Post by John Chanin on Feb 12, 2024 12:52:46 GMT
This is based on the original profile by greenchristian with extended demographic data from the 2021 census.
Coventry East is the working class constituency in the city. It was first created in 1974 as Coventry North East, originally consisting of five of the city's eighteen wards (Foleshill, Henley, Longford, Upper Stoke, and Wyken). In 1997 it expanded south, gaining Lower Stoke ward from the abolished Coventry South East. In the latest boundary review a ward has been swapped with Coventry South to bring the latter seat up to minimum size, Lower Stoke close to the city centre being replaced by Binley & Willenhall in the far south-east. Given the decidedly southern nature of this ward, the Boundary Commission has chosen to rename the constituency. The exchange of one Labour voting ward for another will make no significant political difference
The main landmarks in the constituency are the Ricoh Arena (now the Coventry Building Society Arena following the bankruptcy of Wasps Rugby club, and the sale of the ground), situated on the northern edge of the city, and now home again to Coventry City FC. University Hospital Coventry (usually called Walsgrave Hospital by locals) sits alongside the river Sowe on the eastern edge of the city. The city centre itself is in Coventry South, but the inner city to the north and east of the centre is included here. There are substantial areas of deprivation across most of the constituency, with only Wyken and Walsgrave at the eastern edge of the city being areas that could be reasonably described as middle class. Wyken sitting on both sides of the river Sowe is the only one of the six wards where managerial jobs exceed routine, and where degree holders exceed those with minimal qualifications, but not by much. Routine and semi-routine jobs are over 40% everywhere else, and as the demographic statistics show this is one of the most working class seats in the country.
The ethnic minority population is high, both black and south asian. The latter is concentrated in Foleshill to the immediate north of the city centre, where it is mostly muslim, and whites form a minority. However it is over 10% in the rest of the seat, with as many Sikhs as Muslims in Longford to the north, and more middle-class Wyken. The black population exceeds the south asian in Henley ward at the north-east corner, and is around 10% except in Wyken. The white population exceeds 75% only in the new addition of Binley & Willenhall in the far south-east where a third of the population are still social housing tenants. In fact social housing is high throughout the seat, with the usual exception of Wyken, and in the top 100 in the country. Private renting is also high, particularly in the two wards closest to the city centre, as is usual in older housing with a high ethnic minority population. However the constituency is the only one in Coventry without a large number of students, with a small proportion of Coventry University students and almost no Warwick University students living here. Despite the relative lack of students the constituency skews younger than the UK average, again characteristic of seats with large ethnic minority populations.
At the local government level all six wards are currently safe Labour. Three of them have been that way for decades (the last time Henley or Longford went Conservative being 1992). Foleshill and Wyken both went Conservative during the period in the mid-2000s when the Conservatives had control of the local council (in Foleshill's case this was likely because of Asian community politics). Upper Stoke had Liberal Democrat representation between 2003 and 2012, though they only held all of the seats once – after 2004's all-out elections on revised boundaries. In recent years Labour's strongest competition in several wards in this constituency has often been UKIP.
At Westminster level this has always been a Labour safe seat. In the thirteen elections since this seat was created Labour's vote share has only gone below 50% twice – in 1983 (47.8%) and 2010 (49.3%). In 2019, the Labour vote fell by more than the national average, with the Conservatives increasing by more than nationally, with the Liberal Democrat vote increasing by less. This may be because the constituency is clearly Brexit-leaning . The constituency has had four different MPs (all Labour) throughout its existence, all of them had been local councillors in the city before becoming MPs. The most notable is Bob Ainsworth, who served from 1992 to 2015 and was Secretary of State for Defence at the tail end of Gordon Brown's administration. The present MP since 2015 is Colleen Fletcher, who described herself as an ordinary Coventry mum.
Census data: Owner-occupied 54% (470/575 in England & Wales), private rented 24% (134th), social rented 23% (94th).
