During the 1980s this constituency was a marginal seat, changing political hands several times. There has been a Tory fight-back here at local authority level, and Labour only leads the Tories 5-4 in number of councillors.
The seat is home to the Rover's Longbridge plant. With 2,500 people in the Rover workforce and thousands of jobs in the component supply chain, it is not hard to see how Rover dominates this constituency.
There has recently been a major development at Birmingham Great Park in the south of the constituency covering service and leisure industries. However, computer firm Kalamazoo is also based here, and attempts are being made to develop a technology ‘corridor’ along the A38, a ‘new industry’ development to match the very old industries in the rest of the constituency.
The constituency contains lots of large estates, with Weoley Castle holding the largest proportion of local authority housing, but overall housing is a mix of council and private estates. The seat is residential, home to aspirational blue-collar working class, and 96% white, with one of the lower unemployment rates in Birmingham.
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