Leeds Constituencies - Central
The constituency was established in 1885, abolished in 1955 and re-established in 1983.
Being in the centre of the city much of its property is occupied by financial, commercial and legal businesses, and retail outlets. Lying beyond that the property in the latter years of the nineteenth and early years of the twentieth centuries was lower middle class but extensive back-to-back developments saw the area become more populated by working-class occupants. New Commonwealth immigration of Asian and West Indian origin took place in the 1960s.
It was designated an Urban Priority Area and by the 1970s was plagued by high long term unemployment and crime. By the 1990s many of the back-to-backs had been demolished and a considerable number of the remaining properties rented out to cater for the large student population. The constituency is ranked 439th in a list of the largest constituencies in the UK by geographical size, and 9th by population size.

Central in 2015
BOUNDARIES
1885–1918: Mill Hill Ward, West Ward, parts of Brunswick Ward; parts of Central Ward.
1918–1950: Central Ward, Mill Hill Ward, South Ward, and West Ward; parts of Brunswick Ward, Headingley Ward, and North West Ward.
1950–1955: Armley and New Wortley Ward, Blenheim Ward, Central Ward, Holbeck North Ward, Mill Hill Ward, and South Ward and Westfield Ward.
1983–1997: Beeston Ward, City and Holbeck Ward, Richmond Hill Ward, and University Ward.
1997–2010: Beeston Ward, City and Holbeck Ward, Hunslet Ward, Richmond Hill Ward, and University Ward.
2010– : Beeston and Holbeck Ward, Burmantofts and Richmond Hill Ward, City and Hunslet Ward, Hyde Park Ward, Middleton Park, and Woodhouse Ward.
TURNOUT
For elections after 1929 when universal suffrage had been granted
Electorate | Turnout | Turnout | ||
1929 | 57,302 | 38,887 | 68.9% | |
1931 | 56,082 | 37,129 | 66.20% | |
1935 | 51,182 | 31,448 | 61.44% | |
1945 | 36,889 | 23,398 | 63.43% | |
1950 | 50,544 | 39,557 | 78.26% | |
1951 | 49,858 | 38,442 | 77.10% | |
1983 | 63,299 | 39,027 | 61.66% | |
1987 | 59,019 | 38,243 | 64.80% | |
1992 | 62,058 | 38,039 | 61.30% | |
1997 | 68,309 | 37,009 | 54.18% | |
1999 | 67,271 | 13,187 | 19.6% | by-election |
2001 | 65,497 | 27,306 | 41.7% | |
2005 | 63,739 | 29,186 | 45.79% | |
2010 | 81,266 | 37,394 | 46.01% | |
2015 | 81,799 | 45,048 | 55.07% | |
2017 | 89,537 | 47,673 | 53.24% | |
2019 | 90,971 | 49,284 | 54.18% |
HIGHEST NUMBER OF VOTES RECORDED BY A WINNING CANDIDATE
2017 – H. Benn (Labour) 33,453
LOWEST NUMBER OF VOTES RECORDED BY A WINNING CANDIDATE
1923 by-election Sir C. Wilson (Conservative) 1,726
HIGHEST MAJORITY RECORDED BY A WINNING CANDIDATE
2017 – H. Benn (Labour) 23,698
LOWEST MAJORITY RECORDED BY A WINNING CANDIDATE
1886 G. W. Balfour (Conservative) 13
RESULTS
1885 - 25th November
Central
G. W. Balfour (Conservative) 4,589
J. Barran (Liberal) 4,275
1886 - 2nd July
Central
G. W. Balfour (Conservative) 4,225
J. Kitson (Gladstonian Liberal) 4,212
1892 - 7th July
Central
G. W. Balfour (Conservative) 4,448
J. L. Walton (Gladstonian Liberal) 4,335
1895 - 17th July
Central
G. W. Balfour (Conservative) 4,631
L. Jones (Liberal) 3,977
1900 - 4th October
Central
G. W. Balfour (Conservative) 4,144
Sir S. Montagu (Liberal) 3,042
1906 - 15th January
Central
R. Armitage (Liberal) 4,188
G. W. Balfour (Conservative) 3,119
1910 - 17th January
Central
R. Armitage (Liberal) 3,987
J. Gordon (Conservative) 3,366
1910 - 5th December
Central
R. Armitage (Liberal) 3,519
J. Gordon (Conservative) 3,169
Representation of the People Act 1918 – All men over21 and women over 30 enfranchised Redistribution of the Seats Act 1918
1918 - 14th December
Central
R. Armitage (Liberal) 11,474
Capt. E. Terry (Discharged Soldiers and Sailors) 2,634
J. Smith (Co-op) 2,146
1922 - 15th November
Central
A. W. Willey (Conservative) 14,137 *
H. H. Slesser (Labour) 7,844
R. Armitage (Liberal) 6,260
[ * Died 1923. ]
1923 - 26th July - by-election
Central
Sir C. Wilson (Conservative) 13,085
H. H. Slesser (Labour) 11,359
G. Stone (Liberal) 3,026
1923 - 6th December
Central
Sir C. Wilson (Conservative) 14,853
H. H. Slesser (Labour) 11,574
1924 - 29th October
Central
Sir C. Wilson (Conservative) 16,182
J. E. C. Neep (Labour) 10,975
Representation of the People Act 1928 – All women over 21 enfranchised
1929 - 30th May
Central
Hon. R. D. Denman (Labour) 17,322
Sir C. Wilson (Conservative) 15,958
M. J. Landa (Liberal) 5,607
1931 - 27th October
Central
Hon. R. D. Denman (National Labour) 26,496 *
M. Turner-Samuels (Labour) 10,633
[ * National Government candidates. ]
1935 - 14th November
Central
Hon. R. D. Denman (National Labour)17,747 *
F. W. Lindley (Labour) 13,701
[ * National Government candidates]
1940 [No general election from 1939–1945. Coalition in power during the war.]
