West Bromwich East General Election profile: Labour seat has just two MPs in 43 years

West Bromwich East is one of four seats that covers Sandwell and has only ever been won by Labour.

It covers the east and north-east of the borough with West Bromwich as its focal point.

Other areas include council wards’ Charlemont with Grove Vale, Friar Park, Great Barr with Yew Tree, Greets Green and Lyng, Hateley Heath and Newton.

Since it was formed in 1974, the constituency has had just two MPs, Peter Snape and Tom Watson.

Mr Watson has been the deputy leader of the Labour Party since September 2015.

He played a key role in investigating and highlighting the News International phone hacking scandal and is the shadow culture secretary.

Mr Watson was first elected in West Bromwich East at the 2001 General Election and currently has a majority of 9,470.

Conservative candidates have finished second to Labour every time the seat has been contested. Although Labour has dominated in terms of vote share since 1997, the constituency previously saw a succession of closely-run battles.

In 1992 Mr Snape, who is now a lord, edged Conservative Crispin Blunt with a majority of fewer than 3,000, and his majorities in the previous two General Election were just 983 and 298.

Turnout for General Elections in the constituency has been between 58 and 60 per cent in the last three polls.

West Bromwich East is one of the most deprived areas in the country and has suffered from high levels of unemployment since the 1970s.

Figures from November 2016 show the number of jobseekers in the constituency was 2.7 per cent, compared to the national average of 1.1 per cent.

Unemployment peaked at 14.3 per cent during the last recession, marking one of the highest jobless figures in the country. In the EU poll Sandwell voted to leave, with 66.7 per cent backing Brexit from a 66.5 per cent turnout.

• Mr Watson is standing for the fifth time for Labour in West Bromwich

• This time around the Tory candidate is Emma Crane. She is a vocal opponent of HS2 and is a cabinet member on Rugby Borough Council.

• UKIP ran the Tories close for second spot in 2015, with Steve Latham securing 21.2 per cent of the vote. However, the party has declined to select a candidate this time after Mr Latham pulled out due to personal reasons.

• Karen Trench will represent the Lib Dems. She is a Birmingham councillor for Perry Barr, and got 1.6 per cent of the vote in West Bromwich West in 2015.

• The other candidates are John Macefield for the Greens and independent Colin Rankine.

Prediction: Labour hold with a reduced majority

Best odds: Labour 4/9, Conservative 5/2, Lib Dems 150/1, Green 500/1

The dominance of Labour in Sandwell may well give the impression that no other party gets a look in when it comes to election time.

Sandwell Council is almost exclusively Labour, while the recent West Midlands Mayor election saw the party’s candidate poll 54.2 per cent – comfortably more than any of the other six local authorities. But while West Bromwich East has always been a Labour seat, there have been times when the party’s majority was down to triple figures.

Coming into this General Election there are very few Labour candidates who are supremely confident of holding their seats.

Mr Watson will be acutely aware of the danger of losing votes over the issue of Brexit, particularly when you consider the high support for Leave in Sandwell. It is also worth noting that the near 9,000 people who voted UKIP will be looking for a new home, as the party has fielded no candidate this year.

However, all things considered, Conservative candidate Emma Crane still has a mammoth task on her hands if she is to overhaul Labour’s 9,470 majority.

Even taking into account an expected high proportion of the UKIP vote turning blue, Ms Crane is a new candidate with very little time to get a foothold in an area where Mr Watson is a dominating force.

He is taking nothing for granted.

The Tories may increase their vote share, but it won’t be anywhere near enough to oust Labour.