Lichfield was part of the Mid Staffordshire seat which was gained so spectacularly by Labour in a by-election back in 1990, when the Poll Tax was driving voters from the Conservatives to Labour, and there still seemed a realistic chance that Neil Kinnock would soon become Prime Minister. After the most recent boundary changes, Lichfield was able to form the basis of its own constituency, and calculations by the experts put the Conservatives roughly 20% ahead of Labour in the 1992 election, which should have been enough for Labour to have gained the seat in 1997 had they achieved anything above the average 10% swing in their favour. In the event, the swing in Lichfield was a little less than the average, and Michael Fabricant was able to hang on by the extremely tight margin of 238 votes.

Lichfield itself, lying within easy commuting reach of Birmingham, is a rather Conservative place, and it is probably not all that surprising that it was able to resist the Labour tide in 1997. There are some areas of Labour strength in Burntwood, which was previously linked with Cannock in a seat gained by Labour in 1992, but these are more than likely to be outvoted by the more numerous Conservative wards in the constituency. In the Euro elections of 1999, the Tories out polled Labour by almost 20%, and it is difficult to believe that Labour have not missed their best opportunity of gaining this seat.

Parliamentary Statistics pre-Election 2001

Conservative majority 238 (0.5%)  Labour target 4
MP Michael Fabricant
1997 (Turnout 77.5%)
Conservative	20,853	42.9%
Labour	20,615	42.4%
Liberal Democrat	5,473	11.3%
Referendum	1,652	3.4%

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For Lichfield 2001 Election result - click here.