Stourbridge is a somewhat mixed and extremely marginal constituency on the south west edge of the West Midlands conurbation. It includes Labour territory such as Lye and Wollescote, and Quarry Bank and Cradley, but also affluent suburbs to the south east of Stourbridge centre which back the Conservatives, and similar areas to the west, which locally at least back the Liberal Democrats.

In the 1999 local council elections, Labour would have held the seat by just 2%, but this became an 11% deficit in the Euro elections of 1999 and an 18% deficit by the May 2000 local elections. With a higher turnout in the general election, the result here could be extremely close and a pointer to the national outcome. The Conservatives have selected Stephen Eyre as their prospective candidate to take on Debra Shipley, who gained what was then a newly created constituency in 1997, on a swing of 11%.

Parliamentary Statistics pre-Election 2001

Labour majority 5,645 (11.4%)  Conservative target 94
MP Debra Shipley
1997 (Turnout 76.5%)
Labour	23,452	47.2%
Conservative	17,807	35.8%
Liberal Democrat	7,123	14.3%
Referendum	1,319	2.7%

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For Stourbridge 2001 Election result - click here.