Situated north of Dudley and closer to the urban core of the West Midlands than the other seats in the town, Wolverhampton South East is heavily industrial in character.
Manufacturing industries, though declining, are still commonplace in this region and the seat has the fourth highest proportion of skilled manual workers in England and Wales. Partly-skilled workers make up a fifth of the total, whilst unemployment runs above 7%, the highest of the three Wolverhampton seats, but nevertheless much lower than the rate in 1997.
Wolverhampton suffered very badly during the shakeout of the manufacturing sector in the 1980s. As such, regeneration is a particular concern in the city, and the Bilston Urban Village is a particularly large project on the cards in this seat. A brownfield industrial site on which a combination of housing, light employment and leisure facilities will be built, the scheme will cost £50m.
However, there have been delays due to problems in finding sufficient money to fund the project, and for the time being at least it remains on the drawing board.