Stourbridge 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 ...

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 ...

of the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

since 2019 by

Suzanne Webb Suzanne may refer to: People * Suzanne (given name), a feminine given name (including a list of people with the name) * S. U. Zanne, pen name of August Vandekerkhove (1838–1923), Belgian writer and inventor * Suzanne, pen name of Renée Ménde ...

, a

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 ...

politician. The seat was previously held by Margot James, a Conservative who lost the whip during September and October 2019.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1918–1950

MPs since 1997

Constituency profile

Much of the town consists of suburban streets, interspersed with green spaces, with the other settlements being contiguous. Stourbridge borders on

green belt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which h ...

land, and is close to unspoiled countryside with rural

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

close by to the west. The

Clent Hills The Clent Hills lie south-west of Birmingham city centre in Clent, Worcestershire, England. The closest towns are Stourbridge and Halesowen, both in the West Midlands conurbation (and also historically in Worcestershire). The Clent Hills rang ...

Kinver Edge Kinver Edge is a high heath and woodland escarpment just west of Kinver, about four miles west of Stourbridge, and four miles north of Kidderminster, and is on the border between Worcestershire and Staffordshire, England. It is now owned by th ...

and large areas of farmland lie to the south and west. Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 higher than the national average of 3.8%, at 4.8% of the population based on a statistical compilation by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

''.

Boundaries

Stourbridge is one of four constituencies in the

Metropolitan Borough of Dudley The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley is a metropolitan borough of West Midlands, England. It was created in 1974 following the Local Government Act 1972, through a merger of the existing Dudley County Borough with the municipal boroughs of Stour ...

, covering the south-west of the borough. 2010–present: The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley wards of Amblecote, Cradley and Foxcote, Lye and Wollescote, Norton, Pedmore and Stourbridge East, Quarry Bank and Dudley Wood, and Wollaston and Stourbridge Town. 1997–2010: The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley wards of Amblecote, Lye and Wollescote, Norton, Pedmore and Stourbridge East, Quarry Bank and Cradley, and Wollaston and Stourbridge West. 1918–1950: The Municipal Borough of Stourbridge, the Urban Districts of Lye and Wollescote, and Oldbury, and the Rural District of Halesowen.

History

;1918–1950 Stourbridge was one of just seventeen constituencies to have a woman candidate,

Mary Macarthur Mary Reid Anderson (née Macarthur; 13 August 1880 – 1 January 1921) was a Scottish suffragist (although at odds with the national groups who were willing to let a minority of women gain the franchise) and was a leading trades unionist. She ...

, to contest the 1918 general election, the first occasion some women could vote and stand in Parliamentary elections. She stood as the Labour Party candidate. Macarthur was a trades union leader and well known in the area. However the returning officer insisted she should be listed under her married name, Mrs W. C. Anderson. During this period no ministerial roles happened to have been awarded to any of the members. Prominent members in social history include:

Wilfred Wellock Wilfred Wellock (2 January 1879 – 22 July 1972) was a socialist Gandhian and sometime Labour politician and MP. Life He was imprisoned as a conscientious objector in the First World War. He was elected at Member of Parliament (MP) for Member ...

, who wrote 13 publications, and was an early

Gandhian The followers of Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest figure of the Indian independence movement, are called Gandhians. Gandhi's legacy includes a wide range of ideas ranging from his dream of ideal India (or ''Rama Rajya)'', economics, environmentalis ...

as well as a promoter of increased localism. At the end of this period, Lord Moyle (as he became) went on to serve Oldbury and Halesowen until 1964 and in the ballot for

private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in wh ...

s achieved three to legislate in respect of: *Humane Slaughter of Horses *Air Pollution *Children of the divorced (custody etc.) as recommended by the Royal Commission The constituency was abolished in 1950, with the Stourbridge West and Stourbridge East wards being incorporated into the Dudley constituency. An Eastern section of the old constituency was included in the new Oldbury and Halesowen seat. ;1997–date Before recreation, in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

, the seat's forerunner, Halesowen and Stourbridge, created in 1974, was held by a

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

and both of its replacements, including this seat, were taken by Labour in 1997. The smaller remainder of the Eastern part of the predecessor forms part of Halesowen and Rowley Regis. To compensate from the loss of these areas, The Amblecote ward was brought in from the Dudley West constituency, while the Quarry Bank & Cradley ward was brought in from Dudley East. Labour retained the seat by just above a marginal majority at the general election in 2001, and retained it again in 2005, with a new candidate, Lynda Waltho, with a marginal majority of 1% of the vote. The Tories regained the seat at the 2010 election, via their candidate winning, Margot James. In 2015, Pete Lowe, Labour's parliamentary candidate for Stourbridge had his own beer brewed. 'Born Bred Believes' was brewed by Kinver Brewery in support of his candidacy.

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1939–40: Another general election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected; *Conservative: Robert Morgan *Liberal:

Ralph Brown Ralph William John Brown (born 18 June 1957) is an English actor and writer, known for playing Danny the drug dealer in ''Withnail and I'', the security guard Aaron (a.k.a. "85") in ''Alien 3'', DJ Bob Silver in ''The Boat That Rocked'' aka ' ...

*Labour:

Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939

Elections in the 1930s

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1910s

Notes

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stourbridge (Uk Parliament Constituency) Politics of Dudley Parliamentary constituencies in the West Midlands (county) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1918 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1950 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1997 Stourbridge