Stoke-on-Trent Central (UK Parliament constituency)

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	Gareth Snell (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Hanley Stoke-on-Trent/"Stoke"
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	West Midlands

Stoke-on-Trent Central is a constituency that was represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Tristram Hunt, a member of the Labour Party, from 2010 until 2017. After Hunt announced his intention to resign the seat in early 2017, a by-election was held on 23 February 2017; this was won by the Labour candidate, Gareth Snell.

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.

Statistics are confusing as to the current status of the area, reflecting the great demographic—in particular, economic sector—changes in the constituency. Tristram Hunt's result at the 2015 general election gave the seat the 60th-most marginal majority of the Labour Party's 232 seats, measured by percentage of majority. Labour's continuous tenure of Stoke-on-Trent Central since 1950 places it among the approximately 120 constituencies of the 232 which returned Labour members in 2015—all their precedessor areas included—to have withstood landslides for the Conservative Party during the intervening period (such as the 1983 general election). Stoke-on-Trent Central ranked highest for political apathy at the 2015 election, recording the lowest turnout in the United Kingdom.