Unusually for a Tory seat in 1997, Labour has won the constituency called Meriden relatively frequently in the past (1955, 1964, 1966, 1974 twice), but in a sense the current seat was a new invention in 1983 when nearly half the old Meriden vanished into Warwickshire North.

Meriden is sandwiched between Birmingham and Coventry. Meriden itself is a village that claims, as do some other midland settlements, to be the very centre of England, but most of the seat's population is divided between some vast Birmingham overspill estates like Chelmsley Wood, and some extremely prosperous commuter villages like Knowle and Dorridge south of Solihull. It is a very divided seat, but the Conservative minority in the estates is much stronger than the Labour presence in the villages. Meriden comprises half the borough of Solihull, which the Conservatives gained in May 2000 (although it is somewhat strange for them to have lost it in the first place) and it would be truly surprising if Labour managed to overhaul the new Conservative MP Caroline Spelman's majority of 582 votes. The May 2000 elections produced a 60-22 Conservative lead over Labour, compared to 47-18 in Euro 99; leads of this size must be regarded with some respect!

Parliamentary Statistics pre-Election 2001

Conservative majority 582 (1.1%)  Labour target 6
MP Caroline Spelman
1997 (Turnout 71.7%)
Conservative	22,997	42.0%
Labour	22,415	41.0%
Liberal Democrat	7,098	13.0%
Referendum	2,208	4.0%

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For Meriden 2001 Election result - click here.