Redcar
Labour hold

The seat that Mo Mowlam has decided to vacate is safely Labour. The seaside town after which it is named is untypical. The constituency is in fact far more dominated by heavy industrial south Teesside. Historically the main employers here have been the ICI chemical complex at Wilton and British Steel's works near South Bank. It is a stark and functional landscape, where the very atmosphere seem polluted and unhealthy, and the medical statistics suggest that this is indeed the case. The Labour majority comes from unglamorous purpose built communities like Dormanstown, Eston and Grangetown, a community whose best known product is the "blue" comedian Roy "Chubby" Brown, a favourite among live working class audiences (his material is not deemed suitable for TV). It is hard to argue that there is anything left-wing about Brown's form of humour, but Grangetown gave 89pc of its votes to Labour (on a 24pc turnout) in recent county council elections.

Vera Baird QC has replaced Mo Mowlam here. Cropped red-headed, born 1952 and educated at Chadderton Grammar School, Newcastle Polytechnic and the Open University, she was called to the Bar (Gray's Inn) in 1975 and took silk in 2000. A feminist who has written books entitled 'Rape in Court' and 'Defending Battered Women Who Kill', she works in the Chambers of the radical barrister Michael Mansfield, with Patrick Roche, husband of Labour MP and minister Barbara Roche, among her colleagues. Making an unusual career move at the age of almost 50, she would find little competition on the Labour benches for appointment as the first female Attorney or Solicitor General, though her Bar experience has seen her defending striking miners, Wapping trade unionists, Greenham women, and "Stop the City" rioters.

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   Thriving Wealthy Achievers, Suburban Areas 3.60% 14.99% 24.00 Affluent Greys, Rural Communities 0.00% 2.13% 0.00 Prosperous Pensioners, Retirement Areas 0.11% 2.49% 4.48 Expanding Affluent Executives, Family Areas 5.04% 4.43% 113.88 Well-Off Workers, Family Areas 12.43% 7.27% 170.93 Rising Affluent Urbanites, Town & City Areas 0.01% 2.56% 0.22 Prosperous Professionals, Metropolitan Areas 0.00% 2.04% 0.00 Better-Off Executives, Inner City Areas 1.32% 3.94% 33.36 Settling Comfortable Middle Agers, Mature Home Owning Areas 16.55% 13.04% 126.90 Skilled Workers, Home Owning Areas 17.18% 12.70% 135.21 Aspiring New Home Owners, Mature Communities 13.05% 8.14% 160.21 White Collar Workers, Better-Off Multi Ethnic Areas 1.71% 4.02% 42.60 Striving Older People, Less Prosperous Areas 2.88% 3.19% 90.51 Council Estate Residents, Better-Off Homes 14.73% 11.31% 130.22 Council Estate Residents, High Unemployment 1.83% 3.06% 59.80 Council Estate Residents, Greatest Hardship 9.57% 2.52% 380.11 People in Multi-Ethnic, Low-Income Areas 0.00% 2.10% 0.00 Unclassified Unclassified 0.00% 0.06% 0.00

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   £0-5K 13.38% 9.41% 142.13 £5-10K 21.22% 16.63% 127.57 £10-15K 18.78% 16.58% 113.26 £15-20K 13.86% 13.58% 102.06 £20-25K 9.68% 10.39% 93.18 £25-30K 6.67% 7.77% 85.81 £30-35K 4.60% 5.79% 79.46 £35-40K 3.20% 4.33% 73.86 £40-45K 2.25% 3.27% 68.83 £45-50K 1.60% 2.48% 64.28 £50-55K 1.15% 1.90% 60.15 £55-60K 0.83% 1.47% 56.37 £60-65K 0.61% 1.15% 52.93 £65-70K 0.45% 0.91% 49.77 £70-75K 0.34% 0.72% 46.88 £75-80K 0.25% 0.57% 44.23 £80-85K 0.19% 0.46% 41.79 £85-90K 0.15% 0.37% 39.55 £90-95K 0.11% 0.31% 37.49 £95-100K 0.09% 0.25% 35.59 £100K + 0.36% 1.34% 26.81