Birmingham, Edgbaston
Labour hold

The Conservatives will be desperate to achieve the five per cent swing required to prove that Gisela Stuart's dramatic win in 1997 was a one-off in a seat never before held by Labour. Edgbaston is the name most associated with the mansions and institutions of the city's elite. Here are the university, the outstanding achievers of King Edward's Grammar School, and the Test cricket ground - and, until recently, the BBC Midlands studios at Pebble Mill. Even more pertinently this was the seat of Conservative leader and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, of the dynasty so dominant in the second city's politics in the first part of the twentieth century. The Tories were clearly in the lead in the popular vote in the Birmingham city elections in 1999 and 2000, when they won all four wards, and in the Euro-elections of June 1999. If they do regain this symbolic seat, Labour's overall majority nationally is likely to be reduced to less than 70.

Gisela Stuart, born (1955) Gisela Gschaider in Bavaria, is a rare German in British politics, and in view of the threat to Rover's Longbridge plant by the pull-out of BMW, it may not have been prudent of her to venture the joke that ‘born in Munich, I have ended up inheriting Neville Chamberlain's seat by purely democratic means'. After secondary schooling in Germany she studied at Manchester Poly and London University, becoming a college law lecturer. By 1999 after achingly loyal support for the Blair government, she joined it as a junior Health minister. Her Tory opponent is Nigel Hastilow, born 1956, educated at Mill Hill and Birmingham University, and former editor of the Birmingham Post. He seemed like a good idea until mocked extensively in the Commons by Tony Blair for some appallingly frank remarks on his website about the Conservative party being ‘a lost cause' , with support ‘slipping away'.

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   Thriving Wealthy Achievers, Suburban Areas 10.79% 14.99% 72.00 Affluent Greys, Rural Communities 0.00% 2.13% 0.00 Prosperous Pensioners, Retirement Areas 2.94% 2.49% 118.13 Expanding Affluent Executives, Family Areas 0.82% 4.43% 18.57 Well-Off Workers, Family Areas 3.38% 7.27% 46.42 Rising Affluent Urbanites, Town & City Areas 5.02% 2.56% 195.64 Prosperous Professionals, Metropolitan Areas 11.59% 2.04% 567.90 Better-Off Executives, Inner City Areas 4.59% 3.94% 116.49 Settling Comfortable Middle Agers, Mature Home Owning Areas 13.18% 13.04% 101.04 Skilled Workers, Home Owning Areas 3.73% 12.70% 29.34 Aspiring New Home Owners, Mature Communities 7.13% 8.14% 87.56 White Collar Workers, Better-Off Multi Ethnic Areas 2.89% 4.02% 71.79 Striving Older People, Less Prosperous Areas 6.09% 3.19% 191.15 Council Estate Residents, Better-Off Homes 17.84% 11.31% 157.73 Council Estate Residents, High Unemployment 4.20% 3.06% 137.06 Council Estate Residents, Greatest Hardship 2.66% 2.52% 105.65 People in Multi-Ethnic, Low-Income Areas 2.91% 2.10% 138.77 Unclassified Unclassified 0.25% 0.06% 395.90

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   £0-5K 10.31% 9.41% 109.56 £5-10K 16.47% 16.63% 99.00 £10-15K 15.96% 16.58% 96.25 £15-20K 13.04% 13.58% 95.98 £20-25K 10.04% 10.39% 96.65 £25-30K 7.59% 7.77% 97.69 £30-35K 5.73% 5.79% 98.92 £35-40K 4.34% 4.33% 100.25 £40-45K 3.32% 3.27% 101.65 £45-50K 2.56% 2.48% 103.12 £50-55K 1.99% 1.90% 104.63 £55-60K 1.57% 1.47% 106.18 £60-65K 1.24% 1.15% 107.76 £65-70K 0.99% 0.91% 109.37 £70-75K 0.80% 0.72% 110.98 £75-80K 0.65% 0.57% 112.61 £80-85K 0.53% 0.46% 114.24 £85-90K 0.43% 0.37% 115.87 £90-95K 0.36% 0.31% 117.49 £95-100K 0.30% 0.25% 119.11 £100K + 1.75% 1.34% 130.32