The racist shadow of the British National Party is hanging over the battle to succeed Betty Boothroyd in West Bromwich West. Next week's byelection, triggered by Ms Boothroyd's decision to hang up her wig and quit the Commons and Speaker's chair, will see the first real contest in the seat since 1992 when, after calculating for subsequent boundary changes, Labour enjoyed a 6,174 majority over the Tories. Barring a catastrophe for the people's party, Labour will hold the constituency on November 23 but on an expected low turnout the BNP could do uncomfortably well in an area where the far right has a long record. The National Front chairman, Martin Webster, polled 5,500 votes against Ms Boothroyd in the 1973 byelection that propelled her into parliament.
Local police maintain race relations are improving.
Sandwell council, covering West Bromwich West, is led by Tarsem King, the first Sikh to enter the House of Lords after being made a peer in June last year. People will vote for the best candidate and on their merits rather than the colour of their skin. The West Bromwich West constituency is one of those quirks of boundary commission changes, a seat that does not include the town it is named after. It is instead a collection of gritty metal bashing towns including Tipton, Wednesbury and Oldbury that merged into one sprawling conurbation during the industrial revolution. At the heart of the Black Country in the middle of England near the M5-M6 junction, it has no significant middle class or executive estates.