by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

for the

United Kingdom parliamentary constituency The Parliament of the United Kingdom currently has 650 parliamentary constituencies across the constituent countries (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), each electing a single member of parliament (MP) to the House of Commons by th ...

Birmingham Erdington Birmingham Erdington is a parliamentary constituency in Birmingham, England, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom since 2022 by Paulette Hamilton of the Labour Party. Members of Parliament MPs 1918� ...

was held on 3 March 2022. It was triggered by the death of the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP)

Jack Dromey John Eugene Joseph Dromey (29 September 1948 – 7 January 2022) was a British politician and trade unionist who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Erdington from 2010 until his death. A member of the Labour Party, he was depu ...

on 7 January. The winner was

Paulette Hamilton Paulette Adassa Hamilton (born ) is a British Labour politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Erdington since 2022. She is the first black MP to represent a constituency in Birmingham. Hamilton was also a councillor ...

, standing for Labour, who got 55.5% of the votes in a turnout of 27% of the electorate.

Background and voter registration

Labour has held Birmingham Erdington since the seat was re-established in 1974. Dromey had been the MP for the constituency since

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, being re-elected in 2015, 2017 and 2019. He died suddenly in his Birmingham flat on the Friday morning of 7 January 2022, according to a family statement. He had spoken in a House of Commons afternoon debate on the UK resettlement scheme for

Afghan refugees Afghan refugees are citizens of Afghanistan who were compelled to abandon their country as a result of major wars, persecution, torture or genocide. The 1978 Saur Revolution followed by the 1979 Soviet invasion marked the first wave of inter ...

the day before. The writ was issued on 31 January. The deadline to register to vote was 00:00

GMT Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a cons ...

on 15 February, with applications for postal votes due by 17:00 GMT on 16 February.

Candidates

The Labour Party candidate was Paulette Hamilton, who is

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local council area in the United Kingdom (e ...

's cabinet member for Health and Social Care. She was selected in a virtual

husting A husting originally referred to a native Germanic governing assembly, the thing. By metonymy, the term may now refer to any event (such as debates or speeches) during an election campaign where one or more of the candidates are present. Deve ...

s against Ashley Bertie, the former West Midlands deputy police and crime commissioner, receiving 82 votes to Bertie's 32. The

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

selected Robert Alden, who had contested the seat in the previous four general elections.

Reform UK Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was briefly a significant po ...

(formerly the Brexit Party) selected Birmingham postman Jack Brookes. The Liberal Democrats selected Lee Dargue, who works in the rail sector, occupational health and safety and environmental management. The

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

selected local businesswoman Siobhan Harper-Nunes as its candidate. Michael Lutwyche stood as an independent. Lutwyche is a Justice-4-the-21 campaigner, supporting the victims of the

Birmingham pub bombings The Birmingham pub bombings were carried out on 21 November 1974, when bombs exploded in two public houses in Birmingham, England, killing 21 people and injuring 182 others. The Provisional Irish Republican Army never officially admitted respo ...

Dave Nellist David John Nellist (born 16 July 1952) is a British Trotskyist activist who was the MP for the constituency of Coventry South East from 1983 to 1992. Elected as a Labour MP, his support for the Militant tendency led to his eventual expulsion f ...

stood for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC). He was the Labour MP for Coventry South East from 1983 to 1992. Nellist received support from the Breakthrough Party, the

Northern Independence Party The Northern Independence Party (NIP) is a minor secessionist and democratic socialist political party that seeks to make Northern England an independent nation, under the name of Northumbria. Founded in October 2020 by lecturer and former Labour ...

and Left Unity, who joined the TUSC on 20 January 2022 in the PAL - People's Alliance of the Left. David Bishop was a satirical candidate. He said he was standing for serious policies, such as scrapping

HS2 High Speed 2 (HS2) is a planned high-speed railway line in England, the first phase of which is under construction in stages and due for completion between 2029 and 2033, depending on approval for later stages. The new line will run from its m ...

and saving public lavatories, as well as less serious ones, like legalising brothels with a 20% discount for pensioners.

Campaign

Near the end of the campaign, remarks made by Paulette Hamilton in 2015 were uncovered by

GB News GB News is a British free-to-air television and radio news channel. The channel is available on Freeview, Freesat, Sky, YouView, Virgin Media and via the internet. Since 4 January 2022, an audio simulcast of the station is available on DAB+ ...

where she suggested she was torn between a democratic vote and an uprising to enable black people to get what "we really deserve in this country". The comments led to calls from some Conservative MPs for her to be suspended by the Labour Party, who responded saying the remarks were taken out of context.

Results

Previous result

References

External links

Elections and voting
Birmingham City Council website (birmingham.gov.uk). {{DEFAULTSORT:Birmingham Erdington by-election 2022 elections in the United Kingdom

Erdington Erdington is a suburb and ward of Birmingham in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Warwickshire and located northeast of central Birmingham, bordering Sutton Coldfield. It was also a council constituency, managed by its o ...

2022 Birmingham Erdington March 2022 events in the United Kingdom