Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath (UK Parliament constituency)

Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath in Birmingham for the 2005 general election.
Location of Birmingham within England.
County	West Midlands
1997–2010
Replaced by	Birmingham Hall Green
Created from	Birmingham Sparkbrook and Birmingham Small Heath
European Parliament constituency	West Midlands

Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election. The constituency was notable for having the largest percentage of Muslim voters of any UK constituency at 48.8% (based on 2001 census figures).

The seat was abolished following a review of parliamentary boundaries by the Boundary Commission for England.

Boundaries

The City of Birmingham wards of Fox Hollies, Small Heath, Sparkbrook, and Sparkhill.

This was an inner-city residential seat in the south-east of Birmingham, noted for its large immigrant population.

In the first half of the 20th century, it was home to many Irish families. In more recent times it has attracted people of Asian origin, who now account for some 50% of residents - the highest proportion of any seat in the country. The majority of ethnic minorities in this area are of Pakistani and British Pakistani origin.

By 2010, unemployment was high, at well over 10%. There are hardly any white collar workers in the seat and it has the third highest proportion of only partly skilled workers in the country.

However, it is a major site for urban regeneration and some £35m is to be invested in local redevelopment initiatives over the next five years.

The constituency was historically a safe seat Labour, but in 2005 their incumbent MP Roger Godsiff saw his majority slashed to just over 3,000 following a strong challenge from RESPECT. Labour also lost many local council seats in the constituency, primarily to the Liberal Democrats but also to the now-defunct People's Justice Party and later to RESPECT's Salma Yaqoob in the Sparkbrook ward.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Birmingham and the West Midlands, the Boundary Commission for England abolished the Sparkbrook and Small Heath constituency.

The Sparkbrook electoral ward formed one part of a revised Birmingham Hall Green constituency. The incumbent MP Roger Godsiff was selected for the new Hall Green seat, and won the seat at the 2010 election.

Members of Parliament

Roger Godsiff of the Labour Party represented this seat throughout its existence. From 1992 he was previously MP for Birmingham Small Heath, which was merged with Birmingham Sparkbrook to create this seat.

Election		Member ^[1]	Party
	1997	Roger Godsiff	Labour
	2010	constituency abolished: see Birmingham Hall Green

Elections

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Roger Godsiff	13,787	36.1	-21.4
	Respect	Salma Yaqoob	10,498	27.5	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Talib Hussain	7,727	20.2	+7.0
	Conservative	Sameer Mirza	3,480	9.1	-1.7
	UKIP	Jennifer Brookes	1,342	3.5	+1.8
	Green	Ian Jamieson	855	2.2	N/A
	Independent	Abdul Chaudhary	503	1.3	N/A
Majority			3,289	8.6
Turnout			38,192	51.8	+2.5
	Labour hold		Swing	-24.4%

General Election 2001: Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Roger Godsiff	21,087	57.5	-6.7
	Liberal Democrat	Qassim Afzal	4,841	13.2	+3.9
	People's Justice	Shafaq Hussain	4,770	13.0	N/A
	Conservative	Iftkhar Hussain	3,948	10.8	-6.7
	Independent	Gul Mahammed	662	1.8	+0.5
	UKIP	Wayne Vincent	634	1.7	N/A
	Muslim Party	Abdul Aziz	401	1.1	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	Salman Mirza	304	0.8	N/A
Majority			16,246	44.3
Turnout			36,647	49.3	-7.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Roger Godsiff	26,841	64.3
	Conservative	Kenneth George Hardeman	7,315	17.5
	Liberal Democrat	Roger Harmer	3,889	9.3
	Green	Alan Clawley	959	2.3
	Referendum	Riaz Dooley	737	1.8
	Independent	Pankaj Patel	538	1.3
	Independent	Rashid Syed	513	1.2
	Independent	Sajada Bi	490	1.2
	Socialist Labour	Colin Wren	483	1.2
Majority			19,526	46.8
Turnout			41,765	57.0
	Labour hold		Swing

References

↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 4)

Birmingham Constituencies

Current	Birmingham Edgbaston Birmingham Hall Green Birmingham Hodge Hill Birmingham Erdington Birmingham Ladywood Birmingham Perry Barr Birmingham Northfield Birmingham Selly Oak Birmingham Yardley Sutton Coldfield

Historic	Birmingham (1832–1885) Aston Manor (1885-1918) Birmingham Bordesley (1885–1918) Birmingham Central (1885–1918) Birmingham East (1885-1918) Birmingham North (1885-1918) Birmingham South (1885-1918) Birmingham West (1885-1950) Handsworth (1885-1918) Birmingham Deritend (1918-1950) Birmingham Duddeston (1918-1950) Birmingham Moseley (1918-1950) Birmingham King's Norton (1918-1955) Birmingham Aston (1918-1974) Birmingham Handsworth (1918-1983) Birmingham Sparkbrook (1918-1997) Birmingham Acock's Green (1945-1950) Birmingham Stechford (1950-1983) Birmingham Small Heath (1950-1997) Birmingham All Saints (1955-1974) Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath (1997-2010)

Constituencies in the West Midlands (59)

Conservative (34)	Aldridge-Brownhills Bromsgrove Burton Cannock Chase Dudley South Halesowen and Rowley Regis Hereford and South Herefordshire Kenilworth and Southam Lichfield Ludlow Meriden Mid Worcestershire North Herefordshire North Shropshire North Warwickshire Nuneaton Redditch Rugby Shrewsbury and Atcham Solihull South Staffordshire Stafford Staffordshire Moorlands Stone Stourbridge Stratford-on-Avon Sutton Coldfield Tamworth Telford The Wrekin Warwick and Leamington West Worcestershire Worcester Wyre Forest

Labour (25)	Birmingham, Edgbaston Birmingham, Erdington Birmingham, Hall Green Birmingham, Hodge Hill Birmingham, Ladywood Birmingham, Northfield Birmingham, Perry Barr Birmingham, Selly Oak Birmingham, Yardley Coventry North East Coventry North West Coventry South Dudley North Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke-on-Trent Central Stoke-on-Trent North Stoke-on-Trent South Walsall North Walsall South Warley West Bromwich East West Bromwich West Wolverhampton North East Wolverhampton South East Wolverhampton South West

West Midlands European constituency: Conservative (2) Labour (2) UKIP (3)

Coordinates: 52°27′25″N 1°50′49″W / 52.457°N 1.847°W / 52.457; -1.847

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