Stoke-on-Trent South (UK Parliament constituency)

Stoke-on-Trent South is a constituency[n 1] created in 1950, and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Jack Brereton, a Conservative.[n 2] The local electorate returned a Labour MP in every election until 2017, when Jack Brereton became its first Conservative MP.[2] The seat is non-rural and in the upper valley of the Trent covering half of the main city of the Potteries, a major ceramics centre since the 17th century.

Stoke-on-Trent South
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Stoke-on-Trent South in Staffordshire
Location of Staffordshire within England
County	Staffordshire
Electorate	68,624 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	Stoke-on-Trent
Current constituency
Created	1950
Member of Parliament	Jack Brereton (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Stoke-on-Trent/"Stoke"

Jack Brereton MP
Jack Brereton - MP for Stoke-on-Trent South since 2017

Previously a safe Labour seat, it is now held by the Conservatives by a majority of over 11,000, having gained the seat in the 2017 election and hugely increased their vote in the 2019 election.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[3]	Party
	1950	Ellis Smith	Labour
	1966	Jack Ashley	Labour
	1992	George Stevenson	Labour
	2005	Rob Flello	Labour
	2017	Jack Brereton	Conservative

Boundaries

2010–present: The City of Stoke-on-Trent wards of Blurton, Fenton, Longton North, Longton South, Meir Park and Sandon, Trentham and Hanford, and Weston and Meir North.

1983–2010: The City of Stoke-on-Trent wards of Blurton, Fenton Green, Great Fenton, Longton South, Meir Park, Trentham Park, and Weston.

1955–1983: The County Borough of Stoke-on-Trent wards numbers 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24.

1950–1955: The County Borough of Stoke-on-Trent wards numbers 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26.

Constituency profile

A former safe Labour seat, like the other Stoke-on-Trent constituencies, it includes the city's most middle-class electoral wards of Meir that contrast with much of the neighbouring, predominantly lower income, population of the other wards.[4]

The seat is home to Stoke City F.C. whose Bet365 Stadium is at the northern edge of the constituency.

Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 equal to the regional average of 4.7% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.[5]

History

Political history

The constituency and its predecessor was a safe Labour seat from 1935 until the 2010s when it became marginal. It was won by the Conservative Party for the first time in 2017.

Prominent members

Jack Ashley (later Lord Ashley), became deaf as a result of an operation, but his disability campaigns led to major enactments and public sector changes to improve ordinary life for deaf people, including the inclusion of sign language in television programmes and campaigns to help other disabled people.

Elections

Stoke South election results

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Stoke-on-Trent South[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Jack Brereton	24,632	62.2	13.1
	Labour	Mark McDonald	13,361	33.7	13.8
	Liberal Democrats	Rosalyn Gordon	1,611	4.1	2.2
Majority			11,271	28.5	26.9
Turnout			39,604	61.4	1.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	13.4

General election 2017: Stoke-on-Trent South[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Jack Brereton	20,451	49.1	16.4
	Labour	Rob Flello	19,788	47.5	8.3
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Wilkes	808	1.9	1.4
	Green	Jan Zablocki	643	1.5	1.1
Majority			663	1.6	N/A
Turnout			41,690	63.1	5.8
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	4.1

General election 2015: Stoke-on-Trent South[8][9][10][11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Rob Flello	15,319	39.2	0.4
	Conservative	Joe Rich	12,780	32.7	4.3
	UKIP	Tariq Mahmood	8,298	21.2	17.8
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Andras	1,309	3.3	12.6
	Green	Luke Bellamy	1,029	2.6	N/A
	TUSC	Matthew Wright	372	1.0	N/A
Majority			2,539	6.5	3.9
Turnout			39,107	57.3	1.5
	Labour hold		Swing	2.0

General election 2010: Stoke-on-Trent South[12][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Rob Flello	15,446	38.8	8.1
	Conservative	James Rushton	11,316	28.4	4.2
	Liberal Democrats	Zulfiqar Ali	6,323	15.9	0.8
	BNP	Michael Coleman	3,762	9.4	0.4
	UKIP	Mark Barlow	1,363	3.4	0.7
	Staffordshire Independent Group	Terry Follows	1,208	3.0	N/A
	Independent	Mark Breeze	434	1.1	N/A
Majority			4,130	10.4	12.6
Turnout			39,852	58.8	4.4
	Labour hold		Swing	6.2

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Stoke-on-Trent South[14][15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Rob Flello	17,727	46.9	6.9
	Conservative	Mark Deaville	9,046	23.9	0.7
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Martin	5,894	15.6	2.5
	BNP	Mark Leat	3,305	8.7	4.9
	UKIP	Neville Benson	1,043	2.8	N/A
	Veritas	Grant Allen	805	2.1	N/A
Majority			8,618	23.0	6.2
Turnout			37,820	53.6	2.2
	Labour hold		Swing	3.1

General election 2001: Stoke-on-Trent South[16][17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	George Stevenson	19,366	53.8	8.2
	Conservative	Philip Bastiman	8,877	24.6	2.3
	Liberal Democrats	Christopher Coleman	4,724	13.1	2.9
	Independent	Adrian Knapper	1,703	4.7	N/A
	BNP	Steven Batkin	1,358	3.8	2.5
Majority			10,489	29.2	10.4
Turnout			36,028	51.4	14.7
	Labour hold		Swing	5.2

