Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath (UK Parliament constituency)

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).

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
Created from	Birmingham Sparkbrook and Birmingham Small Heath
Replaced by	Birmingham Hall Green

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

History

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 is populated by 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 had been 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^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Roger Godsiff	13,787	36.1	−21.4
	Respect	Salma Yaqoob	10,498	27.5	New
	Liberal Democrats	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	New
	Independent	Abdul Chaudhary	503	1.3	New
Majority			3,289	8.6	-35.7
Turnout			38,192	51.8	+2.5
	Labour hold		Swing	−24.4

General election 2001: Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Roger Godsiff	21,087	57.5	−6.8
	Liberal Democrats	Qassim Afzal	4,841	13.2	+3.9
	People's Justice	Shafaq Hussain	4,770	13.0	New
	Conservative	Iftkhar Hussain	3,948	10.8	−6.7
	Independent	Gul Mahammed	662	1.8	+0.5
	UKIP	Wayne Vincent	634	1.7	New
	Muslim Party	Abdul Aziz	401	1.1	New
	Socialist Alliance	Salman Mirza	304	0.8	New
Majority			16,246	44.3	-2.5
Turnout			36,647	49.3	−7.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Roger Godsiff	26,841	64.3
	Conservative	Kenneth Hardeman	7,315	17.5
	Liberal Democrats	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 win (new seat)

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in the West Midlands (county)
• Sparkbrook and Small Heath

References

2. . Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
3. . Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
4. . Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

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