South Staffordshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat will be subject to major boundary changes, losing northern parts, including Great Wyrley along with adjoining built up areas such as Cheslyn Hay, to the newly created constituency of Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge. To compensate, the Borough of Dudley communities of Kingswinford, Wall Heath and Wordsley will be added from the disappearing seat of Dudley South, thereby forming a cross-county boundary constituency, to be named Kingswinford and South Staffordshire.[2]

The ancient county constituency of Staffordshire was divided under the Reform Act 1832 into two two-member constituencies, while other parts of the old constituency were made into or added to borough constituencies. These halves were formally the Northern division of Staffordshire and the Southern division of Staffordshire with less formal variations more common. The Reform Act 1867 abolished the Southern Division with effect from the 1868 general election, replacing it with two new two-seat constituencies: East Staffordshire and West Staffordshire.

Prominent figures

Edward Littleton was involved heavily in Catholic Emancipation, the Truck Act of 1831, the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832 and the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. For two years he was Chief Secretary for Ireland, prominent in the governments led by Melbourne.

Henry Chetwynd-Talbot (later The Earl of Shrewsbury) became an Admiral and whip in the House of Lords in later in life. In most of this early period the constituency elected prominent land-owning industrialists, including, for example, in Walsall, and Wolverhampton. Henry Hodgetts-Foley inherited the majority of Penkridge, now in the Stafford seat, much developed by his heirs.

The present South Staffordshire constituency was established in 1983, although in reality this was merely a renaming of the Staffordshire South West constituency formed in 1974 from parts of the former constituencies of Brierley Hill and Cannock. It covered the whole of the South Staffordshire district until 1997, when the area around Penkridge was included in the Stafford constituency.

It has to date been a safe seat for the Conservative Party, with Sir Patrick Cormack having held it from its creation in 1974 until he retired in 2010, when he was succeeded by Sir Gavin Williamson. Williamson has held many offices, including Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister from 2013 until 2016, Chief Whip of the House of Commons from 2016 until 2017, Defence Secretary from 2017 to 2019, and Education Secretary from 2019 until his return to the backbenches in 2021.

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• UK Staffordshire South 2005 election postponed

On 30 April 2005, the Liberal Democrat candidate Josephine Harrison died of an undisclosed illness at the age of 53. Election procedures at the time required that in the event of a candidate's death after the close of nominations, the returning officer had to direct the general election poll (due to be held on 5 May) to be abandoned, and to call a fresh general election poll. This was duly done under the same writ of election, 28 days after having seen proof of death. As the poll was not strictly a by-election, but rather a part of the general election, it was run under general election regulations; for instance, not qualifying for the significantly higher election expenses available at by-elections.

The original candidates were:

• Penny Barber, Labour
• Sir Patrick Cormack, Conservative
• Adrian Davies. Freedom Party
• Josephine Harrison, Liberal Democrats
• Malcolm Hurst, United Kingdom Independence Party

On 9 May, the Labour candidate, Penny Barber, announced that she was standing down as she could not afford to take any more time off work. The constituency Labour Party had to select a new candidate, choosing Paul Kalinauckas who had been their candidate in the 2001 election. The Liberal Democrats selected Jo Crotty as their replacement candidate. In addition, three additional candidates who had not been nominated for the original poll fought the delayed election: Kate Spohrer of the Green Party, Rev. David Braid of Clause 28 Children's Protection Christian Democrats, and most notably the journalist Garry Bushell representing the English Democrats Party, who had already stood in the Greenwich and Woolwich constituency on 5 May, where he had polled 3.4%.

The election was eventually held on 23 June 2005 and saw Sir Patrick Cormack hold the seat. With the seat being safely Conservative, and with the results of the general election in other constituencies already known, the election attracted a considerably lower turnout (37.3%) than in other constituencies (akin to a by-election). Cormack increased his majority to 34.5% (a 9.1% swing), while the United Kingdom Independence Party saw one of their best results of 2005, with 10.4% of the vote.

A year later the Electoral Administration Act 2006 was passed, in part because of the events in South Staffordshire. Under the new rules, in case of the death of a candidate, the party of the deceased candidate is allowed to select a replacement candidate. New nominations from parties which did not contest the original poll are no longer permitted. This rule was first used in the 2010 general election when the UKIP candidate for Thirsk and Malton died before the election.

General election 2019: South Staffordshire[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gavin Williamson	36,520	73.0	3.2
	Labour	Adam Freeman	8,270	16.5	8.8
	Liberal Democrats	Chris Fewtrell	3,280	6.6	4.0
	Green	Claire McIlvenna	1,935	3.9	1.6
Majority			28,250	56.5	12.0
Turnout			50,005	67.9	1.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	6.0

General election 2017: South Staffordshire[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gavin Williamson	35,656	69.8	10.4
	Labour	Adam Freeman	12,923	25.3	6.9
	Liberal Democrats	Hilary Myers	1,348	2.6	0.3
	Green	Claire McIlvenna	1,182	2.3	0.3
Majority			22,733	44.5	3.5
Turnout			51,109	69.6	1.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	1.7

General election 2015: South Staffordshire[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gavin Williamson	29,478	59.4	6.2
	Labour	Kevin McElduff	9,107	18.4	1.9
	UKIP	Lyndon Jones[23]	8,267	16.7	11.2
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Woodthorpe Browne	1,448	2.9	13.8
	Green	Claire McIlvenna[24]	1,298	2.6	New
Majority			20,371	41.0	7.1
Turnout			49,598	68.2	0.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	4.05

The vote share change in 2010 comes from the notional, not actual, results because of boundary changes.

General election 2010: South Staffordshire[25][26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gavin Williamson	26,834	53.2	2.5
	Labour	Kevin McElduff	10,244	20.3	0.3
	Liberal Democrats	Sarah Fellows	8,427	16.7	3.3
	UKIP	Mike Nattrass	2,753	5.5	4.7
	BNP	David Bradnock	1,928	3.8	New
	Independent	Andrew Morris	254	0.5	New
Majority			16,590	32.9	2.2
Turnout			50,440	68.7	31.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	1.1

General election 2005: South Staffordshire[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick Cormack	13,343	52.0	1.5
	Labour	Paul Kalinauckas	4,496	17.6	16.6
	Liberal Democrats	Jo Crotty	3,540	13.8	2.2
	UKIP	Malcolm Hurst	2,675	10.4	6.7
	English Democrat	Garry Bushell	643	2.5	New
	Green	Kate Spohrer	437	1.7	New
	Freedom (UK)	Adrian Davies	434	1.7	New
	Clause 28 Children's Protection Christian Democrats	David Braid	67	0.3	New
Majority			8,847	34.4	18.1
Turnout			25,609	37.3	23.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	9.1

• Note the South Staffordshire 2005 Parliamentary election was postponed until 23 June due to the death of a candidate.

General election 2001: South Staffordshire[28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick Cormack	21,295	50.5	0.5
	Labour	Paul Kalinauckas	14,414	34.2	0.5
	Liberal Democrats	Josephine Harrison	4,891	11.6	0.3
	UKIP	Mike Lynch	1,580	3.7	New
Majority			6,881	16.3	1.0
Turnout			42,180	60.3	13.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

• Caused by Legge's succession to the peerage, becoming 5th Earl of Dartmouth.

• Caused by Anson's resignation.

• Caused by Chetwynd-Talbot's succession to the peerage, becoming 18th Earl of Shrewsbury

• Caused by Anson's appointment as Clerk of the Ordnance

• Caused by Littleton's elevation to the peerage, becoming 1st Baron Hatherton

• Caused by Littleton's appointment as Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland