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
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