Southampton Test James Hill 14,712 28,396 7,171 0 765 Southampton Test 21,843 24,565 7,087 0 537 Labour Southampton in southern Hampshire is one of the most socially and politically typical or average towns in Britain. The western division of Southampton, named Test after the river that flows through it, has long been considered as perhaps the most classic of all marginal seats, changing hands between Labour and Conservative in 1955, 1966, 1970, 1974 and 1979. Almost always it has been won by whichever party has won the election as a whole. It has thus been a 'bellwether' seat, named after the sheep that leads the herd. Now all this has been significantly undermined. The boundary changes are not drastic in appearance, but in effect they tip the balance of Test decisively to Labour. The most Conservative ward in Southampton, Bassett in the leafy far north of the city, has been transferred to the super-safe new Romsey seat, where it will not be needed; and one Labour-inclined ward, St Luke's in the centre of the city, comes in from Southampton's eastern division, Itchen. Between them, these two changes destroy the 585 majority James Hill held in 1992; indeed Labour would have won by nearly 3,000 then. That was not typical of the country as a whole; nor will Test be in 1997.

	1,517	3.71	9.03	41
	2,516	6.15	11.17	55
	4,206	10.28	11.25	91
	5,580	13.64	14.70	93
	8,156	19.94	10.45	191
	0	0.00	2.81	0
	7,021	17.17	8.01	214
	4,557	11.14	15.25	73
	4,200	10.27	7.13	144
	3,144	7.69	10.17	76