Editing Kidderminster (section)

==Politics==
{{Update|section|date=January 2022}}
Kidderminster Town is a [[civil parish]] within [[Wyre Forest District]], with Kidderminster Town Council created in the early 21st century to take on the duties of a [[Parish councils in England|parish council]], following a referendum in May 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wyreforestdc.gov.uk/the-council/creating-kidderminster-town-council.aspx |title=Creating Kidderminster Town Council |publisher=Wyreforestdc.gov.uk |access-date=27 August 2017}}</ref> Prior to this, [[Charter Trustees]] maintained the traditions of the town and elected a Mayor. At the [[2019 Wyre Forest District Council election|2019 local elections]] to Wyre Forest District Council, the [[Conservatives (UK)|Conservatives]] lost their majority and the council was taken over by a 'Progressive Alliance' formed of independents and councillors from other parties. However, in May 2022 [[Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern|Health Concern]] announced they would not be standing at the next election, instead favouring a unified independent offering. At the [[2023 Wyre Forest District Council election|following election in 2023]] the [[Conservatives (UK)|Conservatives]] regained majority control after a collapse in the independent and former Health Concern vote, one of only two council gains nationally.

The area (initially as [[Kidderminster (UK Parliament constituency)|Kidderminster]], then after 1983 as the [[Wyre Forest (UK Parliament constituency)|Wyre Forest constituency]]) has been represented by [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Members of Parliament]] (MPs) [[Gerald Nabarro]] 1950–1964, [[Tatton Brinton]] 1964–1974, [[Esmond Bulmer]] 1974–1987, [[Anthony Coombs (politician)|Anthony Coombs]] 1987–1997, and [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|MP]] [[David Lock]] 1997–2001. In the [[2001 United Kingdom general election]], the town returned Dr [[Richard Taylor (British politician)|Richard Taylor]] as an independent [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|MP]] for the Wyre Forest parliamentary constituency. Taylor had fought the election to protest against the proposed reduction in services at [[Kidderminster Hospital]]. He held his seat at the [[2005 United Kingdom general election|2005 election]], the first independent MP to do so since 1949.<ref>{{cite news
  | title = Taylor in contention to be new Speaker
  | last = Blanchard
  | first = Jack
  | newspaper = [[Worcester News]]
  | date = 19 May 2009
| url = http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/4380738.Taylor_in_contention_to_be_new_Speaker
  | access-date = 26 January 2010}}
</ref> [[Mark Garnier]] has held the seat of [[Wyre Forest (UK Parliament constituency)|Wyre Forest]] since the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010 election]] increasing his majority each time until the 2024 general election, which saw a Conservative majority of just 812 votes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/election2010/results/constituency/f34.stm|title=BBC News {{!}} Election 2010 {{!}} Constituency {{!}} Wyre Forest|website=news.bbc.co.uk|access-date=17 January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/politics/constituencies/E14001058|title=Wyre Forest parliamentary constituency – Election 2019|access-date=17 January 2020|language=en-GB}}</ref>