Leicester East (UK Parliament constituency)

Leicester East
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons

Outline map

Boundary of Leicester East in Leicestershire.

Outline map

Location of Leicestershire within England.
County Leicestershire
Electorate 74,377 (December 2010)[1]
Current constituency
Created 1974
Member of parliament Keith Vaz (Labour)
Number of members One
Created from Leicester South East
Leicester North East
1918–1950
Number of members One
Replaced by Leicester South East
Leicester North East
Created from Leicester
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency East Midlands

Leicester East is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1987 by Keith Vaz of the Labour Party and Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee.[n 2]

Boundaries

The seat covers the eastern part of the City of Leicester and has electoral wards:

From 1983 to 2010 it had electoral wards:

Constituency profile

An urban seat in the commercial and engineering centre of Leicester. Leicester East has one of the highest Asian populations of any British constituency. In the 2001 census two-thirds of the population were non-white and 58% of people described themselves as Asian. Almost a third of the population here are Hindu, although there are also significant Muslim and Sikh minorities.

Leicester East is generally a safe Labour seat. It was briefly and narrowly held by the trenchant Conservative MP turned lay Canon Peter Bruinvels at the height of the Tory party`s popularity in 1983 but was regained by Labour in 1987 and has become increasingly safe since then.

History

The seat was created in 1918 lasted until 1950 when it was divided by two larger new seats (NE/SE), which also covered part of the present Charnwood seat and Rutland and Melton. For the four years from 1918 it was served by Hewart KC, who was knighted at the time and two years after serving became one of the most senior judges, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. In 1974 the seat was recreated and covers part of Leicester city centre and its relatively compact eastern suburbs compared to the remainder of the county.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1918–1950

YearMember[2]Party
1918 Sir Gordon Hewart Liberal
1922 by-election George Banton Labour
1922 Henry Arthur Evans National Liberal
1923 George Banton Labour
1924 John Loder Conservative
1929 Edward Frank Wise Labour
1931 Abraham Montagu Lyons Conservative
1945 Terence Norbert Donovan Labour
1950 constituency abolished

MPs since 1974

YearMember[2]Party
Feb 1974 Tom Bradley Labour
1981 Social Democrat
1983 Peter Bruinvels Conservative
1987 Keith Vaz Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Leicester East[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
TUSC Michael Barker
Independent Tom Darwood
Conservative Kishan Devani
Green Nimit Jethwa [4]
Liberal Democrat Dave Raval
UKIP Susanna Steptoe[5]
Labour Keith Vaz
General Election 2010: Leicester East[6][7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Keith Vaz 25,804 53.8 −5.0
Conservative Jane Hunt 11,722 24.4 +4.6
Liberal Democrat Ali Asghar 6,817 14.2 −2.3
BNP Colin Gilmore[8] 1,700 3.5 N/A
Green Mo Taylor[9] 733 1.5 N/A
UKIP Felicity Ransome 725 1.5 N/A
Unity for Peace and Socialism Avtar Sadiq 494 1.0 N/A
Majority 14,082 29.3
Turnout 47,995 65.8 +3.9
Labour hold Swing −4.8

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Leicester East
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Keith Vaz 24,015 58.1 +0.5
Conservative Suella Fernandes 8,139 19.7 −4.8
Liberal Democrat Susan Cooper 7,052 17.1 +4.8
Veritas Colin Brown 1,666 4.0 N/A
Socialist Labour Valerie Smalley 434 1.1 −1.0
Majority 15,876 38.4
Turnout 41,306 62.2 +0.1
Labour hold Swing +2.6

In 2005 this seat bucked the national trend as there was a swing to Labour whereas the national swing was 2.5% to the Conservatives.

