Dudley South gain from Labour Ian Pearson 0 ( 0.0%) 14,097 (29.4%) 27,124 (56.6%) 5,214 (10.9%) 0 ( 0.0%) 1,467 ( 3.1%) 66,731 47,902 (71.8%) Ian Pearson Dudley West 2,729 ( 5.1%) 22,296 (41.9%) 25,025 (47.0%) 5,886 (11.1%) 0 ( 0.0%) 0 ( 0.0%) Labour 66,927 53,207 (79.5%) -12.5% +9.6% -0.2% +0.0% +3.1% -0.3% -7.7% There have been substantial boundary changes in the West Midlands borough of Dudley, west of Birmingham. At the last election, there were two seats called Dudley East and Dudley West. Labour won the former, but the Conservative John Blackburn was triumphant in West, with a majority of nearly 6,000. Now, in 1997, all that has changed. The first thing that happened was one of the most dramatic by-elections ever, following the death in 1994 of John Blackburn. The resultant Dudley West contest was won by Labour's locally born candidate, Ian Pearson, with a massive swing and a majority of no less than 20,694. Still, by-election victories, however spectacular, can always be reversed... but Ian Pearson's long-term career seems to have been assured by the redrawing of the Dudley seats into North and South divisions, both of which look like Labour seats. John Gilbert, the long-established MP for Dudley East, will now take North, leaving Ian Pearson with South. There are middle-class wards here, in Kingswinford and Wordsley, but these will be outbalanced by more working-class areas such as Brierley Hill and Netherton/Woodside and St Andrews, the latter two being taken from the former safe Labour Dudley East. Labour seems once again to have done well out of the latest round of boundary changes. 703 1.99 9.03 22 3,725 10.56 11.17 95 5,877 16.66 11.25 148 4,309 12.21 14.70 83 800 2.27 10.45 22 0 0.00 2.81 0 761 2.16 8.01 27 11,612 32.91 15.25 216 4,945 14.02 7.13 197 2,479 7.03 10.17 69