Dudley South includes most of the old Dudley West constituency, which heralded the 1997 Labour landslide at a by-election in 1994 with a swing to the party of 29.1%, its highest since 1935.
This is a residential area with a high level of local authority tenants and a low proportion of ethnic minority voters. Situated to the west of Birmingham, it includes the giant Merryhill shopping centre, one of the largest in Europe, and the Waterfront complex, which between them employ around 10,000 people. The latter houses telebanking centres for Telewest, Prudential and Lloyds TSB, and the Child Support Agency has its headquarters here.
The renovation of the town centre (proving controversial with local traders and shopkeepers) and construction of 30,000 square metres of leisure facilities at Brierley Hall will assist in the regeneration of the area. The Red House Cone, a historic glass-making site, is currently the subject of a £1.8m regeneration scheme aimed at preservation and creating new workspaces. Some of the industry’s traditional heavyweights - Stuart Crystal and Wedgwood among them - still have facilities there.
The west of the constituency borders greenbelt land and is commuter-belt territory for commuters into Birmingham. The wards become more working class closer to Birmingham.