Leeds Central (UK Parliament constituency)

"Leeds Central" redirects here. For the former railway station, see Leeds Central railway station.

Leeds Central
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Leeds Central in West Yorkshire.
Location of West Yorkshire within England.
County	West Yorkshire
Electorate	80,912 (December 2010)^[1]
Major settlements	Leeds
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of parliament	Hilary Benn (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Leeds South, Leeds South East, Leeds East, Leeds West and Leeds North East^[2]
1885–1955
Created from	Leeds
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	Yorkshire and the Humber

Leeds Central is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1999 by Hilary Benn of the Labour Party.^{[n 2]}

Boundaries

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.

1950-1955: The County Borough of Leeds wards of Armley and New Wortley, Blenheim, Central, Holbeck North, Mill Hill, and South and Westfield.

1983-1997: The City of Leeds wards of Beeston, City and Holbeck, Richmond Hill, and University.

1997-2010: The City of Leeds wards of Beeston, City and Holbeck, Hunslet, Richmond Hill, and University.

2010-present: The City of Leeds wards of Beeston and Holbeck, Burmantofts and Richmond Hill, City and Hunslet, Hyde Park and Woodhouse, and Middleton Park.

Constituency profile

The business and retail centre of Leeds is at the heart of the constituency. Despite this relatively affluent hub, the seat suffers from sporadic deprivation, typified by certain densely packed rows of terraced houses, home to many Labour-inclined and often low-income voters. Unemployment in the seat is relatively high compared to the national average.^[3] Leeds' two universities produce a significant student electorate.^[3]^[4]

History

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 constituency was re-created for the 1983 general election. After that election, Leeds was represented by Leeds Central, Leeds East, Leeds North East, Leeds North West, Leeds South East and Leeds West. There were also constituencies of Batley and Morley, and Pudsey.

In its 1999 by-election, the constituency experienced the lowest voter turnout post-war of 19.6%.^[5]^[6]^[4]

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885–1955

	Member^[7]	Party
1885	Gerald William Balfour	Conservative
1906	Robert Armitage	Liberal
1922	Arthur Wellesley Willey	Conservative
1923 by-election	Sir Charles Henry Wilson	Conservative
1929	Richard Denman	Labour
1931	Richard Denman	National Labour
1945	George Porter	Labour
1955	constituency abolished

MPs since 1983

Election		Member^[7]	Party
	1983	Derek Fatchett	Labour
	1999 by-election	Hilary Benn	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Leeds Central^[8]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Hilary Benn	24,758	55.0	+5.7
	Conservative	Nicola Wilson	7,791	17.3	-2.9
	UKIP	Luke Senior	7,082	15.7	N/A
	Green	Michael Hayton	3,558	7.9	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Emma Spriggs	1,529	3.4	-17.4
	TUSC	Liz Kitching	330	0.7	+0.7
Majority			16,967	37.7
Turnout			45,048	55.1
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.8

General Election 2010: Leeds Central^[10]^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Hilary Benn	18,434	49.3	−10.2
	Liberal Democrat	Michael Taylor	7,789	20.8	−0.7
	Conservative	Alan Lamb	7,541	20.2	+7.5
	BNP	Kevin Meeson	3,066	8.2	+4.1
	Independent	Dave Procter	409	1.1	N/A
	Independent	We Beat The Scum One-Nil	155	0.4	N/A
Majority			10,645	28.5	−9.5
Turnout			37,394	57.8	+13.5
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.8

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Leeds Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Hilary Benn	17,526	60.0	-6.9
	Liberal Democrat	Ruth Coleman	5,660	19.4	+6.2
	Conservative	Brian Cattell	3,865	13.2	-1.1
	BNP	Mark Collett	1,201	4.1	N/A
	UKIP	Peter Sewards	494	1.7	-1.1
	Independent	Mick Dear	189	0.6	N/A
	Independent	Oluwole Taiwo	126	0.4	N/A
	Alliance for Change	Julian Fitzgerald	125	0.4	N/A
Majority			11,866	40.7
Turnout			29,186	46.4	+4.7
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 2001: Leeds Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Hilary Benn	18,277	66.9	-2.7
	Conservative	Victoria Richmond	3,896	14.3	+0.5
	Liberal Democrat	Stewart Arnold	3,607	13.2	+2.0
	UKIP	David Burgess	775	2.8	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	Stephen Johnston	751	2.8	N/A
Majority			14,381	52.6
Turnout			27,306	41.7	-12.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

