Birmingham, Northfield
Labour hold

One of the seats most associated with Britain's car industry, both in its heyday and now in its era of collapse, Northfield on the south west edge of Birmingham has usually been a high-swinging marginal, its political preferences varying with the economic health of the Longbridge car plant, recently saved from closure after BMW decided to sell Rover, and the many dependent industries providing jobs. A huge 13pc movement from Tory to Labour in 1997 means that Northfield now looks safe for the currently governing party. Richard Burden obtained more than twice the number of votes cast for his Conservative opponent. Yet what can swing one way can swing back, and it would be a brave and foolish pundit who predicted that this will never ever be a competitive seat again.

Richard Burden, Labour MP here since 1992, is an ex-Nalgo officer who favours PR, and achieved brief fame in 1995 for attacking Tony Blair's conversion of Labour into ‘a US-style, ruthlessly-effective machine', after Peter Mandelson's orchestration of a dirty campaign against the winning Liberal Democrats in the Littleborough & Saddleworth byelection. Born 1954 and educated at Wallasey Technical Grammar School, Bramall Grammar, and York and Warwick Universities, he is PPS to the departing Jeff Rooker, and supporter of the Palestinian Arabs. Inevitably he has had to fight hard to save 20,000 Longbridge car plant jobs.

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   Thriving Wealthy Achievers, Suburban Areas 3.61% 14.99% 24.08 Affluent Greys, Rural Communities 0.00% 2.13% 0.00 Prosperous Pensioners, Retirement Areas 0.05% 2.49% 1.84 Expanding Affluent Executives, Family Areas 0.74% 4.43% 16.77 Well-Off Workers, Family Areas 6.20% 7.27% 85.22 Rising Affluent Urbanites, Town & City Areas 1.03% 2.56% 40.15 Prosperous Professionals, Metropolitan Areas 0.00% 2.04% 0.00 Better-Off Executives, Inner City Areas 1.48% 3.94% 37.63 Settling Comfortable Middle Agers, Mature Home Owning Areas 9.43% 13.04% 72.29 Skilled Workers, Home Owning Areas 21.47% 12.70% 169.05 Aspiring New Home Owners, Mature Communities 7.82% 8.14% 95.99 White Collar Workers, Better-Off Multi Ethnic Areas 0.08% 4.02% 1.90 Striving Older People, Less Prosperous Areas 7.44% 3.19% 233.69 Council Estate Residents, Better-Off Homes 28.45% 11.31% 251.50 Council Estate Residents, High Unemployment 3.69% 3.06% 120.34 Council Estate Residents, Greatest Hardship 8.52% 2.52% 338.31 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 12.81% 9.41% 136.09 £5-10K 20.43% 16.63% 122.85 £10-15K 18.80% 16.58% 113.39 £15-20K 14.23% 13.58% 104.74 £20-25K 10.04% 10.39% 96.57 £25-30K 6.91% 7.77% 88.93 £30-35K 4.74% 5.79% 81.90 £35-40K 3.27% 4.33% 75.52 £40-45K 2.28% 3.27% 69.76 £45-50K 1.60% 2.48% 64.61 £50-55K 1.14% 1.90% 60.01 £55-60K 0.82% 1.47% 55.90 £60-65K 0.60% 1.15% 52.23 £65-70K 0.44% 0.91% 48.95 £70-75K 0.33% 0.72% 46.01 £75-80K 0.25% 0.57% 43.37 £80-85K 0.19% 0.46% 40.98 £85-90K 0.15% 0.37% 38.83 £90-95K 0.11% 0.31% 36.88 £95-100K 0.09% 0.25% 35.10 £100K + 0.37% 1.34% 27.17