The constituency boundaries roughly correspond with the
Malvern Hills District. The seat is known for its hilly landscape: with products such as regional speciality
cheeses, drinks and mineral water, a major economic sector is tourism and leisure. However, the principal industries are in agriculture; food; chemicals; distribution; waste and mineral processing; printing and publishing; and transport and retail.
Workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.1% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.[5]
Boundary changes for 2010, the fifth modern review nationwide, added an area including
Tenbury Wells to the seat (formerly in the Leominster constituency) and lost the small shared part of the
Fladbury ward to the Mid Worcestershire seat.[6]
1832–1885: The Petty Sessional Divisions of Upton, Worcester, Hundred House and Kidderminster, and the City and County of the City of Worcester.[7]
1997–2010: The District of Malvern Hills wards of Baldwin, Broadheath, Chase, Hallow, Kempsey, Langland, Laugherne Hill, Leigh and Bransford, Link, Longdon, Martley, Morton, Powick, Priory, Ripple, Temeside, The Hanleys, Trinity, Upton-on-Severn, Wells, West, and Woodbury, and the District of Wychavon wards of Bredon, Eckington, Elmley Castle, Pershore Holy Cross, Pershore St Andrew's, Somerville, and South Bredon Hill.
2010–2023: The District of Malvern Hills, and the District of Wychavon wards of Bredon, Eckington, Elmley Castle and Somerville, Pershore, and South Bredon Hill.
2023–present: Following a local government boundary review in the District of Wychavon which came into effect in May 2023,[8][9] the constituency now comprises the following:
The District of Malvern Hills.
The District of Wychavon wards of: Bredon; Bredon Hill; Broadway, Sedgeberrow & Childswickham (small part); Eckington; Pershore.[10]
West Worcestershire formally, the Western division of Worcestershire, was created the first time for the
1832 general election, by the
Reform Act 1832 which radically changed the boundaries of many British parliamentary constituencies. It was created by the division of the old
Worcestershire constituency (which had existed since 1290) into two new two-member constituencies: West Worcestershire and
East Worcestershire.
During this first creation, three members of the
Lygon family, the
Earls Beauchamp (pronounced Beecham) represented the constituency - their large country estate in the county had its seat at
Madresfield Court near the heart of
Madresfield village.
The seat was created on Parliament's approval for the 1997 general election of the Boundary Commission's fourth periodic review (following the first such review in 1945, which in turn followed that of the
Representation of the People Act 1918.
Political history
In the four elections to date the seat has alternated between
Conservative majorities that were quite
marginal (7.8% and 5.3%) and those that were greater than 10%, at 12% and 12.7%, close to average in terms of security for any of the three largest parties. As never having had a majority that exceeded 15% of the vote (in this modern creation) and having had the two marginal majorities to date, the seat cannot be classified as
safe. After the
2015 UK general election, this marginal profile between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats drastically changed after the
Liberal Democrats' share of the vote fell markedly, leaving West Worcestershire as a safe Conservative seat since, with the
Conservatives easily achieving 50% of the vote share each election. The seat was broadly in line with the UK average in the
2016 referendum on the UK's status with the EU, with an estimated 52 to 53% voting to Leave.[12]