Birmingham Ladywood is a constituency[n 1] in the city of Birmingham that was created in 1918. The seat has been represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by Shabana Mahmood of the Labour Party since 2010.[n 2] Mahmood currently serves as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice under the government of Keir Starmer.
Boundaries
Map of 2010-2024 boundaries
The constituency includes the entirety of Birmingham City Centre (Ladywood ward), as well as Aston, Nechells and Soho which (based on the indices of Multiple Deprivation) are the city wards of highest deprivation. Aston University is within the seat, as is St Andrews, the home of and Birmingham City Football Club.
1918–1950: The County Borough of Birmingham wards of Ladywood and Rotton Park.
1950–1955: The County Borough of Birmingham wards of All Saints', Ladywood, and Rotton Park.
1955–1974: The County Borough of Birmingham wards of Duddeston, Ladywood, and St Paul's.[3]
1974–1983: The County Borough of Birmingham wards of All Saints', Ladywood, Rotton Park, and Soho.
1983–1997: The City of Birmingham wards of Ladywood, Sandwell, and Soho.
1997–2010: The City of Birmingham wards of Aston, Ladywood, Nechells, and Soho.
2010–2024: As 1997 but with redrawn boundaries.
2024–present: The City of Birmingham wards of Alum Rock; Balsall Heath West; Bordesley & Highgate; Bordesley Green; Ladywood; Nechells; Newtown; Soho & Jewellery Quarter.[4]
After adjusting the boundaries to take into account the revised ward structure in the City of Birmingham with effect from May 2018,[5] the Aston ward was transferred to Birmingham Perry Barr and the North Edgbaston ward to Birmingham Edgbaston, offset by the gain of the Balsall Heath West ward from Birmingham Hall Green and the Alum Rock ward from Birmingham Hodge Hill.
Constituency profile
Birmingham Ladywood includes Birmingham City Centre along with the areas of Aston, Ladywood, Nechells and Soho. The area is one of the most multicultural in Birmingham and the whole of the United Kingdom; in the 1991 census, 55.6% of the constituency population were ethnic minorities, the highest in England at the time.[6] In the recession of 2008–09, it was the first place in the UK where the unemployment claimant count rate exceeded 10%, breaching that level in January 2009. In July 2008, Ladywood had the highest unemployment rate in the whole of the West Midlands (by the international standardised measure, which is usually higher than the claimant count) at just over 18%, compared with neighbouring Birmingham seats Perry Barr (8.1%), Sparkbrook and Small Heath (13.9%), and Yardley (7%).[7][8] For the year ending September 2014, the unemployment rate was 12.4%,[9] although the employment rate had increased only slightly, from 46.1% to 46.6% (compared with 69.7% for the West Midlands as a whole).[10]
The average house price in Ladywood is just under £155,000; making it much lower than the national average of just over £288,000.[11]
History
Summary of results
The constituency has undergone several boundary changes since its creation in 1918 but has remained a safe Labour seat since the Second World War, with the exception of a by-election in 1969 when Wallace Lawler won the seat for the Liberal Party and the immediately surrounding period when its majority was marginal. The seat was regained for Labour by Doris Fisher at the 1970 general election. The 2015 general election result made the seat the sixth-safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority.[12]
Notable representatives
The constituency's first MP was the future Conservative Prime MinisterNeville Chamberlain, who transferred to the Edgbaston seat in 1929. The current MP is Shabana Mahmood, one of the UK's first three female Muslim MPs.[13]
The first campaign for this constituency in 1918 was notable because the Liberal Party candidate was Mrs Margery Corbett Ashby, one of only seventeen women candidates to contest a parliamentary election at the first opportunity. Chamberlain reacted to this intervention by being one of the few male candidates to specifically target women voters; deploying his wife, issuing a special leaflet headed "A word to the Ladies" and holding two meetings in the afternoon.[14]
Clare Short, elected as a Labour MP from the 1983 general election onwards, resigned the Labour whip on 20 October 2006 and wished it to be known that she would continue to sit in the Commons as an independent MP.
List of parliamentary constituencies in the West Midlands (county)
List of parliamentary constituencies in West Midlands (region)
Notes
^A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
^As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
^Yakoob contested the election as an Independent, but received endorsement by the Workers Party of Britain.
References
^"Birmingham, Ladywood: Usual Resident Population, 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 4 June 2015. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
^"The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition – West Midlands". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
^"The Parliamentary Constituencies (Birmingham and North Warwickshire) Order 1955. SI 1955/177". Statutory Instruments 1955. Part II. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1956. pp. 2099–2102.
^"The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 1 Part 8 West Midlands region.
^LGBCE. "Birmingham | LGBCE". www.lgbce.org.uk. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
^"Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 January 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^Residence-based unemployment rates by parliamentary constituency United Kingdom, June 2008 House of Commons research paper
^"Unemployment in graphics". BBC News. Recession tracker. 18 March 2009. Archived from the original on 14 February 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2009.
^"Constituency Profile". nomis official labour market statistics. Source: Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 31 January 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
^"Economically Active - Time Series: In employment". nomis official labour market statistics. Source: Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 31 January 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
^"Zoopla > Search Property to Buy, Rent, House Prices, Estate Agents". www.zoopla.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 October 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
^"Labour Members of Parliament 2015". UK Political.info. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018.
^Adetunji, Jo; Tran, Mark (7 May 2010). "General election 2010: first female Muslim MPs elected". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
^Hallam, David J.A. Taking on the Men: the first women parliamentary candidates 1918 Archived 29 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Studley, 2018 chapter 4, 'Corbett Ashby in Ladywood'.
^Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 1)
^"Birmingham Ladywood - UK General election 2024". BBC News. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
^"Statement of Persons Nominated and notice of poll". Birmingham Mail. 12 December 2019. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
^"Statement of Persons Nominated and notice of poll". Birmingham City Council. Archived from the original on 8 February 2019. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
^"Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^"Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^"Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll 2010" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
^"BBC NEWS – Election 2010 – Birmingham Ladywood". BBC News. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
^"Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"UK General Election results May 1997". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 1 May 1992. Archived from the original on 28 February 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
^"Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"UK General Election results April 1992". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
^"Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.