: White 61%(505th), Black 11%(56th), South Asian 17%(52nd), Mixed 4%(151st), Other 7%(94th)
: Muslim 13%(76th), Sikh 6%(16th), Hindu 4%(53rd)
: Managerial & professional 28% (544th), Routine & Semi-routine 41% (20th)
: Degree level 26%(464th), Minimal qualifications 36%(57th)
: Students 9% (122nd), Over 65: 14% (476th)
Boundaries : The new seat is made up of 84% from Coventry NE and 16% from Coventry South
81% of the old seat is in the new one, with 19% going to Coventry South
Coventry East is the working class constituency in the city. It was first created in 1974 as Coventry North East, originally consisting of five of the city's eighteen wards (Foleshill, Henley, Longford, Upper Stoke, and Wyken). In 1997 it expanded south, gaining Lower Stoke ward from the abolished Coventry South East. In the latest boundary review a ward has been swapped with Coventry South to bring the latter seat up to minimum size, Lower Stoke close to the city centre being replaced by Binley & Willenhall in the far south-east. Given the decidedly southern nature of this ward, the Boundary Commission has chosen to rename the constituency. The exchange of one Labour voting ward for another will make no significant political difference
The main landmarks in the constituency are the Ricoh Arena (now the Coventry Building Society Arena following the bankruptcy of Wasps Rugby club, and the sale of the ground), situated on the northern edge of the city, and now home again to Coventry City FC. University Hospital Coventry (usually called Walsgrave Hospital by locals) sits alongside the river Sowe on the eastern edge of the city. The city centre itself is in Coventry South, but the inner city to the north and east of the centre is included here. There are substantial areas of deprivation across most of the constituency, with only Wyken and Walsgrave at the eastern edge of the city being areas that could be reasonably described as middle class. Wyken sitting on both sides of the river Sowe is the only one of the six wards where managerial jobs exceed routine, and where degree holders exceed those with minimal qualifications, but not by much. Routine and semi-routine jobs are over 40% everywhere else, and as the demographic statistics show this is one of the most working class seats in the country.
The ethnic minority population is high, both black and south asian. The latter is concentrated in Foleshill to the immediate north of the city centre, where it is mostly muslim, and whites form a minority. However it is over 10% in the rest of the seat, with as many Sikhs as Muslims in Longford to the north, and more middle-class Wyken. The black population exceeds the south asian in Henley ward at the north-east corner, and is around 10% except in Wyken. The white population exceeds 75% only in the new addition of Binley & Willenhall in the far south-east where a third of the population are still social housing tenants. In fact social housing is high throughout the seat, with the usual exception of Wyken, and in the top 100 in the country. Private renting is also high, particularly in the two wards closest to the city centre, as is usual in older housing with a high ethnic minority population. However the constituency is the only one in Coventry without a large number of students, with a small proportion of Coventry University students and almost no Warwick University students living here. Despite the relative lack of students the constituency skews younger than the UK average, again characteristic of seats with large ethnic minority populations.
At the local government level all six wards are currently safe Labour. Three of them have been that way for decades (the last time Henley or Longford went Conservative being 1992). Foleshill and Wyken both went Conservative during the period in the mid-2000s when the Conservatives had control of the local council (in Foleshill's case this was likely because of Asian community politics). Upper Stoke had Liberal Democrat representation between 2003 and 2012, though they only held all of the seats once – after 2004's all-out elections on revised boundaries. In recent years Labour's strongest competition in several wards in this constituency has often been UKIP.
At Westminster level this has always been a Labour safe seat. In the thirteen elections since this seat was created Labour's vote share has only gone below 50% twice – in 1983 (47.8%) and 2010 (49.3%). In 2019, the Labour vote fell by more than the national average, with the Conservatives increasing by more than nationally, with the Liberal Democrat vote increasing by less. This may be because the constituency is clearly Brexit-leaning . The constituency has had four different MPs (all Labour) throughout its existence, all of them had been local councillors in the city before becoming MPs. The most notable is Bob Ainsworth, who served from 1992 to 2015 and was Secretary of State for Defence at the tail end of Gordon Brown's administration. The present MP since 2015 is Colleen Fletcher, who described herself as an ordinary Coventry mum.
Census data: Owner-occupied 54% (470/575 in England & Wales), private rented 24% (134th), social rented 23% (94th).
: White 61%(505th), Black 11%(56th), South Asian 17%(52nd), Mixed 4%(151st), Other 7%(94th)
: Muslim 13%(76th), Sikh 6%(16th), Hindu 4%(53rd)
: Managerial & professional 28% (544th), Routine & Semi-routine 41% (20th)
: Degree level 26%(464th), Minimal qualifications 36%(57th)
: Students 9% (122nd), Over 65: 14% (476th)
Boundaries : The new seat is made up of 84% from Coventry NE and 16% from Coventry South
81% of the old seat is in the new one, with 19% going to Coventry South
2017 | % | 2019 | % | Notional | % | |
Labour | 29,499 | 63.4 | 23,412 | 52.7 | 22,238 | 52.1 |
Conservative | 13,919 | 29.9 | 15,720 | 35.4 | 14,950 | 35.0 |
Liberal Democrat | 1,157 | 2.5 | 2,061 | 4.6 | 2,307 | 5.4 |
UKIP/Brexit | 1,350 | 2.9 | 2,110 | 4.7 | 2,194 | 5.1 |
Green | 502 | 1.1 | 1,141 | 2.6 | 995 | 2.3 |
Other | 81 | 0.2 | ||||
| Majority | 15,580 | 33.5 | 7,692 | 17.3 | 7,288 | 17.1 |