General Election 2001: Leicester East
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Keith Vaz 23,402 57.6 −7.9
Conservative John Vincent Mugglestone 9,960 24.5 +0.5
Liberal Democrat Harpinder Athwal 4,989 12.3 +5.3
Socialist Labour David Paul Roberts 837 2.1 +1.1
BNP Clive Potter 772 1.9 N/A
Independent Shirley Bennett 701 1.7 +1.5
Majority 13,442 33.1
Turnout 40,661 62.1 −7.1
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Leicester East
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Keith Vaz 29,083 65.50
Conservative Simon Milton 10,661 24.01
Liberal Democrat J Matabudul 3,105 6.99
Referendum Party P Iwaniw 1,015 2.29
Socialist Labour Sohan Singh Sidhu 436 0.98
Independent Neil Slack 102 0.23
Majority 18,422 41.49
Turnout 69.11
Labour hold Swing +9.4
General Election 1992: Leicester East[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Keith Vaz 28,123 56.3 +10.2
Conservative Jeffery C. Stevens 16,807 33.7 −8.8
Liberal Democrat Mrs Sheila A. Mitchell 4,043 8.1 −3.3
Green Murray R. Frankland 453 0.9 +0.9
Independent Dennis J. Taylor 308 0.6 +0.6
Natural Law Miss ASK Mahaldar 186 0.4 +0.4
Majority 11,316 22.7 +19.0
Turnout 49,920 78.7 +0.1
Labour hold Swing +9.5

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Leicester East
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Keith Vaz 24,074 46.16
Conservative Peter Bruinvels 22,150 42.47
Social Democratic Aileen Marina Ayres 5,935 11.38
Majority 1,924 3.69
Turnout 78.59
Labour gain from Conservative Swing
General Election 1983: Leicester East
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Peter Bruinvels 19,117 38.94
Labour Patricia Hewitt 18,184 37.04
Social Democratic Tom Bradley 10,362 21.11
Independent RV Ganatra 970 1.98
BNP RL Sutton 459 0.93
Majority 933 1.90
Turnout 73.19
Conservative gain from Labour Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Leicester East
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Tom Bradley 23,844 46.90
Conservative M Waterhouse 20,988 41.28
Liberal B Andrews 4,623 9.09
National Front BJ Calver 1,385 2.72
Majority 2,856 5.62
Turnout 75.58
Labour hold Swing
General Election October 1974: Leicester East
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Tom Bradley 20,688 44.78
Conservative KG Reeves 16,877 36.53
Liberal W Capstick 5,668 12.27
National Front A Reed-Herbert 2,967 6.42
Majority 3,811 8.25
Turnout 72.30
Labour hold Swing
General Election February 1974: Leicester East[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Tom Bradley 23,474 47.7 N/A
Conservative K.G. Reeves 22,061 44.8 N/A
National Front K. Sanders 3,662 7.5 N/A
Majority 1,413 2.9 N/A
Turnout 49,199 77.8 N/A
Labour win (new seat)

Elections 1931-45

General Election 1945: Leicester East
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Terence Norbert Donovan 28,414 56.94
Conservative Abraham Montagu Lyons 15,182 30.42
Liberal David Goodwillie Galloway 6,306 12.64
Majority 13,232 26.52
Turnout 76.05
Labour gain from Conservative Swing
General Election 1935: Leicester East
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Abraham Montagu Lyons 20,442 49.28
Labour F Gould 17,532 42.62
Liberal F Lawson 3,509 8.46
Majority 2,910 7.01
Turnout 70.18
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1931: Leicester East
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Abraham Montagu Lyons 30,265 68.67
Labour Edward Frank Wise 13,811 31.33
Majority 16,454 37.33
Turnout 79.10
Conservative gain from Labour Swing

See also

Notes and references

Notes
  1. ↑ A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
  2. ↑ 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
  1. ↑ "Electorate Figures – Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 2)
  3. ↑ http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/2015guide/leicestereast/
  4. ↑ https://my.greenparty.org.uk/candidates/106036
  5. ↑ http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/2015guide/leicestereast/
  6. ↑ http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/guide/seat-profiles/leicestereast
  7. ↑ General Election Results from the Electoral Commission
  8. ↑ http://bnp.org.uk/2010/03/full-slate-in-leicestershire-as-bnp-candidate-nominated-in-leicester-east/
  9. ↑ http://www.greensarecoming.org.uk/MoTaylor
  10. ↑ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
  11. ↑ http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge74a/i13.htm

Coordinates: 52°38′N 1°05′W / 52.64°N 1.08°W