Telford is made up of several old industrial towns to the north of the River Severn and on the eastern flanks of the Wrekin (including Madeley, Dawley and the small townships in the Ironbridge Gorge) and numerous New Town developments including Woodside. However, not all of the Telford New Town developments are in the constituency; the northern parts and some western areas (including the town of Wellington which pre-dates Telford) are in The Wrekin constituency.
1997–2010: The District of The Wrekin wards of Brookside, Cuckoo Oak, Dawley Magna, Hollinswood/Randlay, Ironbridge (The Gorge), Ketley Bank, Langley, Lawley, Madeley, Malinslee, Priorslee, Stirchley, Wombridge, Woodside, and Wrockwardine Wood.
2010–2024: The Borough of Telford and Wrekin wards of Brookside, Cuckoo Oak, Dawley Magna, Horsehay and Lightmoor, Ironbridge Gorge, Ketley and Oakengates, Lawley and Overdale, Madeley, Malinslee, Priorslee, St George's, The Nedge, Woodside, Wrockwardine Wood, and Trench.
Boundary changes to realign the constituency boundaries to fit with the borough's most recent ward revisions resulted in the addition of Ketley (from the constituency of The Wrekin) for the 2010 general election.
2024–present: The 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies resulted in a slight boundary adjustment to accommodate changes in ward boundaries. Following a further local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2023,[2][3] the constituency now comprises the following wards of the Borough of Telford and Wrekin from the 2024 general election:
Brookside; Dawley & Aqueduct; Horsehay & Lightmoor; Ironbridge Gorge; Ketley; Lawley (most); Madeley & Sutton Hill; Malinslee & Dawley Bank; Oakengates & Ketley Bank; Overdale & The Rock; Priorslee; St. Georges; The Nedge; Woodside; Wrockwardine Wood & Trench; and a very small part of Donnington.[4]
Constituency profile
The constituency is generally urban and covers Telford New Town. There is a significant technology sector.[5] Residents are slightly poorer than the UK average.[6]
History
Created from the more rural Wrekin constituency for the 1997 general election, Telford was continuously held by the Labour Party, with a change in candidate in 2001, until the 2015 general election when the Conservatives took the seat from David Wright. Bruce Grocott was its first-ever MP, serving for the first four years. In 2010 Wright's majority fell to a marginal figure of 981 votes, and he lost in 2015 by 730 votes[7] – one of the small number of Conservative gains from Labour in that election, which in turn helped to give the Conservatives an overall parliamentary majority. The seat was retained by Lucy Allan in 2017 with an almost identical majority of 720, and again by Allan in 2019 with a majority of 10,941, one of the most significant Conservative marginal seat holds in that election.[8]
In June 2023 Allan announced she would not stand at the forthcoming general election,[9] and in May 2024, 3 days before the end of her term, she was suspended from the Conservative Party for publicly supporting the Reform UK candidate, Alan Adams.[10] The subsequent election was won by Shaun Davies of the Labour Party, with a majority of 8,102 over Adams who beat the Conservative candidate into third place.
^A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
^As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