Leeds Central by-election, 1999
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Hilary Benn	6,361	48.2	-21.4
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Wild	4,068	30.8	+19.6
	Conservative	Edward Wild	1,618	12.3	-1.4
	Green	David Blackburn	478	3.6	N/A
	UKIP	Raymond Northgreaves	353	2.7	N/A
	Leeds Left Alliance	Chris Hill	258	2.0	N/A
	Independent	Julian Fitzgerald	51	0.4	N/A
Majority			2,293	17.4
Turnout			13,187	19.6
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1997: Leeds Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Derek Fatchett	25,766	69.6
	Conservative	Edward Wild	5,077	13.7
	Liberal Democrat	David Freeman	4,164	11.3
	Referendum	Philip Myers	1,042	2.8	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Michael Rix	656	1.8	N/A
	Socialist Alternative	Chris Hill	304	0.8	N/A
	Independent	Julian Fitzgerald	51	0.4	N/A
Majority			20,689	55.9
Turnout				54.7
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1992: Leeds Central^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Derek Fatchett	23,673	62.2	+6.6
	Conservative	Mrs TC Holdroyd	8,653	22.7	−2.8
	Liberal Democrat	David Pratt	5,713	15.0	−2.9
Majority			15,020	39.5	+9.4
Turnout			38,039	61.3	−3.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.7

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Leeds Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Derek Fatchett	21,270	55.62
	Conservative	David Schofield	9,765	25.53
	Social Democratic	Miss Karen Elizabeth Lee	6,853	17.92
	Communist	William Innis	355	0.93
Majority			11,505	30.08
Turnout			59,019	64.80
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Leeds Central^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Derek Fatchett	18,706	47.93
	Liberal	P. Wrigley	10,484	26.86
	Conservative	M.A. Ashley-Brown	9,181	23.55
	BNP	G. Cummins	331	0.85
	Communist	J.M. Rogers	314	0.8
Majority			8,222	21.07
Turnout			39,030	61.66
	Labour win (new seat)

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1951: Leeds Central^[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	George Porter	23,967	62.35
	Conservative	William Barford	14,475	37.65
Majority			9,492	24.69
Turnout				77.10
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1950: Leeds Central^[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	George Porter	24,030	60.75
	Conservative	William Barford	13,351	33.75
	Liberal	Victor Louis Raymond Delepine	2,176	5.50
Majority			10,679	27.00
Turnout				78.26
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Leeds Central^[16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	George Porter	13,370	57.14
	Conservative	Charles Spencer Denman	8,011	34.24
	Liberal	Basil Mayer Sandelson	2,017	8.62
Majority			5,359	22.90
Turnout				63.43
	Labour gain from National Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1935: Leeds Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	National Labour	Richard Douglas Denman	17,747	56.43
	Labour	Fred William Lindley	13,701	43.57
Majority			4,046	12.87
Turnout				61.44
	National Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1931: Leeds Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	National Labour	Richard Douglas Denman	26,496	71.36
	Labour	Moss Turner-Samuels	10,633	28.64
Majority			15,863	42.72
Turnout				66.20
	National Labour gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1929: Leeds Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Richard Douglas Denman	17,322	44.6
	Unionist	Sir Charles Henry Wilson	15,958	41.0
	Liberal	Myer Jack Landa	5,607	14.4	n/a
Majority			1,364	3.6
Turnout			38,887
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing

General Election 1924: Leeds Central^[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Sir Charles Henry Wilson	16,182	59.6	+3.4
	Labour	Edward John Cecil Neep	10,975	40.4	-3.4
Majority			5,207	19.2	+6.8
Turnout				61.0	+0.9
	Unionist hold		Swing	+3.4

General Election 1923: Leeds Central^[18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Unionist	Sir Charles Henry Wilson	14,853	56.2
	Labour	Henry Herman Slesser	11,574	43.8
Majority			3,279	12.4
Turnout				60.1
	Unionist hold		Swing

