Stafford

Constituency profile

Stafford is a constituency in Staffordshire in the West Midlands region of England, covering parts of the Stafford and Newcastle-under-Lyme boroughs. Its main town is Stafford, which has a population of around 75,000. The constituency also covers a large rural area to the west of the town, including the small market town of Eccleshall and the villages of Gnosall and Loggerheads.

Stafford is a market town of Anglo-Saxon origins. It contains historic architectural sites such as the Ancient High House and Stafford Castle. Stafford was traditionally an important centre for shoemaking and is today a significant electrical engineering hub. There is some deprivation in Stafford town centre, whilst the eastern suburbs and rural villages are mostly affluent. House prices across the constituency are generally similar to the rest of the West Midlands but lower than the UK average.

Stafford has a low proportion of young adults and a large retired population. Residents have above-average levels of income and homeownership and the child poverty rate is low. They have average levels of education and a high proportion work in the health, transport and public sectors. The percentage claiming unemployment benefits is low. White people made up 92% of the population at the 2021 census.

At the local borough council level, most of Stafford is represented by Labour Party councillors whilst the town's western suburbs elected Green Party representatives and the rural villages elected Conservatives. At the county council, which held elections more recently (in 2025), most of the constituency's seats were won by Reform UK. An estimated 56% of voters across the Stafford constituency supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum, higher than the UK-wide figure of 52%.

Boundaries

1885–1918: The existing parliamentary borough, and so much of the municipal borough of Stafford as was not already included in the parliamentary borough.

1918–1950: The Municipal Borough of Stafford, the Rural District of Gnosall, the Rural District consisting of the civil parishes of Blymhill and Weston-under-Lizard, the Rural District of Stafford except the detached part of the civil parish of Colwich, and part of the Rural District of Cannock.

1983–1997: The Borough of Stafford wards of Baswich, Beaconside, Castletown, Church Eaton, Common, Coton, Doxey, Eccleshall, Forebridge, Gnosall, Highfields, Holmcroft, Littleworth, Manor, Milford, Parkside, Rowley, Seighford, Swynnerton, Tillington, Weeping Cross, and Woodseaves, and the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme wards of Loggerheads, Madeley, and Whitmore.

1997–2010: The Borough of Stafford wards of Baswich, Beaconside, Castletown, Common, Coton, Doxey, Forebridge, Haywood, Highfields, Holmcroft, Littleworth, Manor, Milford, Parkside, Rowley, Seighford, Tillington, and Weeping Cross, and the District of South Staffordshire wards of Acton Trussell, Bishopswood and Lapley, Penkridge North East, Penkridge South East, and Penkridge West.

2010–2024: The Borough of Stafford wards of Baswich, Castletown, Common, Coton, Doxey, Haywood and Hixon, Highfields and Western Downs, Holmcroft, Littleworth, Manor, Milford, Parkside, Rowley, Seighford, Tillington, and Weeping Cross, and the District of South Staffordshire wards of Penkridge North East and Acton Trussell, Penkridge South East, Penkridge West, and Wheaton Aston, Bishopswood and Lapley.

From 1997 to 2024, the constituency formed the southerly part of the Borough of Stafford, including the eponymous town itself plus the Penkridge area. in the District of South Staffordshire.

2024–present: Further to the 2023 Periodic 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):

History

Stafford, as a parliamentary borough, first existed between the Model Parliament in 1295 and 1950.

The current constituency was recreated for the 1983 general election.

Prominent members

The town was represented in Parliament by leading playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan at the end of the 18th century.

Political history

Taken together with the Stafford and Stone seat which existed during the 33-year gap mentioned above, since 1910 when the last Liberal served the seat, the Conservative party has had five members and the Labour party three (this total includes the present member). In summary:

Labour saw a bellwether result in their 1945 landslide victory, but Conservative Hugh Fraser regained the seat at the next election in 1950 in the successor seat which he held until his death in 1984.

Effects from the creation of the Stone constituency in 1997 made Stafford somewhat more marginal: sitting Stafford MP Bill Cash followed some of his electors into the Stone constituency, which he won, and after a 47-year lack of a member, Labour's David Kidney gained the constituency in his party's landslide victory in 1997. The defeated Conservative candidate in 1997 was David Cameron, who in the next election was elected as the MP for the safe seat of Witney, and became the Conservative Party leader in 2005, and Prime Minister in 2010.

Members of Parliament

Stafford parliamentary borough

Constituency created (1295)

Elections

Elections in the 1980s

Death of Sir Hugh Fraser 6 March 1984

Elections in the 1880s

Caused by Macdonald's death.

Elections in the 1860s

The 1868 election was declared void on petition "on account of corrupt practices", causing a by-election.

Caused by Wise's resignation.

Elections in the 1840s

Caused by Carnegie's appointment as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury

Elections in the 1830s

Caused by Goodricke's resignation, in 1835, to contest a by-election at Staffordshire. A writ for a by-election was denied for nearly two years.

Farrand retired before the poll. The election was later declared void and no writ was issued before the 1835 general election.