Erewash is in south east Derbyshire, and lies inbetween Nottingham and Derby, and is named after the river which flows from north to south through the seat and enters the Trent near Long Eaton.
The seat’s main towns are Long Eaton and Ilkeston, and there also several small villages and open countryside in the area. The M1 also cuts down the middle of the constituency.
The Erewash seat is home to many East Midlands commuters, but has a good deal of industry also. Long Eaton is still a lace-making centre, and though coal mining is no more, engineering, textile, and furniture-making industries remain. Most of the workforce is employed in manual trades, but a relatively low unemployment rate, high level of owner-occupancy and a near all-white population.
Until the 1997 election, had long been held by the Conservatives. In 1992 Angela Knight succeeded Peter Rost, who had represented the area since 1970 - when he took Erewash’s predecessor seat Derbyshire South East from Labour. The Labour landslide delivered a 12% swing in Erewash and returned Elizabeth Blackman as the new MP for the area.