| Birmingham Hodge Hill | |
| Parliament: | uk |
| Map2: | EnglandBirmingham |
| Year: | 1983 |
| Abolished: | 2024 |
| Type: | Borough |
| Elects Howmany: | One |
| Previous: | Birmingham Hodge Hill |
| Next: | Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North |
| Population: | 121,678 (2011 census)[1] |
| Electorate: | 75,985 (December 2010)[2] |
| Region: | England |
Birmingham Hodge Hill was a constituency of part of the city of Birmingham represented in the House of Commons by a member of the Labour Party since its creation and until its abolition.
Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was abolished and replaced with new Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North, first contested at the 2024 general election.[3]
The constituency covers a diverse area of east Birmingham, including the predominantly Asian inner-city area of Washwood Heath and the mostly white area of Shard End on the city's eastern boundary, as well as Hodge Hill itself. There is roughly a three-way split of social housing, privately rented and privately owned homes. The area has a high proportion of low-income households, with the constituency having one of the highest Indices of Multiple Deprivation in the West Midlands for its central area.[4]
1983–2010: The City of Birmingham wards of Hodge Hill, Shard End, and Washwood Heath.
2010–2024: The City of Birmingham wards of Bordesley Green, Hodge Hill, Shard End, and Washwood Heath.
When the Hodge Hill area committee district of Birmingham was created in 2004, its boundaries were those of the constituency.
For the 2024 general election, Boundary Commission for England abolished the constituency in the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies. Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North was created as a primary successor of the constituency with bulk of abolished constituency's boundaries and minor parts transferred to Birmingham Ladywood and Birmingham Yardley.
The constituency was created in 1983, taking much of abolished Birmingham Stechford, the remainder of which bolstered Birmingham Yardley (principally Stechford itself). The predecessor seat was won by the Labour candidate in all but one election since its 1950 creation.
In 2004, the appointment of the sitting Member of Parliament (MP), Terry Davis, as secretary general of the Council of Europe resulted in a fiercely contested by-election. The seat saw a strong result by the Liberal Democrat candidate, who hoped to build on her party's previous by-election gain at Brent East, as well as vote splitting by the similarly aligned-to-Labour, anti-war RESPECT The Unity Coalition candidate. On a low turnout, the incumbent held the seat by a margin of 460 votes over the Liberal Democrats. The 2015 result made the seat the ninth safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority.[5]
The current Member of Parliament is Liam Byrne of the Labour Party, who was elected in the 2004 by-election. He succeeded Terry Davis, who had held the seat since its creation in the 1983 general election. For the four years from the 1979 general election Davis held the largely predecessor constituency to the area, Birmingham Stechford.
| Election | Member | Party | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Terry Davis | Resigned 2004 | ||
| 2004 by-election | Liam Byrne | Chief Secretary to the Treasury 2009–2010 | ||
| 2024 | Constituency abolished | |||
Note: percentage changes are from the figures at the 2001 general election, not the 2004 by-election.
1: The Liberal Democrats suspended Waheed Rafiq from the party over numerous antisemitic and other offensive social media posts. It was too late to prevent him standing in the election and his name remained on the ballot paper as a Liberal Democrat.[6] Rafiq polled the lowest percentage for any Liberal Democrat candidate in the 2019 election.