winning it at the 1997 election; he remained the constituencies MP until the 2005 general election, when it was retained by his successor Ian Austin. In 2010, Austin held onto his seat with 38.7% of the vote, a narrow 1.7% ahead of Conservative candidate Graeme Brown, at the first general election in 36 years which resulted in a hung parliament. Despite increasing his majority to 11% at the 2015 election (4,181 votes), in 2017 – after two recounts – it was reduced to a mere 22 votes, the fourth smallest majority at that election, and was the Labour seat that was closest to being taken by the Conservatives that election. (Walsall North, a closely neighbouring constituency was indeed gained by the Conservatives.) In 2019, the Conservatives gained the seat for the first time, with their candidate Marco Longhi winning a majority of more than 11,000 votes. The Conservative vote share increased by 16.6% in the seat, which was the party's fifth-largest increase at the election. Elections Elections in the 2010s The original Conservative candidate for the 2015 election Afzal Amin was suspended after allegations he persuaded the English Defence League to announce a march against a mosque in the constituency Elections in the 2000s Elections in the 1990s See also List of parliamentary constituencies in the West Midlands (county) List of parliamentary constituencies in Dudley Notes References Politics of Dudley Parliamentary constituencies in the West Midlands (county) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1997 1997 establishments in England