BBC Profile:
From its creation in 1955 until October 1974 it was in the hands of Tory MP Harold Gurden.

Tom Litterrick won for Labour in 1974. Anthony Beaumont-Dark took the seat back for the Tories at the next general election and held on to it for three terms.

Lynne Jones won the seat for Labour in 1992 with a majority of 2,060 votes, but in 1997, on a 12% swing, she won the largest majority in the seat's history.

In the 2005 general election Jones successfully defended her seat again.

At the election this is a substantially overhauled constituency. Birmingham Selly Oak encapsulates the Birmingham experience: with no fewer than 24 wards "divided" between constituencies after the changes to ward boundaries, the knock-on effect on constituency boundaries was necessarily quite substantial. Only two part-wards that existed in the seat's previous incarnation remain. These are a part of Bournville ward and a part of Selly Oak ward. Completely new additions are the wards of Billesley and Brandwood, swapped for Sparkbrook and Springfield with Birmingham Hall Green. To find out what might have happened had this boundary change been in force at the last election, see a notional - or estimated - result below.

The Selly Oak and Bournville wards resembled the leafy suburbs of neighbouring Edgbaston, but extensive council estate development in the Kings Norton ward helped change the seat's character.

The overhaul of the constituency will now transform the picture: Bour

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BBC Profile:
From its creation in 1955 until October 1974 it was in the hands of Tory MP Harold Gurden.

Tom Litterrick won for Labour in 1974. Anthony Beaumont-Dark took the seat back for the Tories at the next general election and held on to it for three terms.

Lynne Jones won the seat for Labour in 1992 with a majority of 2,060 votes, but in 1997, on a 12% swing, she won the largest majority in the seat's history.

In the 2005 general election Jones successfully defended her seat again.

At the election this is a substantially overhauled constituency. Birmingham Selly Oak encapsulates the Birmingham experience: with no fewer than 24 wards "divided" between constituencies after the changes to ward boundaries, the knock-on effect on constituency boundaries was necessarily quite substantial. Only two part-wards that existed in the seat's previous incarnation remain. These are a part of Bournville ward and a part of Selly Oak ward. Completely new additions are the wards of Billesley and Brandwood, swapped for Sparkbrook and Springfield with Birmingham Hall Green. To find out what might have happened had this boundary change been in force at the last election, see a notional - or estimated - result below.

The Selly Oak and Bournville wards resembled the leafy suburbs of neighbouring Edgbaston, but extensive council estate development in the Kings Norton ward helped change the seat's character.

The overhaul of the constituency will now transform the picture: Bournville, which has retained much of its affluence and houses many white-collar residents who commute to the city or the university, now lies entirely within this seat's boundaries.

Rallings & Thrasher Notional:
Lab 20,672 (46.84%)
C 13,108 (29.70%)
LD 7,651 (17.34%)
Green 1,594 (3.61%)
UKIP 1,106 (2.51%)

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