West Bromwich East (UK Parliament constituency)

West Bromwich East was a constituency in the West Midlands in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It was represented from 1974 until 2019 by members of the Labour Party, and by the Conservatives from 2019 until 2024.

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was abolished and subjected to major boundary changes as a result of the realignment of the boundary between this seat and West Bromwich West, resulting in the loss of the Friar Park and Hateley Heath wards in exchange for the Oldbury and Tividale wards. The replacement seat also includes the Rowley ward from the (to be abolished) constituency of Halesowen and Rowley Regis and will be reformed as West Bromwich, to be first contested at the 2024 general election.

Constituency profile
West Bromwich itself is the main town, with a programme of investment in 21st century apartments similar to nearby Birmingham. Since the recessions of the 1970s and early 1980s, West Bromwich East has suffered from high unemployment, and as a result of the current recession, which began in 2008, unemployment peaked at 14.3%. Only Birmingham, Ladywood nearby had higher unemployment rates in all of Britain.

Workless claimants who were registered jobseekers stood at 7.6% of the population in November 2012; this was higher than the national average of 3.8%, based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian. However, this was lower than in West Bromwich West, with 8.1% of its constituents of working age in receipt of this benefit, which is seen as the lower gauge of the breadth of unemployment.

In the 2016 EU referendum, the constituency voted to leave by 68%, putting it in the top 10% of constituencies in terms of preference for leave.

Boundaries
West Bromwich East was one of four constituencies covering the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, covering the east and northeast of the borough. It included most of the town of West Bromwich and the part of Great Barr that is in Sandwell.

1974–1983: The County Borough of West Bromwich wards of Charlemont, Friar Park, Great Barr, Hateley Heath, Newton, Sandwell, and Tantany.

1983–1997: The Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell wards of Charlemont, Friar Park, Great Barr, Hateley Heath, Newton, and West Bromwich Central.

1997–2010: The Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell wards of Charlemont, Friar Park, Great Barr, Greets Green and Lyng, Hateley Heath, Newton, and West Bromwich Central.

2010–2024: The Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell wards of Charlemont with Grove Vale, Friar Park, Great Barr with Yew Tree, Greets Green and Lyng, Hateley Heath, Newton, and West Bromwich Central.

The seat formerly shared some wards with West Bromwich West: before 2010 instead placed in the latter seat were a small minority of 1,697 electors in the west of the wards of Friar Park and Greets Green and Lyng, also a negligible portion of Wednesbury South was contained in West Bromwich East.

Political history
The seat was held by the Labour Party for the first several decades of its existence, often with substantial majorities. At the 2019 general election, it fell to the Conservatives for the first time, on a swing in excess of 12%.