1945 - 5th July (main polling day), plus 12th, 19th July. Main result declared 26th July
Central
G. Porter (Labour) 13,370
C. S. Denham (Conservative) 8,011
B. Sandelson (Liberal) 2,017
Representation of the People Act 1948 – Abolished plural voting and university seats
Boundary Reorganisation
1950 - 23th February
Central
G. Porter (Labour) 24,030
W. Barford (Conservative) 13,351
V. L. R. Delpine (Liberal) 2,176
1951 - 25th October
Central
G. Porter (Labour) 23,967
W. Barford (Conservative) 14,475
Boundary Commission 1983
1983 - 9th June
Central
D. Fatchett (Labour) 18,706
P. Wrigley (Social Democratic/Liberal Alliance) 10,484
M. Ashley-Brown (Conservative) 9,192
G. Cummins (British National) 331
J. M. Rodgers (Communist) 314
1987 - 11th June
Central
D. Fatchett (Labour) 21,270
D. Schofield (Conservative) 9,765
K. Lee (Social Democratic/Liberal Alliance) 6,853
W. Innis (Communist) 355
1992 - 8th April
Central
D. Fatchett (Labour) 23,673
T. C. Holdroyd (Conservative) 8,653
D. Pratt (Liberal Democrat) 5,713
Boundary Commission 1995
1997 - 1st May
Central
D. Fatchett (Labour) 25,766 *
W. Wild (Conservative) 5,077
D. Freeman (Liberal Democrat) 4,164
P. Myers (Referendum) 1,042
M. Rix (Socialist Labour ) 656
C. Hill (Socialist) 304
[ * Died 1999 ]
1999 - 10th June - by-election
Central
H. Benn (Labour) 6,361
P. Wild (Liberal Democrat) 4,068
E. Wild (Conservative) 1,618
D. Blackburn (Green) 478
R. Northgreaves (United Kingdom Independence) 353
C. Hill (Left Alliance) 258
J. Fitzgerald (Parents) 51
[ With a turnout of 19.6% this was the lowest ever recorded to that date in a British Parliamentary election since 1945.]
2001 - 7th June
Central
H. Benn (Labour) 18,277
V. Richmond (Conservative) 3,896
S. Arnold (Liberal Democrat) 3,607
B. Burgess (United Kingdom Independence) 775
S. Johnson (Socialist Alliance) 751
2005 - 5th May
Central
H. Benn (Labour) 17,526
C. R. Coleman (Liberal Democrat) 5,660
B. A. Cattell (Conservative) 3,865
M. A. Collett (British National) 1,201
P. Sewards (United Kingdom Independence) 494
M. Dear (Independent) 189
O. Taiwo (Independent) 126
J. Fitzgerald (Glasnost) 125
[The largest number of candidates to contest a Leeds Parliamentary election.]
Boundary Commission 2010
2010 - 6th May
Central
H. Benn (Labour) 18,434
M. Taylor (Liberal Democrat) 7,789
A. J. Lamb (Conservative) 7,541
K. Meeson (British National) 3,066
D. Procter (Independent) 409
W. One-Nil (Independent) 155
2015 - 7th May
Central
H. Benn (Labour) 24,758
N. Wilson (Conservative) 7,791
L. Senior (United Kingdom Independence) 7,082
M. Hayton (Green) 3,558
E. Sprigg (Liberal Democrat) 1,529
L.Kitchen (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition) 330
2017 - 8th June
Central
H. Benn (Labour) 33,453
G. Davies (Conservative) 9,755
B. Palfreman (United Kingdom Independence) 2,056
E. Carlisle (Green ) 1,189
A. Nash (Liberal Democrat) 1,063
A. Coetzee (Christian People’s Alliance) 157
2019 - 12th December
Central
H. Benn (Labour) 30,413
P. Fortune (Conservative) 11,143
P.Thomas (Brexit) 2,999
J. Holland (Liberal Democrat) 2,343
E. Carlisle (Green) 2,105
W. Clouston (Social Democrat) 281