Redditch is a

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

, England, represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the 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 parliament. T ...

since 2017 by Rachel Maclean of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, who is currently a minister in the Home Office.

Members of Parliament

Constituency profile

From 1983 to 1997 the town of

Redditch Redditch is a town, and local government district, in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately south of Birmingham. The district has a population of 85,000 as of 2019. In the 19th century, it became the international centre for the ...

was, based on a series of high majorities, in the Conservative

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district (constituency) in a legislative body (e.g. Congress, Parliament, City Council) which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combina ...

of Mid Worcestershire. The first MP for that constituency,

Eric Forth Eric Forth (9 September 1944 – 17 May 2006) was a British Conservative politician. He served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Birmingham North from 1979 to 1984. He then served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Worcestershir ...

, moved to the equally safe seat of Bromley and Chislehurst in south east London as a result of major boundary changes in Worcestershire for the 1997 general election, and held that seat until his death in 2006. The seat has been a

bellwether A bellwether is a leader or an indicator of trends.bellwether
" ''Cambridge Dictionary''. Ret ...

since 1997.

Boundaries

This seat is located in

and contains the whole borough of

and parts of the district of

Wychavon Wychavon is a local government district in Worcestershire, England, with a population size of 132,500 according to the 2021 census. Its council is based in the town of Pershore, and the other towns in the district are Droitwich Spa and Evesh ...

. To make the size of the constituency's

electorate Electorate may refer to: * The people who are eligible to vote in an election, especially their number e.g. the term ''size of (the) electorate'' * The dominion of a Prince-elector in the Holy Roman Empire until 1806 * An electoral district or c ...

suitable, the nearby villages of Inkberrow, Callow Hill, Cookhill,

Feckenham Feckenham is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Redditch in Worcestershire, England. It lies some south-west of the town of Redditch and some east of the city of Worcester. It had a population of 670 in the 2001 census and its imme ...

, and

Astwood Bank Astwood Bank is a district within Redditch. Astwood Bank is near the Warwickshire - Worcestershire border, near villages such as Studley, Sambourne, Callow Hill, Feckenham, and Cookhill. Astwood Bank is noted for its successful cricket tea ...

were included upon the constituency's creation in 1997. For the 2010 general election the villages of

Hanbury Hanbury may refer to: People *Harold Greville Hanbury (1898–1993), English law academic and Vinerian Professor of English Law at the University of Oxford * John Hanbury (disambiguation), a number of men with this name * Robert Hanbury Brown (191 ...

and the Lenches have been included, and the constituency reclassified from Borough to County.Letter from Jacqui Smith to the Boundary Commission
/ref>

History

Redditch was created in 1997 following major changes to the Mid Worcestershire constituency. The Mid Worcestershire seat has been a much safer seat for the Conservatives since 1997 than beforehand, due to the Labour-voting wards within Redditch being taken out and made into its own constituency as it is today. There are nonetheless some Conservative-voting wards in the town, and the rural areas of the constituency are also strongly Conservative.

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Redditch (Uk Parliament Constituency) Redditch Parliamentary constituencies in Worcestershire Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1997