West Bromwich West General Election profile: Labour stronghold has only had two MPs

The constituency was created in 1974 and took its present boundaries in 1997.

Two Labour MPs have held the seat since its formation.

From 1974 to 2000 this was the seat of Betty Boothroyd, who was first elected to the former West Bromwich seat in 1973 and went on to become the first woman Speaker of the House of Commons in 1992.

She retired as Speaker in 2000 and the resulting by-election was won by Adrian Bailey, who has held the seat ever since.

His majority was as high as 11,335 in 2001 and now stands at 7,742.

Mr Bailey is a previous chairman of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee and is a fierce proponent of co-operative values and principles.

He moved to the West Midlands in 1982 to become a political organiser for the Co-operative Party. He also served as a councillor in Sandwell and was Labour’s deputy leader on the authority from 1997 to 2000.

The Conservatives have traditionally come second to Labour in General Elections in West Bromwich West.

The exceptions have been in 1997 when the Tories did not stand a candidate, and 2015 when UKIP’s Graham Eardley edged Conservative Paul Ratner into third place.

West Bromwich West takes in the west and north west of Sandwell and features two main towns, Wednesbury and Tipton, as well as Great Bridge, Oldbury and Tividale. At local authority level Labour has dominated the vast majority of wards in the constituency.

The constituency has suffered high unemployment rates since the 1970s. Figures from December 2016 show unemployment was 9.5 per cent, compared with 5.5 per cent for the West Midlands.

In the EU referendum Sandwell voted to leave, with 66.7 per cent backing Brexit out of a turnout of 66.5 per cent.

• Mr Bailey will defend his seat next month against four other candidates.

• UKIP has selected Star Anderton, who is the national party’s disabilities and welfare spokesperson and a Dudley councillor for Coseley East.

• Dr Andrew Hardie, a councillor in Sutton Coldfield, returns to the constituency as the Conservative candidate. He was second in 2010, polling almost 30 per cent of the vote.

• Flo Clucas will represent the Lib Dems. She is switching from West Bromwich East where she polled two per cent of the vote in 2015.

• The Green Party’s selection is accountant Robert Buckman, who is the party’s co-ordinator at regional level.

Best odds: Labour 2/5, Conservative 12/5, UKIP 66/1, Lib Dem 200/1, Green 500/1

Prediction: Labour hold with a reduced majority

The closest the Conservatives have ever come to taking West Bromwich West came in the by-election of 2000, when Adrian Bailey first contested the seat and won with a majority of just over 3,000.

Since then his majority has been as high as 11,335 and currently stands at 7,742.

However, this election can be expected to be a more closely run contest.

Labour’s well-documented struggles on a national level won’t have helped Mr Bailey’s cause, although the Tories social care blunder and subsequent U-turn has seen a resurgence for Labour in the polls.

However, there are also issues on a regional level. It is understood that 71-year-old Mr Bailey was not the first choice of some members of the local party to defend the seat on June 8.

Whether or not this has any impact at the polls remains to be seen, but it is clear that the Labour stalwart has a fight on his hands to keep the constituency red.

The Tories will benefit from the fact that candidate Dr Andrew Hardie is no stranger to West Bromwich West, having put on a respectable showing with 29.3 per cent of the vote at the 2010 General Election.

He has been pushing the Brexit message in the hope that a fair chunk of UKIP’s near 9,000 votes from 2015 will come his way.

This one could be close, but it seems likely that Labour will have enough in hand to retain the seat.