Gisela Stuart’s victory was the first gain for Labour on election night in 1997, and indicated the breadth of the party's victory, because this seat had been held by the Tories since 1922.
It is, demographically, unsurprising that this seat had such a long-standing history of Tory support. Edgbaston is home to some of Birmingham’s most noted parks, gardens and golf courses, and is home to a high proportion of professional workers. Birmingham University together with its teaching department at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and Edgbaston Cricket Ground are within the constituency.
Despite the wealth, the seat also has small pockets of real deprivation. Poverty means that pupil mobility is a concern in the constituency: in some primary schools up to 60% of the pupils will change in the course of a single academic year. The deprived neighbourhoods also have to face the problems of drug abuse and prostitution.
The co-existence of these impoverished outer-city areas and wealthier middle-class suburbs helps explain how Labour won the seat in 1997.
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