The most high-profile MP for the constituency was former
Prime MinisterNeville Chamberlain (1937–1940). Since 1953 it has elected a succession of female MPs.
1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Birmingham ward of Edgbaston, part of
Rotton Park ward, the local government district of
Harborne, and part of the local government district of
Balsall Heath.
1918–1974: The County Borough of Birmingham wards of Edgbaston, Harborne, and
Market Hall.
1974–1983: The County Borough of Birmingham wards of
Deritend, Edgbaston, Harborne, and Quinton.
1983–1997: The City of Birmingham wards of Edgbaston, Harborne, and Quinton.
2018–present: Following a local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2018,[4] the constituency currently comprises the following City of Birmingham wards:
The City of Birmingham wards of: Bartley Green; Edgbaston; Harborne; North Edgbaston; Quinton.[5]
The remaining areas of the North Edgbaston ward will be transferred from
Birmingham Ladywood, bringing the electorate within the permitted range. Other changes to align with new ward boundaries.
Constituency profile
South west of
Birmingham city centre, this is a house and garden-rich and mostly middle-income constituency with limited
social housing, featuring parks,
Warwickshire's cricket ground and two grammar schools. It was a safe Conservative seat for decades, emphasised by solid Tory areas like Edgbaston itself and Bartley Green, but some areas, such as the more Labour-inclined Quinton and Harborne, have pockets of considerable deprivation and of low incomes, helping Labour hold the seat since 1997. It contains the
University of Birmingham's main campus, and most of the student halls.
History
The political division elected Conservative candidates as its MP between a by-election in 1898 and the
1992 general elections inclusive. The election of
Gisela Stuart in
1997 produced a 10% majority fractionally exceeded in percentage terms by her re-election in
2001 on a lower turnout, stretching her majority to 12.1%. The
2015 re-election of Stuart gave the seat the thirtieth-smallest majority of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority and represented an improvement on
2010.[6]
On election night in May 1997, Birmingham Edgbaston was the ninth constituency to declare its results and the first seat to be gained by the Labour Party from the Conservatives[7] on a 10% swing, after 99 years of Conservative representation; presaging the Labour landslide victory of that election. Labour have held the seat ever since. Birmingham Edgbaston has returned only female
MPs since 1953, longer than any other constituency in the UK.[8] The current
MP for the constituency is
Preet Gill of the
Labour Party, who is the first-ever female
Sikh MP in the UK. She was first elected at the
2017 general election, after long-serving Labour MP
Gisela Stuart stood down. It has been classified as a marginal seat; although in 2017 and 2019, the Labour Party won more than 50% of the vote.[9]
Turnout has ranged from 78.8% in 1950 to 48% in 1918, and was recorded as 61.5% in 2019.