# Warley (UK Parliament constituency)

Warley was a constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. The constituency was represented since its creation in 1997 and until its abolition in 2024 by John Spellar, a member of the Labour Party.
As a result of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was abolished. Subject to moderate boundary changes, including expansion to include most of the Blackheath ward, it was reformed as Smethwick, first contested at the 2024 general election.

## Constituency profile

The constituency had a wide range of housing on the gently hilly West Midlands terrain, with fast transport links to Birmingham, Dudley and Wolverhampton. Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 significantly higher than the national average of 3.8%, at 7.7% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian however female unemployment, reflecting a central West Midlands pattern, perhaps with more women homemakers, unusually exceeded male unemployment at 10.1%.

## Boundaries

Warley was one of four constituencies covering the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, covering the south and south-east of the borough. It covered much of the former County Borough of Warley, including the town of Smethwick as well as Brandhall and Langley Green.
It consisted of the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell wards of Abbey, Bristnall, Langley, Old Warley, St Paul's, Smethwick, and Soho and Victoria.

## History
### Creation and forerunners

The constituency was formed in 1997, and was for the most part the former Warley East constituency. John Spellar of the Labour Party represented Warley since 1997, having previously represented Warley West. Warley East and Warley West had been held by Labour since their creation in 1974. Minor parts of the seat around Oldbury had been in the quite marginal Labour-Conservative seat of Oldbury and Halesowen before 1974.

### Results of winning party

The 2015 result made the seat the 34th-safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority. The elections have to date resulted in the Labour incumbent, Spellar, gaining more than 50% of votes cast.

### Opposition parties

The candidates fielded by the Conservative Party have taken the runner-up position since the seat's creation. Third place has varied between two parties to date in the seat's history.

### Turnout

Turnout has ranged from 54.1% in 2001 to 65.1% in 1997.

## Members of Parliament

| Election | Election | Member | Party |
| | 1997 | John Spellar | Labour |
| | 2024 | Constituency abolished | Constituency abolished |

## Election results 1997–2024
### Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Warley :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | John Spellar | 24,813 | 63.8 | |
| | Conservative | Christopher Pincher | 9,362 | 24.1 | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Jeremy Pursehouse | 3,777 | 9.7 | |
| | Referendum | Krishna Gamre | 941 | 2.4 | |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 15,451 | 39.7 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 38,893 | 65.0 | |
| | Labour win (new seat) | Labour win (new seat) | Labour win (new seat) | Labour win (new seat) | Labour win (new seat) |

### Elections in the 2000s

General election 2001: Warley :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | John Spellar | 19,007 | 60.5 | −3.3 |
| | Conservative | Mark Pritchard | 7,157 | 22.8 | −1.3 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Ron Cockings | 3,315 | 10.6 | +0.9 |
| | Socialist Labour | Harbhajan Dardi | 1,936 | 6.2 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 11,850 | 37.7 | −2.0 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 31,415 | 54.1 | −10.9 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | | |
General election 2005: Warley :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | John Spellar | 17,462 | 54.4 | −6.1 |
| | Conservative | Karen Bissell | 7,315 | 22.8 | 0.0 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Tony Ferguson | 4,277 | 13.3 | +2.7 |
| | BNP | Simon Smith | 1,761 | 5.5 | New |
| | Socialist Labour | Malcolm Connigale | 637 | 2.0 | −4.2 |
| | UKIP | David Matthews | 635 | 2.0 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 10,147 | 31.6 | −6.1 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 32,087 | 57.1 | +3.0 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | −3.0 | |

### Elections in the 2010s

General election 2010: Warley :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | John Spellar | 20,240 | 52.9 | −2.0 |
| | Conservative | Jas Parmar | 9,484 | 24.8 | +1.9 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Edward Keating | 5,929 | 15.5 | +2.3 |
| | UKIP | Nigel Harvey | 2,617 | 6.8 | +4.7 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 10,756 | 28.1 | −4.9 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 38,270 | 60.6 | +3.4 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | −1.9 | |
General election 2015: Warley :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | John Spellar | 22,012 | 58.2 | +5.3 |
| | Conservative | Tom Williams | 7,310 | 19.3 | −5.5 |
| | UKIP | Pete Durnell | 6,237 | 16.5 | +9.7 |
| | Green | Robert Buckman | 1,465 | 3.9 | New |
| | Liberal Democrats | Catherine Smith | 805 | 2.1 | −13.4 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 14,702 | 38.9 | +10.8 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 37,829 | 59.3 | −1.3 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | +5.4 | |
General election 2017: Warley :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | John Spellar | 27,004 | 67.2 | +9.0 |
| | Conservative | Anthony Mangnall | 10,521 | 26.2 | +6.9 |
| | UKIP | Darryl Magher | 1,349 | 3.4 | −13.1 |
| | Liberal Democrats | Bryan Manley-Green | 777 | 1.9 | −0.2 |
| | Green | Mark Redding | 555 | 1.4 | −2.5 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 16,483 | 41.0 | +2.1 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 40,206 | 63.1 | +3.8 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | +9.0 | |
General election 2019: Warley :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | John Spellar | 21,901 | 58.8 | −8.4 |
| | Conservative | Chandra Kanneganti | 10,390 | 27.9 | +1.7 |
| | Brexit Party | Michael Cooper | 2,469 | 6.6 | New |
| | Liberal Democrats | Bryan Manley-Green | 1,588 | 4.3 | +2.4 |
| | Green | Kathryn Downs | 891 | 2.4 | +1.0 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 11,511 | 30.9 | −10.1 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 37,239 | 59.7 | −3.4 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | −5.1 | |