Stoke-on-Trent Central

Stoke-on-Trent Central
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Stoke-on-Trent Central in Staffordshire.
Location of Staffordshire within England.
County	Staffordshire
Electorate	61,774 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1950
Member of parliament	pending election
Number of members	One
Created from	Hanley Stoke-on-Trent/"Stoke"
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	West Midlands

Stoke-on-Trent Central is a constituency.

The contribution of the city to Britain's economy and history is prominent as home to Staffordshire Potteries: Aynsley, Burleigh, Doulton, Dudson, Heron Cross, Minton, Moorcroft, Twyford and Wedgwood, most in this particular seat.

Owing to a reduction in clay and coal excavation works in the area, and canal trade, this seat has the highest unemployment rates of the three Stoke seats; this seat has 6.2% of workless registered unemployment benefit claimants, compared to a national average of 3.8% and regional average of 4.7%.

Since the implementation of the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies after the 2005 election the seat has had these electoral wards:

In the initial proposals of the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat would be reshaped and renamed "Stoke-on-Trent South". The proposed seat would comprise the electoral wards of Bentilee and Ubberley, Boothen and Oak Hill, Broadway and Longton East, Eaton Park, Fenton East, Fenton West and Mount Pleasant, Hanley Park and Shelton, Hartshill and Basford, Joiner’s Square, Lightwood North and Normacot, Meir Hay, Meir North, Meir Park, Meir South, Penkhull and Stoke, Sandford Hill, Springfields and Trent Vale, and Weston Coyney.

The constituency was created for the 1950 general election. The large town had, in succession, two forerunners, the first of which gained representation by way of the "Great Reform Act" in 1832. The constituency has a majority of residents from a clear-cut working-class background, many of whom work or have worked in trade union-represented industries. Of these, many were employed in The Potteries, the smaller foundries or in nearby hubs for the civil infrastructure and automotive industries; the latter of these remains an important source of employment in the region. The constituency's housing—overwhelmingly low-rise, and in some cases highly ornate Victorian terraces and semi-detached houses—is, compared with Staffordshire as a whole, a relatively dense urban network of streets.