Post by iang on Jun 28, 2020 9:40:39 GMT
Like its partner Dudley North, Dudley South is a relatively new constituency, created in 1997. Previous to this, Dudley was divided East and West. More of the current South came from West, always the more Conservative division, which returned John Blackburn of the Conservatives from 1979 until his death in 1994. Dudley South has in fact followed the same trajectory as its northern counterpart, being Labour in the Blair years and Conservative now. Unlike North however, Conservative success came rather quicker – like another predominantly Dudley seat, Halesowen and Rowley, the change from Labour to Conservative came in 2010, when Ian Pearson, victor of the 1994 by-election, was defeated, and now South looks a very safe Conservative seat indeed. The current incumbent, Mike Wood, secured a vote of 68% in 2019 and now sits on a majority of over 40%, both comfortably records for the constituency.
This is a sharply divided seat. It sits to the south of central Dudley reaching across the authority from east to west, Dudley North above it and Stourbridge below – indeed, in the context of Dudley authority as a whole it is more Dudley Central than South. The western half of the seat is Kingswinford, originally a village on the edge of the Black Country, and still possessing the characteristics of a separate town. Historically, this is Staffordshire (indeed, part of Kingswinford parish ended up in Staffordshire South rather than Dudley) – it is also where the Gunpowder Plotters holed up in the aftermath of their failure to blow up James I and VI, at Holbeach House within the constituency. The eastern wards of the seat extend into the central Dudley area, notably Brierley Hill and Netherton. Brierley Hill is of course the home of pioneer (and now under threat) shopping paradise Merry Hill, one of the original American style shopping malls, opened in the late 1980s. The influence of Merry Hill is perhaps seen in the 18% of the residents of Dudley South who work in wholesale and retail, the largest area of employment in the constituency. Netherton is a typical Black Country community, with historic nonconformist strength, an old cricket club, and with its chain making tradition, fame for being the place where the anchors were made of two famous and ill-fated ships, the Titanic and the Lusitania. The differences are stark. The three wards based on Kingswinford are the second (Kingswinford North and Wall Heath), fourth (Kingswinford South) and sixth (Wordsley) most affluent wards in the authority of Dudley (which remember, is much the most affluent of the Black Country boroughs). Of the more than seven thousand wards in England and Wales, these rank in the 5 thousands for deprivation, taking 1 as the most deprived. Conversely, the other three wards, are the second (Brocksmoor and Pensnett), fourth (Brierly Hill) and fifth (Netherton) most deprived in the authority, and rank in the 800 or 900s nationally – in other words, only just out of the most deprived 10% of the whole country.
The Kingswinford wards range between 23 and 29% for Level 4 (degree) qualifications. The other three wards score between 11 and 15%. The “Dudley” wards however are all at 27/28% no qualifications, compared to 12 to 15% across the Kingswinford wards. Figures for occupation are similar – Kjngswinford North has almost 30% of residents in managerial or professional jobs, 7% in elementary occupations. In Brockmoor and Pensnett, those in elementary occupations narrowly exceed those in managerial and professional jobs, by 16 to 15%. However – there are issues that bind the constituency together. It is overwhelmingly white. Only in Netherton does the proportion of white residents drop below 90% (and even here it is 81%). Overall, the constituency is 92% white, well above the regional and national average. And it is strongly Leave – 70% in the 2016 referendum. These two factors help explain, as with a number of other Black Country constituencies, the strength of the swing to the Conservatives in 2019. And like those other examples, Kingswinford notwithstanding, this is not overall a particularly middle class seat. Across the constituency as a whole, 17% have degree level qualifications (ranking 585th on the overall list) and 31% no qualifications (72nd). Again, like many neighbouring seats, among the most prominent occupations are skilled trades (the 85th highest such seat) and process and plant operatives (90th). Not for nothing then does the Bottle and Glass pub in the Black Country Museum village come from Brockmoor in this seat.
Like many seats, in the Major years and the early days of the Blair government, the Conservatives were driven out of this seat at local level. From 1995 to 1998, not a single Conservative councillor was elected within Dudley South (then comprising seven wards). In the mid 90s, Labour ran up votes in excess of 80% in the working class wards. The Liberal Democrats regularly won the two Kingswinford wards, with Lorely Burt, later MP for Solihull, one of their councillors, but by the 2004 all ups, the Conservatives were winning Kingswinford South, and two of the three Wordsley seats, leaving the Lib Den challenge limited to Kingswinford North and Wall Heath (all one ward) and Labour dominant in the three eastern wards. The Lib Dem challenge had faded by 2008, and in that year the Conservatives won five of six wards, with BNP and UKIP votes of about 20% giving the Conservatives one off narrow victories in Brockmoor & Pensnett, and Netherton, Woodside & St Andrews respectively. More usually, the seat has split between Conservative control of the three western wards and Labour possession of the three eastern ones. The Greens picked up the Netherton ward in 2012, but never got very near to repeating that, and the UKIP surge of 2014 was slightly less pronounced here than elsewhere in Dudley, with them only capturing Wordsley (although they did finish second in all the other five wards, so “less pronounced” is relative). UKIP won Wordsley again in 2016, although the surviving councillor has, like many of her compatriots, defected to the Tories since. In 2019, Brockmoor went Conservative for the first time since that rather freakish 2008 result, leaving the Conservatives 4-2 up. In the circumstances, it was not a surprise that Mike Wood was able to consolidate and be rewarded with the biggest vote and majority that any Dudley South MP has ever achieved.
