The town of Swindon is something of a political anomaly in its geographic location as it has tended to be a Labour island set in a Conservative sea.
This is due to the fact that it was a small industrial railway town, built on the Great Western Line, which has rapidly expanded over recent years because it has attracted large high tech companies and manufacturing industries.
There are a large number of owner-occupiers in the seat (72%) with most of the remaining population in council housing. Unemployment is among the lowest in the country, in fact in some areas of the town there are skills shortages.
In the local elections in 2000 turn out was embarrassingly low and Labour suffered badly. As a result it lost the council to "no overall control".
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