Like the other seats in the band of Conservative blue to the north and east of Birmingham - stretching from Aldridge-Brownhills to Meriden, this seat’s political character derives from its status as home to the city’s wealthy commuters. In this constituency, most of the Conservative vote has tended to come from small affluent towns and villages like Meriden itself, where there are high concentrations of owner-occupiers and non-manual workers.
It is unsurprising this constituency is so sought after by the wealthier commuter. In a rural buffer between Coventry and Birmingham the towns and villages are generally picturesque and well-kept, and in Meriden is found the (disputed) “centre of England”. There is also, in Packwood House, a Jacobean mansion of some splendour to contrast with the modern high rise blocks of Chelmsley Wood a world away to the north.
This is a marginal constituency: at the last election the Conservative majority was just 582, and the Conservative and Labour groups on Solihull council now have 13 members each.