democrats but also to the now-defunct People's Justice Party and later to RESPECT's Salma Yaqoob in the Sparkbrook ward.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Birmingham and the West Midlands, the Boundary Commission for England abolished the Sparkbrook and Small Heath constituency.

The Sparkbrook electoral ward formed one part of a revised Birmingham Hall Green constituency. The incumbent MP Roger Godsiff was selected for the new Hall Green seat, and won the seat at the 2010 election.

Members of Parliament

Roger Godsiff of the Labour Party represented this seat throughout its existence. From 1992 he had been MP for Birmingham Small Heath, which was merged with Birmingham Sparkbrook to create this seat.

ElectionMember [1] Party
1997 Roger Godsiff Labour
2010 constituency abolished: see Birmingham Hall Green

Elections

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Roger Godsiff 13,787 36.1 −21.4
Respect Salma Yaqoob 10,49827.5New
Liberal Democrats Talib Hussain7,72720.2+7.0
Conservative Sameer Mirza3,4809.1−1.7
UKIP Jennifer Brookes1,3423.5+1.8
Green Ian Jamieson8552.2New
Independent Abdul Chaudhary5031.3N/A
Majority3,2898.6−35.7
Turnout 38,19251.8+2.5
Labour hold Swing −24.4
General election 2001: Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Roger Godsiff 21,087 57.5 −6.8
Liberal Democrats Qassim Afzal4,84113.2+3.9
People's Justice Shafaq Hussain4,77013.0New
Conservative Iftkhar Hussain3,94810.8−6.7
Independent Gul Mahammed6621.8N/A
UKIP Wayne Vincent6341.7New
Muslim Party Abdul Aziz4011.1New
Socialist Alliance Salman Mirza3040.8New
Majority16,24644.3−2.5
Turnout 36,64749.3−7.7
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Roger Godsiff 26,841 64.3
Conservative Kenneth Hardeman7,31517.5
Liberal Democrats Roger Harmer3,8899.3
Green Alan Clawley9592.3
Referendum Riaz Dooley7371.8
Independent Pankaj Patel5381.3
Independent Rashid Syed5131.2
Independent Sajada Bi4901.2
Socialist Labour Colin Wren4831.2
Majority19,52646.8
Turnout 41,76557.0
Labour win (new seat)

See also

References

  1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 4)
  2. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  3. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  4. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

52°27′25″N1°50′49″W / 52.457°N 1.847°W / 52.457; -1.847