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Stoke-on-Trent South[18][19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	George Stevenson	28,645	62.0	12.2
	Conservative	Sheila Scott	10,342	22.4	14.3
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Barnett	4,710	10.2	2.8
	Referendum	Richard Adams	1,103	2.4	N/A
	Liberal	Alison Micklem	580	1.3	N/A
	BNP	Steven Batkin	568	1.2	N/A
	National Democrats	Brian Lawrence	288	0.6	N/A
Majority			18,303	39.6	26.6
Turnout			46,236	66.1	8.2
	Labour hold		Swing	13.3

General election 1992: Stoke-on-Trent South[20][21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	George Stevenson	26,380	49.8	2.3
	Conservative	Roger M. Ibbs	19,471	36.7	1.1
	Liberal Democrats	Fred A. Jones	6,870	13.0	1.7
	Natural Law	Elizabeth A. Lines	291	0.5	0.5
Majority			6,909	13.1	3.4
Turnout			53,012	74.3	0.6
	Labour hold		Swing	1.7

Elections of the 1980s

General election 1987: Stoke-on-Trent South[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jack Ashley	24,794	47.5
	Conservative	Dennis Hartshorne	19,741	37.8
	Liberal	Peter Wild	7,669	14.69
Majority			5,053	9.68
Turnout				73.73
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1983: Stoke-on-Trent South[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jack Ashley	23,611	48.02
	Conservative	P Maxwell	16,506	33.57
	Liberal	W Walley	9,050	18.41
Majority			7,105	14.45
Turnout				69.64
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections of the 1970s

General election 1979: Stoke-on-Trent South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jack Ashley	31,610	58.75
	Conservative	R Rayner	17,364	32.27
	Liberal	D Chantrey	4,829	8.98
Majority			14,246	26.48
Turnout				72.52
	Labour hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Stoke-on-Trent South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jack Ashley	30,699	61.18
	Conservative	S Heath	14,204	28.31
	Liberal	E Johnson	5,278	10.52
Majority			16,495	32.87
Turnout				69.09
	Labour hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Stoke-on-Trent South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jack Ashley	31,650	56.83
	Conservative	S Newall	15,981	28.70
	Liberal	M Smith	7,578	13.61
	Communist	S Lomas	481	0.86
Majority			15,669	28.14
Turnout				77.38
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1970: Stoke-on-Trent South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jack Ashley	20,770	60.24
	Conservative	RJ Apps	13,344	38.70
	Communist	SJ Lomas	364	1.06
Majority			7,426	21.54
Turnout				50.66
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections of the 1960s

General election 1966: Stoke-on-Trent South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jack Ashley	27,380	61.65
	Conservative	FW Thornton	14,769	33.26
	Communist	SJ Lomas	2,262	5.09
Majority			12,611	28.40
Turnout				71.02
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1964: Stoke-on-Trent South[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Ellis Smith	28,928	60.56
	Conservative	Clive Howson	18,839	39.44
Majority			10,089	21.12
Turnout				75.65
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections of the 1950s

General election 1959: Stoke-on-Trent South[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Ellis Smith	29,578	59.28
	Conservative	Geoffrey S Tucker	20,318	40.72
Majority			9,260	18.56
Turnout				78.24
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1955: Stoke-on-Trent South[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Ellis Smith	31,003	63.61
	Conservative	Basil GC Webb	17,739	36.39
Majority			13,264	27.21
Turnout				73.62
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1951: Stoke-on-Trent South[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Ellis Smith	35,261	65.77
	Conservative	Basil Webb	18,355	34.23
Majority			16,906	31.53
Turnout				84.21
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1950: Stoke-on-Trent South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Ellis Smith	34,339	64.45
	Conservative	L Orridge	14,637	27.47
	Liberal	William Herbert Kemp	4,307	8.08
Majority			19,702	36.98
Turnout				85.27
	Labour hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Staffordshire

Notes and references

Notes

1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
2. 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.

References

1. "Electorate Figures – Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
2. Brereton's was 1 of 6 total gains offset by greater losses (13 net seats lost) for his party in the 2017 results nationwide. In 2017 the two largest parties increased their share of the vote largely in England at the expense of UKIP.
3. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 5)
4. "Local statistics - Office for National Statistics". neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk.
5. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
6. "Stoke-on-Trent South Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
7. "Stoke-on-Trent South". BBC News. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
8. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 26 April 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
10. "Peter Andras PPC page". Liberal Democrats. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
11. "MORE TUSC CANDIDATES IN PLACE AS ELECTION CHALLENGE GROWS". www.tusc.org.uk.
12. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
13. "Statement of Persons Nominated".
14. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
15. "BBC NEWS - Election 2005 - Results - Stoke-on-Trent South". news.bbc.co.uk.
16. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
17. "BBC NEWS - VOTE 2001 - RESULTS & CONSTITUENCIES - Stoke-on-Trent South". news.bbc.co.uk.
18. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
19. "BBC - Error 404 : Not Found". Archived from the original on 28 October 2004.
20. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
21. "UK General Election results April 1992". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
22. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
23. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.