This seat comprises of a large area towards the south and west of the city of Derby. A quarter of the electorate comes from within the city itself, and another quarter comes from the Swadlincote area.
The constituency is mainly agricultural with an industrial belt around Swadlincote, which was historically based on coal and clay. It is also the largest town and a local administrative and business centre. Melbourne is at the centre of a fertile market gardening area.
The coal mines have now closed, but new employment has been created by the opening of a Toyota car assembly plant in 1992 at Burnaston close to Derby.
Derbyshire South was created in 1983 mainly from the old Belper division which was represented from 1945 to 1970 by George Brown - a leading member of Harold Wilsonís government until his resignation in 1968.
Mark Todd won Derbyshire South at in 1997 by a majority of 13,967 votes on a swing of 13.2%, defeating the former minister Edwina Currie.