Mid Staffordshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Mid Staffordshire
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
County	Staffordshire
Major settlements	Lichfield, Rugeley, Stone
1983–1997
Number of members	one
Replaced by	Lichfield, Stone, Cannock Chase, Stafford
Created from	Lichfield & Tamworth, Stafford & Stone and Cannock[1]

Mid Staffordshire was a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom from 1983 until 1997.

It covered a swathe of territory across the centre of Staffordshire, stretching from Lichfield and Rugeley in the south to Stone in the north.

At the 1983 general election, the seat was won by John Heddle of the Conservative Party, who had previously represented the Lichfield and Tamworth constituency. Heddle held the seat at the 1987 general election.

Following Heddle's suicide in December 1989, a by-election followed on 22 March 1990. The by-election attracted a blaze of publicity, and a large number of candidates (14), as it took place at the height of the public dissatisfaction with the Conservative government over the Community Charge or Poll Tax (indeed, the notorious Poll Tax Riots took place only days after the by-election). Sylvia Heal of the Labour Party was victorious in the by-election; however she failed to retain the seat at the 1992 general election, losing to the Conservatives' Michael Fabricant.

In 1997, a review by the Boundary Commission reorganised the constituencies in Staffordshire, and Mid Staffordshire was abolished. It was replaced by parts of four constituencies: mostly by the Lichfield and Stone constituencies, apart from Rugeley which was included in Cannock Chase, and the area around the village of Great Haywood which was covered by the Stafford constituency.

Boundaries

The District of Lichfield wards of Armitage with Handsacre, Central, Chadsmead, Colton and Ridwares, Curborough, King's Bromley, Longdon, Leomansley, St John's, and Stowe, the Borough of Stafford wards of Barlaston, Chartley, Fulford, Haywood, Milwich, Oulton, St Michael's, and Stonefield and Christchurch, and the District of Cannock Chase wards of Brereton and Ravenhill, Brindley Heath, Etching Hill, Hagley, and Western Springs.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [2]	Party	Notes
	1983	John Heddle	Conservative	Previously MP for Lichfield and Tamworth from 1979; committed suicide December 1989
	1990 by-election	Sylvia Heal	Labour	Subsequently MP for Halesowen and Rowley Regis 1997-2010, and a Deputy Speaker 2000–2010
	1992	Michael Fabricant	Conservative	Subsequently MP for Lichfield since 1997
	1997	constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1992: Mid Staffordshire[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Fabricant	31,227	49.7	−0.9
	Labour	Sylvia Heal	24,991	39.8	+15.0
	Liberal Democrat	BJ Stamp	6,402	10.2	−13.0
	Natural Law	Ms. D Grice	239	0.4	N/A
Majority			6,236	9.9	−16.0
Turnout			62,859	85.6	+6.2
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	−8.0

Mid Staffordshire by-election, 1990[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sylvia Heal	27,649	49.1	24.3
	Conservative	Charles Prior	18,200	32.3	-18.3
	Liberal Democrat	Timothy Jones	6,315	11.2	-12.0
	Social Democrat	Ian Wood	1,422	2.5
	Green	Robert Saunders	1,215	2.2
	Anti-Thatcher Conservative	James Bazeley	547	1.0
	Monster Raving Loony	Screaming Lord Sutch	336	0.6
	National Front	John Hill[5]	311	0.5
	NHS Supporters Party	Dr Christopher Abell	102	0.2
	Against Immigration Conservative Green	Nicholas Parker-Jervis	71	0.1
	Raving Loony Green Giant Supercalafragalistic Party	Stuart Hughes	59	0.1
	National Independent Correct Edification	Lindi St. Claire	51	0.1
	Independent 'Save the 2CV'	Bernard Mildwater	42	0.1
	Christian Patriotic Alliance - Save Britain Campaign	David Black	39	0.1
Majority			9,449	16.8
Turnout			56,359	77.5	-1.9
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+21%

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Mid Staffordshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Heddle	28,644	50.6	-1.5
	Labour	C.R. St. Hill	13,990	24.7	+2.3
	Liberal	Timothy A. Jones	13,114	23.2	-2.3
	Independent Conservative	J.G. Bazeley	836	1.5	N/A
Majority			14,654	25.9	-0.7
Turnout			56,584	79.4	+1.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Mid Staffordshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Heddle	27,210	52.1
	Liberal	T.A. Jones	13,330	25.5
	Labour	P.W. Lane	11,720	22.4
Majority			13,880	26.6
Turnout			52,260	77.5
	Conservative win (new seat)

Notes and references

1. "'Staffordshire Mid', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
2. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 4)
3. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
4. http://www.by-elections.co.uk/staffordshire90.html
5. http://by-elections.co.uk/staffsmid90/hill.html

Sources

• United Kingdom Election Results