Leeds Central was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. The constituency first existed from 1885 until it was abolished in 1955. It was recreated in 1983.
1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Leeds wards of Mill Hill and West, and parts of the wards of Brunswick and Central.
1918–1950: The County Borough of Leeds wards of Central, Mill Hill, South, and West, and parts of the wards of Brunswick, Headingley, and North West.
1950–1951: The County Borough of Leeds wards of Armley and New Wortley, Blenheim, Central, Holbeck North, Mill Hill, and South and Westfield.
1951–1955: The County Borough of Leeds wards of Blenheim, City, Wellington, and Westfield.[3]
1983–1997: The City of Leeds wards of Beeston, City and Holbeck, Richmond Hill, and University.
1997–2010: As above plus Hunslet.
2010–2024: The City of Leeds wards of Beeston and Holbeck, Burmantofts and Richmond Hill, City and Hunslet, Hyde Park and Woodhouse, and Middleton Park.
The business and retail centre of Leeds was at the consituency's heart. A relatively affluent hub having a large minority of its housing forming by luxury, well-served apartments or streets of grand middle-class Victorian houses, the seat has sporadic deprivation, typified by certain densely packed rows of terraced houses, home to many Labour-inclined and often low-income voters. Two large, well-ranked universities in the city centre, the professional services sector and a 21st-century increase in technology businesses has brought prosperity to the younger generations of the city. The older generations of the city have lived through the closure of many mass consumer product manufacturing and materials processing businesses in Leeds throughout the mid-20th century.[4] Leeds' two universities produce a significant student electorate.[4][5] Middleton in the south of the seat has a golf course, a miniature railway and an upcoming urban mountain bike trail centre within the boundaries.
Households as at March 2011[6]
Status
Number
Not Deprived in Any Dimension
16,201
Deprived in 1 Dimension
21,519
Deprived in 2 Dimensions
13,586
Deprived in 3 Dimensions
5,205
Deprived in 4 Dimensions
697
History
First creation
The constituency was created in 1885 by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, and was first used in the general election of that year *the large Leeds seat had previously been represented by two MPs (1832–1868) and three MPs (1868–1885)). From 1885 it was represented by five single-member constituencies: Leeds Central, Leeds East, Leeds North, Leeds South and Leeds West. The constituencies of Morley, Otley and Pudsey were also created in 1885. The constituency was abolished in 1955. After the 1955 general election: Leeds was represented by Leeds East (created 1885, abolished 1918, recreated 1955), Leeds North East (created 1918), Leeds North West (created 1950), Leeds South (created 1885), and Leeds South East (created 1918). There were also constituencies of Batley and Morley (created 1918) and Pudsey (created 1885, replaced by Pudsey and Otley 1918–1950).
The seat has been won by the Labour Party's candidate since 1983. Benn, elected in 1999 on the demise of Fatchett, has achieved an absolute majority (plurality of votes) in three of five elections for Leeds Central. The 2015 result made the seat the 40-safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority.[7]
Opposition parties
Conservative runner-up, Wilson, in 2015 failed to reflect the positive national swing and fell to 17.3% of the votes cast. A candidature of UKIP, not present in 2010, saw a total share of the vote, hence positive swing, of 15.7% and thus third position.[n 1]. Green Party running, not present in 2010, resulted in a 7.9% polling and fourth-place, its candidate retained his deposit. The fifth-placed Liberal Democrat forfeited her deposit.[n 2].
Turnout
In general elections, turnout ranged from 87.9% in 1910 to 41.7% in 2001. In its 1999 by-election the constituency experienced the lowest voter turnout post-war of 19.6%.[8][9][5]
Members of Parliament
Hilary Benn, Member of Parliament for Leeds Central since 1999
Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;
^The Liberal Democrats's swing nationally was −15.2% in 2015, 1.7% less than in Leeds Central
References
^"Leeds Central Parliamentary constituency". BBC. 12 December 2019. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
^"'Leeds Central', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
^"The House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Order 1951. SI 1951/320". Statutory Instruments 1951. Vol. II. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1952. pp. 410–412.
^ ab"Local statistics – Office for National Statistics". neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk.
^"Labour Members of Parliament 2015". UK Political.info. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018.
^"Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2008. Retrieved 21 March 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^BBC (11 July 2008). "Election Records". BBC News. Retrieved 11 July 2008.
^ abLeigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 1)
^"UK General Election results: June 1983 [Archive]". www.politicsresources.net. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
^"Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
^"Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^"UK > England > Yorkshire & the Humber > Leeds Central". Election 2010. BBC. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
^"Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^"Leeds Central". BBC News. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
^"Leeds Central" (PDF). Leeds City Council. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
^"Leeds Central Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
^"UK General Election results: July 1945 [Archive]". www.politicsresources.net. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
^"UK General Election results: February 1950 [Archive]". www.politicsresources.net. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
^"UK General Election results: October 1951 [Archive]". www.politicsresources.net. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
External links
Leeds Central UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK