Dudley North (UK Parliament constituency)

Dudley North
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Dudley North in the West Midlands.
Location of the West Midlands within England.
County	West Midlands
Electorate	61,714 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Dudley
Current constituency
Created	1997
Member of parliament	Ian Austin (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Dudley East Dudley West
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	West Midlands

Dudley North is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Ian Austin of the Labour Party.

1997-2010: The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley wards of Castle and Priory, Coseley East, Coseley West, Gornal, St James's, St Thomas’s, and Sedgley.

2010-present: The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley wards of Castle and Priory, Gornal, St James’s, St Thomas’s, Sedgley, and Upper Gornal and Woodsetton.

Dudley North is one of four constituencies presently covering the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, encompassing the northern part of the borough, including the town centre.

Before the 1997 election, Dudley was divided into East and West constituencies, rather than the current North and Dudley South. Dudley North covers much of the area previously covered by Dudley East, which included Netherton but excluded the western part of Sedgley, which was part of Dudley West.

The earlier Dudley constituency, consisting of central Dudley, Netherton, and Stourbridge, was more prominent before 1974. Colonel George Wigg (later Lord Wigg), Prime Minister Harold Wilson's adviser on security matters and later a Minister of State, held the seat for many years until elevated to the peerage in 1968. At the Dudley by-election in March of that year, Donald Williams, the Conservative candidate, gained the seat with a swing of 20%. In 1970, however, the seat was regained by Labour with the election of Dr John Gilbert, who subsequently represented Dudley East from February 1974 until its abolition at the 1997 general election. Gilbert served as a Minister of State under both James Callaghan and (as a peer) Tony Blair. Dudley West meanwhile was represented, until his death in 1994, by Conservative MP Dr John Blackburn. At the subsequent Dudley West by election the seat was a Labour gain with Ian Pearson elected. After boundary changes, Pearson became the MP for the newly created Dudley South seat at the 1997 election