Hazel Grove, to the south west of Manchester and Stockport, is mainly middle class and heavily residential with a high level of owner-occupied housing.
The areaís traditional cotton industry has been replaced with light industry, as well as office-based employment. This is a highly affluent constituency, with nearly 40% of its workers employed in either the professional or managerial/technical sectors.
The constituency comprises a number of suburban communities including Bredbury, Romiley, Great Moor, Offerton, High Lane and Marple, beyond which there are moors and farms running into the Pennine Foothills.
A slim Conservative majority of 929 was swamped by a 12.9% swing to the Liberal Democrats on May 1 1997, and Andrew Stunellís winning margin of 11,814 was his partyís third largest.
Unlike many Liberal Democrat gains in 1997, Mr Stunellís victory was not a clear-cut case of tactical voting, because the Labour vote share stayed constant. The seat has been a genuine Tory/Liberal Democrat marginal since the abolition of the old Cheadle seat in 1974.