Leeds Central by-election, 1923^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Sir Charles Henry Wilson	13,085	47.6	-2.4
	Labour	Henry Herman Slesser	11,359	41.4	+13.6
	Liberal	Gilbert Stone	3,026	11.0	-11.2
Majority			1,726	6.2	-16.0
Turnout				64.3	-1.8
	Unionist hold		Swing	-8.0

General Election 1922 : Leeds Central^[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Arthur Wellesley Willey	14,137	50.0	n/a
	Labour	Henry Herman Slesser	7,844	27.8	n/a
	Liberal	Robert Armitage	6,260	22.2	-48.4
Majority			6,293	22.2
Turnout				66.1	+28.7
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

Robert Armitage

General Election 1918 Leeds Central^[21]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Robert Armitage	11,474	70.6
	NFDDSS	Ernest Terry	2,634	16.2
	Co-operative Party	Joseph Smith	2,146	13.2
Majority			8,840	54.4
Turnout				37.4
	Liberal hold		Swing

denotes candidate who was endorsed by the Coalition Government.

General Election 1914/15:

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;

Liberal: Robert Armitage

General Election December 1910 : Leeds Central^[22]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Robert Armitage	3,519	52.6	-2.6
	Conservative	John Gordon	3,169	47.4	+2.6
Majority			350	5.2	-5.2
Turnout				79.9	-8.0
	Liberal hold		Swing	-2.6

General Election January 1910 : Leeds Central^[23]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Robert Armitage	3,987	54.2
	Conservative	John Gordon	3,366	45.8
Majority			621	8.4
Turnout				87.9
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

R. Armitage

General Election 1906 : Leeds Central^[24]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Robert Armitage	4,188	57.3	+15.0
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Gerald William Balfour	3,119	42.7	-15.0
Majority			1,069	14.6	30.0
Turnout				82.2	+9.0
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+15.0

Notes and references

Notes

↑ A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
↑ As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.

References

↑ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
↑ "'Leeds Central', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
1 2 2001 Census
1 2 The Guardian constituency profile
↑ http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/M16.pdf
↑ BBC (2008-07-11). "Election Records". BBC News. Retrieved 2008-07-11.
1 2 Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 1)
↑ "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.
↑ "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.
↑ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
↑ http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge83/i12.htm
↑ http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge51/i12.htm
↑ http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge50/i12.htm
↑ http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge45/i12.htm
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
↑ Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
↑ British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

Leeds Constituencies

Current	Elmet and Rothwell Leeds Central Leeds East Leeds North East Leeds North West Leeds West Morley and Outwood Pudsey

Historic	Leeds (1832–1885) Leeds North (1885-1955) Leeds South (1885-1983) Pudsey and Otley (1918-1950) Batley and Morley (1918-1983) Leeds South East (1918-1983) Morley and Leeds South (1983-1997) Elmet (1983-2010) Morley and Rothwell (1997-2010)

Constituencies in Yorkshire and the Humber (54)

Labour (33)	Barnsley Central Barnsley East Batley and Spen Bradford East Bradford South Bradford West Dewsbury Don Valley Doncaster Central Doncaster North Great Grimsby Halifax Hemsworth Huddersfield Hull East Hull North Hull West and Hessle Leeds Central Leeds East Leeds North East Leeds West Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford Penistone and Stocksbridge Rother Valley Rotherham Scunthorpe Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough Sheffield Central Sheffield Heeley Sheffield South East Wakefield Wentworth and Dearne York Central

Conservative (19)	Beverley and Holderness Brigg and Goole Calder Valley Cleethorpes Colne Valley East Yorkshire Elmet and Rothwell Haltemprice and Howden Harrogate and Knaresborough Keighley Morley and Outwood Pudsey Richmond (Yorks) Scarborough and Whitby Selby and Ainsty Shipley Skipton and Ripon Thirsk and Malton York Outer

Liberal Democrats (2)	Leeds North West Sheffield Hallam

Yorkshire and the Humber European constituency: Conservative (2) Labour (2) UKIP (2)

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