Portsmouth is the home of the Royal Navy, but it is also the second most densely populated city in Europe, after London. With no spare land for industrial expansion, planners have turned to reclaiming it from the sea to aid development - it was by this means that the ferry port was developed to become second only to Dover.
The naval base has been here since the sixteenth century, but has been trimmed through defence cuts causing job losses directly in the dockyards, and indirectly in the defence industries of the region, such as at Marconi.
Other major employers in the seat include various insurance companies, and IBM. In addition to the large areas of middle-class housing there are areas of council housing of Paulsgrove, Much of the housing is of poor quality, car ownership is below average and about half the workforce is employed in manual work.
The seat was won by Labour at the last election on a swing of 13.5%.
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