Redditch (constituency)

This seat is located in Worcestershire and contains the whole borough of Redditch and parts of the district of Wychavon.

1997–2024: The Borough of Redditch and the District of Wychavon ward of Inkberrow.

To make the size of the constituency's electorate suitable, the nearby villages of Inkberrow, Callow Hill, Cookhill, Feckenham, and Astwood Bank were included upon the constituency's creation in 1997. For the 2010 general election the seat was expanded slightly in line with the revised boundaries of the Inkberrow ward. The villages of Hanbury and the Lenches were included, and the constituency reclassified from Borough to County.^[2]

2024–present: Under the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency is composed of the following as they existed on 1 December 2020:

• The Borough of Redditch; and
• The District of Wychavon wards of: Dodderhill; Harvington and Norton; Inkberrow.^[3]

In addition to the Wychavon Borough ward of Inkberrow, which was already part of the seat, the two wards of Dodderhill to the north, and Harvington and Norton to the south, were transferred from Mid Worcestershire (renamed Droitwich and Evesham).

For the 1997 general election, the Boundary Commission recommended the creation of a separate constituency for the town of Redditch. From 1983 to 1997, the borough had comprised the majority of the Mid Worcestershire constituency, which was consequently subject to major changes. Before 1983 Redditch had been included in the Bromsgrove and Redditch seat (Bromsgrove prior to 1955). The Mid Worcestershire seat was a much safer seat for the Conservatives since 1997 than beforehand, due to the Labour-voting wards within Redditch being taken out and made into its own constituency as it is today. There are nonetheless some Conservative-voting wards in the town, and the rural areas of the constituency are also strongly Conservative.

Since its creation in 1997, Redditch has been a bellwether seat, electing MPs from the party that formed the government at each general election. Its first MP was Labour's Jacqui Smith who served as Home Secretary under Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2009 and was the first woman to hold the position. She resigned as Home Secretary in June 2009 following her involvement in the parliamentary expenses scandal and went on to lose the seat to Karen Lumley at the 2010 general election. Lumley was succeeded by fellow Conservative Rachel Maclean in 2017; who then lost the seat in 2024 to Chris Bloore of the Labour Party, with a slim majority of 1.8%.

• parliamentary constituencies in Herefordshire and Worcestershire
• List of parliamentary constituencies in West Midlands (region)