Wyre Forest
Independent gain

The next general election contest in Wyre Forest, based on Kidderminster in Worcestershire, will be unpredictable to say the least. Labour's David Lock won by 7,000 votes, 12.6pc of the total cast, defeating the Tory incumbent Anthony Coombs. After then the Tories recovered, to lead the polls here in the 1999 Euro-elections by one of the largest margins in the whole country. In local elections, though, the victors have undoubtedly been the campaigners to save the local health services provided by Kidderminster Hospital, who now form the largest party on Wyre Forest council. This protest was still going in autumn 2000, as Prime Minister Blair found to his discomfort when he arrived to be seen sympathising over the Severn floods in nearby Bewdley. How much and what impact this issue will have on the general election is impossible to tell. Health services are traditionally seen as a pro-Labour issue, but that was in the days when they were associated with spending and caring, and before they had been in government for four years. Many locals - and even the sages of the Observer newspaper, declaring "Independent's Day" on 1 April 2001, consider that the Health Concern candidate, 66-year-old retired rheumatologist Richard Taylor, has a fair chance of being the next MP. This was improved when the Liberal Democrats withdrew their candidate in his favour a week before close of nominations - but not by much, as they had polled a very weak 8 per cent in 1997. One assumes and hopes that the date of that article is not significant given the seriousness of the issue. Observing and analysing the result here will be safer than trying to predict it.

David Lock, elected here in 1997, has done rather well given that he was not expected to win. He is now a junior minister in the Lord Chancellor's Department. One of the few barristers in Labour's new intake, he was previously a CPS prosecutor in magistrates' courts. He was born in 1960, and educated at various schools in Surrey and at Jesus College, Cambridge and Central London Polytechnic. Rocketing from the status of being one of Labour's electoral surprises, he has emerged as a forceful dismisser of Tory complaints about the Lord Chancellor's partisan touting for funds among the legal profession. But he faces a difficult situation in his constituency, where he is in opposition to Health Concern, a one-issue group of councillors who have become the largest party on the local council on the question of running down Kidderminster Hospital. Their leader, retired consultant Richard Taylor, aspires to unseat Lock.

Area Percent GB Percent Index GB=100   Thriving Wealthy Achievers, Suburban Areas 15.31% 14.99% 102.09 Affluent Greys, Rural Communities 0.54% 2.13% 25.18 Prosperous Pensioners, Retirement Areas 0.21% 2.49% 8.33 Expanding Affluent Executives, Family Areas 9.49% 4.43% 214.50 Well-Off Workers, Family Areas 12.60% 7.27% 173.17 Rising Affluent Urbanites, Town & City Areas 0.45% 2.56% 17.40 Prosperous Professionals, Metropolitan Areas 0.76% 2.04% 37.32 Better-Off Executives, Inner City Areas 0.31% 3.94% 7.95 Settling Comfortable Middle Agers, Mature Home Owning Areas 14.40% 13.04% 110.47 Skilled Workers, Home Owning Areas 21.52% 12.70% 169.37 Aspiring New Home Owners, Mature Communities 10.06% 8.14% 123.56 White Collar Workers, Better-Off Multi Ethnic Areas 0.79% 4.02% 19.55 Striving Older People, Less Prosperous Areas 2.03% 3.19% 63.64 Council Estate Residents, Better-Off Homes 8.59% 11.31% 75.96 Council Estate Residents, High Unemployment 0.88% 3.06% 28.73 Council Estate Residents, Greatest Hardship 2.08% 2.52% 82.43 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 8.86% 9.41% 94.10 £5-10K 16.93% 16.63% 101.81 £10-15K 17.44% 16.58% 105.20 £15-20K 14.38% 13.58% 105.90 £20-25K 10.90% 10.39% 104.84 £25-30K 7.99% 7.77% 102.79 £30-35K 5.81% 5.79% 100.25 £35-40K 4.23% 4.33% 97.55 £40-45K 3.10% 3.27% 94.87 £45-50K 2.29% 2.48% 92.32 £50-55K 1.71% 1.90% 89.95 £55-60K 1.29% 1.47% 87.78 £60-65K 0.99% 1.15% 85.80 £65-70K 0.76% 0.91% 84.00 £70-75K 0.59% 0.72% 82.38 £75-80K 0.47% 0.57% 80.91 £80-85K 0.37% 0.46% 79.59 £85-90K 0.29% 0.37% 78.39 £90-95K 0.24% 0.31% 77.31 £95-100K 0.19% 0.25% 76.33 £100K + 0.97% 1.34% 72.16