1950–1955: The County Borough of Stoke-on-Trent wards numbers 19 to 26.
1955–1983: The County Borough of Stoke-on-Trent wards numbers 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24.
1983–2010: The City of Stoke-on-Trent wards of Blurton, Fenton Green, Great Fenton, Longton South, Meir Park, Trentham Park, and Weston.
2010–2024: The City of Stoke-on-Trent wards of Blurton, Fenton, Longton North, Longton South, Meir Park and Sandon, Trentham and Hanford, and Weston and Meir North.
The Borough of Stafford wards of: Barlaston; Fulford; Swynnerton & Oulton.
The District of Staffordshire Moorlands wards of: Checkley; Forsbrook.
The City of Stoke-on-Trent wards of: Blurton East; Blurton West and Newstead; Broadway and Longton East; Dresden and Florence; Hanford and Trentham; Hollybush and Longton West; Lightwood North and Normacot; Meir North; Meir Park; Meir South; Weston Coyney.[2]
Significant changes, with northern parts, including the town ofFenton, being transferred toStoke-on-Trent Central. To compensate and bring the electorate within the permitted range, the parts in the Stafford and Staffordshire Moorlands local authorities were added from the abolished constituency ofStone.
Following a further local government boundary review in the City of Stoke-on-Trent which came into effect in May 2023,[3][4] the constituency now comprises the following from the 2024 general election:
The City of Stoke-on-Trent wards of: Blurton; Dresden & Florence; Hanford, Newstead & Trentham; Hollybush; Lightwood North & Normacot; Longton & Meir Hay South (nearly all); Meir Hay North, Parkhall & Weston Coney (majority); Meir North; Meir Park; Meir South.[5]
The seat is non-rural and in the upper valley of theTrent covering half of the main city ofthe Potteries, a major ceramics centre since the 17th century.
A former safe Labour seat, like the otherStoke-on-Trent constituencies, it includes the city's most middle-class and Conservative electoral wards ofMeir andTrentham that contrast with much of the neighbouring, predominantly lower income, population of the other wards.[6]
Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 equal to the regional average of 4.7% of the population based on a statistical compilation byThe Guardian.[7]
The constituency was created for the1950 general election as the successor to theStoke Division of Stoke-on-Trent. It also included parts of the abolishedStone constituency which had been absorbed by the County Borough of Stoke-on-Trent.
The constituency and its predecessor were safeLabour seats from 1935 until the 2010s when it became marginal. It was won by theConservative Party for the first time in2017 whenJack Brereton became its MP.[8] At the2019 general election, the Conservatives increased their majority to over 11,000 votes; with a vote share of 62%. This was overturned in the2024 election when, despite boundary changes favorable to the Conservatives, Labour'sAllison Gardner won the seat, albeit with a small majority of 627 votes.[9]
Jack Ashley (later Lord Ashley) became deaf as a result of an operation, but his disability campaigns led to major enactments and public sector changes to improve ordinary life for deaf people, including the inclusion of sign language in television programmes and campaigns to help other disabled people.
^Aborough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
^As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by thefirst past the post system of election at least every five years.
^Brereton's was 1 of 6 total gains offset by greater losses (13 net seats lost) for his party in the 2017 results nationwide. In 2017 the two largest parties increased their share of the vote largely in England at the expense ofUKIP.
