Dudley South (UK Parliament constituency)

Dudley South
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Dudley South in West Midlands
Location of West Midlands within England
County	West Midlands
Electorate	61,308 (December 2010) [1]
Major settlements	Dudley
Current constituency
Created	1997
Member of Parliament	Mike Wood (Conservative Party (UK))
Seats	One
Created from	Dudley West

Dudley South is a constituency ^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Mike Wood of the Conservative Party. ^{[n 2]}

The seat is due to be abolished for the next general election. ^[2]

Constituency profile

Map of present boundaries

Dudley South is one of four constituencies covering the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, and covers the central part of the borough to the south of the town centre. The constituency voted strongly for Brexit, and residents' wealth is around average for the UK. ^[3]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [4]	Party
	1997	Ian Pearson	Labour
	2010	Chris Kelly	Conservative
	2015	Mike Wood	Conservative

Boundaries

2010–present: The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley wards of Brierley Hill, Brockmoor and Pensnett, Kingswinford North and Wall Heath, Kingswinford South, Netherton, Woodside and St Andrews, and Wordsley.

1997–2010: The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley wards of Brierley Hill, Brockmoor and Pensnett, Kingswinford North and Wall Heath, Kingswinford South, Netherton and Woodside, St Andrews, and Wordsley.

History

Before the 1997 election, Dudley was divided into East and West constituencies, rather than North and South. Dudley South covers most of the area previously covered by Dudley West, which included Sedgley but excluded Netherton.

Dudley West was the scene of a by-election in 1994, held after the death of the Conservative John Blackburn who had represented the constituency since 1979. The by-election was won by Labour's Ian Pearson, who stood for Dudley South in 1997 and held the seat, winning by a comfortable margin each time, until he stood down in 2010.

The Conservative candidate, Chris Kelly, gained the seat in the subsequent general election. However, he decided to stand down in 2015.

Mike Wood retained the seat for the Conservatives in both the 2015 and 2017 general elections, in both cases achieving a swing towards his party and thus bucking the national trend.

Proposed abolition

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat will be abolished for the next general election, with its contents distributed three ways: ^[2]

• Kingswinford, Wall Heath and Wordsley forming part of the new cross-county boundary seat of Kingswinford and South Staffordshire
• Brierley Hill and Netherton transferred to Stourbridge
• The Brockmoor and Pensnett ward added to Dudley North, which is to be renamed Dudley

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

-->

General election 2019: Dudley South ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mike Wood	24,835	67.9	11.5
	Labour	Lucy Caldicott	9,270	25.3	10.9
	Liberal Democrats	Jonathan Bramall	1,608	4.4	2.8
	Green	Cate Mohr	863	2.4	1.4
Majority			15,565	42.6	22.4
Turnout			36,576	60.2	2.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	11.2

-->

General election 2017: Dudley South ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mike Wood	21,588	56.4	12.6
	Labour	Natasha Millward	13,858	36.2	3.6
	UKIP	Mitchell Bolton	1,791	4.7	14.2
	Liberal Democrats	Jonathan Bramall	625	1.6	0.6
	Green	Jenny Maxwell	382	1.0	1.5
Majority			7,730	20.2	9.0
Turnout			38,244	62.4	0.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	4.55

See also: Opinion polling in United Kingdom constituencies, 2010–15 § Dudley South

General election 2015: Dudley South ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mike Wood [8]	16,723	43.8	0.7
	Labour	Natasha Millward	12,453	32.6	0.4
	UKIP	Paul Brothwood [9]	7,236	18.9	10.7
	Green	Vicky Duckworth	970	2.5	New
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Turner	828	2.2	13.5
Majority			4,270	11.2	1.1
Turnout			38,210	63.3	0.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	0.54

General election 2010: Dudley South ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Chris Kelly	16,450	43.1	8.1
	Labour	Rachel Harris	12,594	33.0	11.0
	Liberal Democrats	Jonathan Bramall	5,989	15.7	3.0
	UKIP	Philip Rowe	3,132	8.2	5.0
Majority			3,856	10.1	0.7
Turnout			38,165	63.0	2.8
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	9.5

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Dudley South ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ian Pearson	17,800	45.3	4.5
	Conservative	Marco Longhi	13,556	34.5	3.4
	Liberal Democrats	Jonathan Bramall	4,808	12.2	2.7
	BNP	John Salvage	1,841	4.7	New
	UKIP	Andrew Benion	1,271	3.2	0.8
Majority			4,244	10.8	7.9
Turnout			39,276	60.2	4.8
	Labour hold		Swing	3.9

General election 2001: Dudley South ^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ian Pearson	18,109	49.8	6.8
	Conservative	Jason Sugarman	11,292	31.1	1.7
	Liberal Democrats	Lorely Burt	5,421	14.9	4.0
	UKIP	John Westwood	859	2.4	New
	Socialist Alliance	Angela Thompson	663	1.8	New
Majority			6,817	18.7	8.5
Turnout			36,344	55.4	16.4
	Labour hold		Swing	4.2

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Dudley South ^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ian Pearson	27,124	56.6
	Conservative	Mark Simpson	14,097	29.4
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Burt	5,214	10.9
	Referendum	Connor Birch	1,467	3.1
Majority			13,027	27.2
Turnout			47,902	71.8
	Labour win (new seat)

See also

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

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. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. 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 22 July 2023.
3. Electoral Calculus https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/seatdetails.py?seat=Dudley+South
4. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 3)
5. "Dudley South parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. 13 December 2019.
6. Bev Holder (10 May 2017). "UKIP confirms General Election candidates for Stourbridge and Dudley South". Stourbridge News. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
7. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
8. "Tory Eurosceptic to fight for power in Dudley". www.expressandstar.com.
9. "Borough's UKIP leader hopes to turn Dudley South purple". Stourbridge News.
10. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
11. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
12. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
13. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

52°29′N2°08′W / 52.49°N 2.13°W / 52.49; -2.13