Shropshire was one of the many English shire counties to receive an extra seat in the redistribution recommended by the latest Boundary Commission. Its population growth had been centred on Telford New Town, which forms the main growth point of the whole of the West Midlands region.
Telford formed the core of the old Wrekin seat, where electors from rural Shropshire were included with industrial communities. This has been split into two with much of the New Town area included in the brand new Telford constituency with the effect of concentrating the Labour vote there.
Telford may be the extra seat the country has earned, but the corralling of Labour support in Telford effectively gives the newly drawn Wrekin back to the Tories. Thus it is the Conservatives who can expect a net gain in Shropshire next time.
Bruce Grocott won The Wrekin from the Conservative right-winger Warren Hawksley in 1987.