This is a sharply divided seat. It sits to the south of central Dudley reaching across the authority from east to west, Dudley North above it and Stourbridge below – indeed, in the context of Dudley authority as a whole it is more Dudley Central than South. The western half of the seat is Kingswinford, originally a village on the edge of the Black Country, and still possessing the characteristics of a separate town. Historically, this is Staffordshire (indeed, part of Kingswinford parish ended up in Staffordshire South rather than Dudley) – it is also where the Gunpowder Plotters holed up in the aftermath of their failure to blow up James I and VI, at Holbeach House within the constituency. The eastern wards of the seat extend into the central Dudley area, notably Brierley Hill and Netherton. Brierley Hill is of course the home of pioneer (and now under threat) shopping paradise Merry Hill, one of the original American style shopping malls, opened in the late 1980s. The influence of Merry Hill is perhaps seen in the 18% of the residents of Dudley South who work in wholesale and retail, the largest area of employment in the constituency. Netherton is a typical Black Country community, with historic nonconformist strength, an old cricket club, and with its chain making tradition, fame for being the place where the anchors were made of two famous and ill-fated ships, the Titanic and the Lusitania. The differences are stark. The three wards based on Kingswinford are the second (Kingswinford North and Wall Heath), fourth (Kingswinford South) and sixth (Wordsley) most affluent wards in the authority of Dudley (which remember, is much the most affluent of the Black Country boroughs). Of the more than seven thousand wards in England and Wales, these rank in the 5 thousands for deprivation, taking 1 as the most deprived. Conversely, the other three wards, are the second (Brocksmoor and Pensnett), fourth (Brierly Hill) and fifth (Netherton) most deprived in the authority, and rank in the 800 or 900s nationally – in other words, only just out of the most deprived 10% of the whole country.
The Kingswinford wards range between 23 and 29% for Level 4 (degree) qualifications. The other three wards score between 11 and 15%. The “Dudley” wards however are all at 27/28% no qualifications, compared to 12 to 15% across the Kingswinford wards. Figures for occupation are similar – Kjngswinford North has almost 30% of residents in managerial or professional jobs, 7% in elementary occupations. In Brockmoor and Pensnett, those in elementary occupations narrowly exceed those in managerial and professional jobs, by 16 to 15%. However – there are issues that bind the constituency together. It is overwhelmingly white. Only in Netherton does the proportion of white residents drop below 90% (and even here it is 81%). Overall, the constituency is 92% white, well above the regional and national average. And it is strongly Leave – 70% in the 2016 referendum. These two factors help explain, as with a number of other Black Country constituencies, the strength of the swing to the Conservatives in 2019. And like those other examples, Kingswinford notwithstanding, this is not overall a particularly middle class seat. Across the constituency as a whole, 17% have degree level qualifications (ranking 585th on the overall list) and 31% no qualifications (72nd). Again, like many neighbouring seats, among the most prominent occupations are skilled trades (the 85th highest such seat) and process and plant operatives (90th). Not for nothing then does the Bottle and Glass pub in the Black Country Museum village come from Brockmoor in this seat.
Like many seats, in the Major years and the early days of the Blair government, the Conservatives were driven out of this seat at local level. From 1995 to 1998, not a single Conservative councillor was elected within Dudley South (then comprising seven wards). In the mid 90s, Labour ran up votes in excess of 80% in the working class wards. The Liberal Democrats regularly won the two Kingswinford wards, with Lorely Burt, later MP for Solihull, one of their councillors, but by the 2004 all ups, the Conservatives were winning Kingswinford South, and two of the three Wordsley seats, leaving the Lib Den challenge limited to Kingswinford North and Wall Heath (all one ward) and Labour dominant in the three eastern wards. The Lib Dem challenge had faded by 2008, and in that year the Conservatives won five of six wards, with BNP and UKIP votes of about 20% giving the Conservatives one off narrow victories in Brockmoor & Pensnett, and Netherton, Woodside & St Andrews respectively. More usually, the seat has split between Conservative control of the three western wards and Labour possession of the three eastern ones. The Greens picked up the Netherton ward in 2012, but never got very near to repeating that, and the UKIP surge of 2014 was slightly less pronounced here than elsewhere in Dudley, with them only capturing Wordsley (although they did finish second in all the other five wards, so “less pronounced” is relative). UKIP won Wordsley again in 2016, although the surviving councillor has, like many of her compatriots, defected to the Tories since. In 2019, Brockmoor went Conservative for the first time since that rather freakish 2008 result, leaving the Conservatives 4-2 up. In the circumstances, it was not a surprise that Mike Wood was able to consolidate and be rewarded with the biggest vote and majority that any Dudley South MP has ever achieved.
