Warley (UK Parliament constituency)

Warley
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Warley in West Midlands
Location of West Midlands within England
County	West Midlands
Electorate	63,024 (December 2010) [1]
Major settlements	Smethwick, Brandhall, Langley Green
1997–2024
Seats	One
Created from	Warley East, Warley West
Replaced by	Smethwick

Warley was a constituency ^{[n 1]} in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. The constituency was represented since its creation in 1997 by John Spellar, a member of the Labour Party. ^{[n 2]}

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was abolished. Subject to moderate boundary changes, including expansion to include most of the Blackheath ward, it was reformed as Smethwick , to be first contested at the 2024 general election. ^[2]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [3]	Party
	1997	John Spellar	Labour

Constituency profile

The constituency had a wide range of housing on the gently hilly West Midlands terrain, with fast transport links to Birmingham, Dudley and Wolverhampton. Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 significantly higher than the national average of 3.8%, at 7.7% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian however female unemployment, reflecting a central West Midlands pattern, perhaps with more women homemakers, unusually exceeded male unemployment at 10.1%. ^[4]

Boundaries

Map of boundaries 1997-2024

Warley was one of four constituencies covering the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, covering the south and south-east of the borough. It covered much of the former County Borough of Warley, including the town of Smethwick as well as Brandhall and Langley Green.

It consiste of the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell wards of Abbey, Bristnall, Langley, Old Warley, St Paul's, Smethwick, and Soho and Victoria.

History

Creation and forerunners

The constituency was formed in 1997, and was for the most part the former Warley East constituency. John Spellar of the Labour Party represented Warley since 1997, having previously represented Warley West. Warley East and Warley West had been held by Labour since their creation in 1974. Minor parts of the seat around Oldbury had been in the quite marginal Labour-Conservative seat of Oldbury and Halesowen before 1974.

Results of winning party

The 2015 result made the seat the 34th-safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority. ^[5] The elections have to date resulted in the Labour incumbent, Spellar, gaining more than 50% of votes cast.

Opposition parties

The candidates fielded by the Conservative Party have taken the runner-up position since the seat's creation. Third place has varied between two parties to date in the seat's history.

Turnout

Turnout has ranged from 54.1% in 2001 to 65.1% in 1997.

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Warley ^{[6] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Spellar	21,901	58.8	–8.4
	Conservative	Chandra Kanneganti	10,390	27.9	+1.7
	Brexit Party	Michael Cooper	2,469	6.6	New
	Liberal Democrats	Bryan Manley-Green	1,588	4.3	+2.4
	Green	Kathryn Downs	891	2.4	+1.0
Majority			11,511	30.9	–10.1
Turnout			37,239	59.7	–3.4
	Labour hold		Swing	–5.1

General election 2017: Warley ^{[8] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Spellar	27,004	67.2	+9.0
	Conservative	Anthony Mangnall	10,521	26.2	+6.9
	UKIP	Darryl Magher	1,349	3.4	–13.1
	Liberal Democrats	Bryan Manley-Green	777	1.9	–0.2
	Green	Mark Redding	555	1.4	–2.5
Majority			16,483	41.0	+2.1
Turnout			40,206	63.1	+3.8
	Labour hold		Swing	+9.0

General election 2015: Warley ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Spellar	22,012	58.2	+5.3
	Conservative	Tom Williams	7,310	19.3	–5.5
	UKIP	Pete Durnell	6,237	16.5	+9.7
	Green	Robert Buckman	1,465	3.9	New
	Liberal Democrats	Catherine Smith	805	2.1	–13.4
Majority			14,702	38.9	+10.8
Turnout			37,829	59.3	–1.3
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.4

General election 2010: Warley ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Spellar	20,240	52.9	–2.0
	Conservative	Jas Parmar	9,484	24.8	+1.9
	Liberal Democrats	Edward Keating [12]	5,929	15.5	+2.3
	UKIP	Nigel Harvey	2,617	6.8	+4.7
Majority			10,756	28.1	–4.9
Turnout			38,270	60.6	+3.4
	Labour hold		Swing	–1.9

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Warley ^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Spellar	17,462	54.4	–6.1
	Conservative	Karen Bissell	7,315	22.8	0.0
	Liberal Democrats	Tony Ferguson	4,277	13.3	+2.7
	BNP	Simon Smith	1,761	5.5	New
	Socialist Labour	Malcolm Connigale	637	2.0	–4.2
	UKIP	David Matthews	635	2.0	New
Majority			10,147	31.6	–6.1
Turnout			32,087	57.1	+3.0
	Labour hold		Swing	–3.0

General election 2001: Warley ^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Spellar	19,007	60.5	–3.3
	Conservative	Mark Pritchard	7,157	22.8	–1.3
	Liberal Democrats	Ron Cockings	3,315	10.6	+0.9
	Socialist Labour	Harbhajan Dardi	1,936	6.2	New
Majority			11,850	37.7	–2.0
Turnout			31,415	54.1	–10.9
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Warley ^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Spellar	24,813	63.8
	Conservative	Christopher Pincher	9,362	24.1
	Liberal Democrats	Jeremy Pursehouse	3,777	9.7
	Referendum	Krishna Gamre	941	2.4
Majority			15,451	39.7
Turnout			38,893	65.0
	Labour win (new seat)

See also

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

Notes

1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
2. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.

References

1. "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
2. "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume one: Report – West Midlands | Boundary Commission for England". boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
3. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 1)
4. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
5. "Labour Members of Parliament 2015". UK Political.info. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018.
6. "Statement of persons nominated - Warley" (PDF). Sandwell Council. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
7. "Warley parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News . Retrieved 15 December 2019.
8. "Statement of persons nominated - Warley". Sandwell Council. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
9. "Warley results". BBC News . Retrieved 9 June 2017.
10. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
11. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
12. Warley (UK Parliament constituency)
13. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
14. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
15. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

52°29′N1°59′W / 52.48°N 1.99°W / 52.48; -1.99