Sutton Coldfield is a

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

of the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

since 2001 by

Andrew Mitchell Sir Andrew John Bower Mitchell Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG (born 23 March 1956) is a British politician who was Shadow Foreign Secretary from July to November 2024 and served as Foreign Secretary (United Kingdom), Deputy Foreign S ...

, a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Boundaries

1945–1955: The Municipal Borough of Sutton Coldfield, and the Rural Districts of Meriden and Tamworth. 1955–1974: The Municipal Borough of Sutton Coldfield, and the County Borough of Birmingham ward of Erdington. 1974–1983: The Municipal Borough of Sutton Coldfield. 1983–2010: The City of Birmingham wards of Sutton Four Oaks, Sutton New Hall, and Sutton Vesey. 2010–2018: The City of Birmingham wards of Sutton Four Oaks, Sutton New Hall, Sutton Trinity, and Sutton Vesey. 2018–present: Following a local government boundary review, which did not effect the parliamentary boundaries, the contents of the constituency are as follows with effect from May 2018: * The City of Birmingham wards of Sutton Four Oaks; Sutton Mere Green; Sutton Reddicap; Sutton Roughley; Sutton Trinity; Sutton Vesey; Sutton Walmley & Minworth; Sutton Wylde Green. The

2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies The 2023 review of Westminster constituencies was the most recent cycle of the process to redraw the Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, constituency map for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The new constituency b ...

left the boundaries unchanged. The constituency covers the northern part of the

City of Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. It corresponds to the former borough of

Sutton Coldfield Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield ( ), is a town and civil parish in the city of Birmingham, West Midlands County, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south of L ...

Constituency profile

Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.6% of the population based on a statistical compilation by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. At that date the regional average stood at 4.7% Within Birmingham, the Conservatives have 11 councillors in this seat, with Labour's one councillor in the Sutton Vesey ward.

History

This area contributed to the old seat of North Warwickshire or the 'Tamworth' division of Warwickshire, which remains in a much narrower form as the largely suburban town to the north has developed.See

Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 23) was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (sometimes called the "Reform Act of 1885"). It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that r ...

;Political history All MPs elected since the constituency's creation in 1945 have been

. Sutton Coldfield is, on the length of party representation measure combined with numerical majority, among the safest seats in the country for the party; they have received a majority of votes in the seat and its predecessors since 1885. The Conservative party's vote share of 68.9% in the constituency in 1979 would not be matched for 38 years, when the Conservatives received a higher share in South Holland and the Deepings, where they received 69.9%. Their lowest majority prior to the 2024 Labour landslide election was achieved in 2001, which still stood at a healthy 10,000 and a 50.4% share of the vote, and enabled

to make his return to Parliament. At the 2024 general election, Mitchell retained his seat on a much reduced majority of 5.3% over Labour and a vote share of 38.3%, the first time in the seat's existence that the Conservative vote had fallen below 50%. ;Prominent frontbench members Geoffrey Lloyd (later created a life peer as Baron Geoffrey-Lloyd) was for four years the Minister of Fuel and Power then Minister of Education for two years mostly under the Third Churchill ministry then Macmillan Ministry. Former

Cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

Sir

Norman Fowler Peter Norman Fowler, Baron Fowler, (born 2 February 1938) is a British politician who served as a member of both Margaret Thatcher and John Major's ministries during the 1980s and 1990s. He held the office of Lord Speaker from 1 September 201 ...

served the seat from 1974 until retiring as an MP in 2001. Departments he led during the Thatcher ministry were transport, social services and then employment. Now Lord Fowler, he was

Lord Speaker The Lord Speaker is the presiding officer, chairman and highest authority of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The office is analogous to the Speaker of the House of Commons: the Lord Speaker is elected by the membe ...

from September 2016 until April 2021. Sir Andrew Mitchell, MP here since 2001 and previously MP for Gedling from 1987 to 1997, was

Secretary of State for International Development The minister of state for development, formerly the minister of state for development and Africa and the secretary of state for international development, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The offic ...

then briefly Conservative

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom I ...

while in

Coalition Government 2010-2015 A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

, until standing down after swearing at police while attempting to take his bicycle through the main gates of Downing Street in 2012.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1940s

Notes

References

External links

Birmingham city council constituency page
(boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at ''MapIt UK''

(boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at ''MapIt UK''

(boundaries from June 2024) at ''MapIt UK'' {{Coord, 52.56, -1.81, type:adm2nd_dim:13000_region:GB, display=title Parliamentary constituencies in Birmingham, West Midlands Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1945 Sutton Coldfield