Wolverhampton South West
Notional 2005 Results:
Labour: 17542 (43.7%)
Conservative: 15289 (38.1%)
Liberal Democrat: 5388 (13.4%)
Other: 1911 (4.8%)
Majority: 2252 (5.6%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 15610 (37.5%)
Labour: 18489 (44.4%)
Liberal Democrat: 5568 (13.4%)
BNP: 983 (2.4%)
UKIP: 1029 (2.5%)
Majority: 2879 (6.9%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 16248 (39.7%)
Labour: 19735 (48.3%)
Liberal Democrat: 3425 (8.4%)
UKIP: 684 (1.7%)
Green: 805 (2%)
Majority: 3487 (8.5%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 19539 (39.9%)
Labour: 24657 (50.4%)
Liberal Democrat: 4012 (8.2%)
Other: 713 (1.5%)
Majority: 5118 (10.5%)
Boundary changes
Current MP: Rob Marris (Labour) (more information at They work for you)
Candidates: 
Paul Uppal (Conservative) born Birmingham. Contested Birmingham Yardley 2005.
Robin Lawrence (Liberal Democrat) Wolverhampton councillor since 2007.
Doug Hope (UKIP) Contested Wolverhampton South West 2001
2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 81714
Male: 48.9%
Female: 51.1%
Under 18: 20.7%
Over 60: 23.2%
Born outside UK: 13.8%
White: 74.8%
Black: 4.4%
Asian: 17.4%
Mixed: 2.4%
Other: 0.9%
Christian: 64.3%
Hindu: 4.4%
Muslim: 3.6%
Sikh: 8.2%
Full time students: 7.3%
Graduates 16-74: 21.7%
No Qualifications 16-74: 29.9%
Owner-Occupied: 68.1%
Social Housing: 18.9% (Council: 13.4%, Housing Ass.: 5.5%)
Privately Rented: 9.9%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 10.9%
Something like
22,000
17,500.
For some reason it’s the sort of seat which one party or the other wins reasonably decisively. You never get the feeling a recount is very likely here.
It was the May 2008 local elections which changed my view. Disastrous for Labour.
Until then, I had thought they would narrowly hold on.
I think I had read it wrong and your view is probably right, but it’s still not a very high swing seat in my opinion, although I could be out of date.
Wolverhampton Euro result:
Labour - 15,659
Conservatives -13,963
UKIP - 11,410
BNP - 5,146
Exactly Andy - it is interesting that even in the face of severe meltdown Labour still managed to obtain 15,000 votes to the Tories 13,000.
The Tories clearly have major problems against UKIP. Could even be their undoing. What it does suggest is three things to me:
1 - that Uppal and the other 2 Tory candidates have made little impact across the city
2 - that Cameron has made little impact with the voters in a key marginal constituency like WSW, or the other two more outside chances of WSE or WNE.
3 - going to be close in Wolverhampton!
If I were Paul Uppal or Julie Cook I would be slightly worried by now!