Brent Central is a

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger State (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...

represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

of the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremac ...

. It is currently represented, since 2015, by

Dawn Butler Dawn Petula Butler (born 3 November 1969) is a British Labour Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Brent Central since 2015. Butler was elected as the MP for Brent South at the 2005 general election. She served in ...

of the Labour Party.

History

The seat was created in the London review of seats of the Boundary Commission before the 2010 general election from parts of predecessors Brent East, Brent South and

Brent North Brent North is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by Barry Gardiner of the Labour Party. History Created in 1974 from the former seats of Wembley North and Wembley South, Brent North was a Co ...

– the first two of which no longer exist.

Sarah Teather Sarah Louise Teather (born 1 June 1974) is the Director of Jesuit Refugee Service UK and a former British Member of Parliament and Minister. As a Liberal Democrat politician, she founded the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Guantanamo Bay and ...

was the constituency's first MP until 2015, when she stood down; she had previously represented the old Brent East constituency since a 2003 by-election.

, previously Labour MP for Brent South lost to Teather in 2010 and gained the seat in 2015 with a majority of over 40% over the Conservative candidate, whilst the Liberal Democrat share of the vote fell by 35.8%, the sharpest fall in the party's vote share in that election.

Constituency profile

The Brent Central constituency forms the central portion of the

London Borough of Brent The London Borough of Brent () is a London boroughs, London borough in north-west London. It borders the boroughs of London Borough of Harrow, Harrow to the north-west, London Borough of Barnet, Barnet to the north-east, London Borough of Camden ...

. Since the early 1990s the

Conservative party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

has had a small minority of councillors but been without wards in the constituency; a plurality of the voters in each ward have been in favour of the Labour Party and/or the Liberal Democrats. It is mostly in the postal district of NW10, but also partly falls under NW2, NW9 and HA9.

Districts and ethnicity

Kensal Green Kensal Green is an area in north-west London. It lies mainly in the London Borough of Brent, with a small part to the south within Kensington and Chelsea. Kensal Green is located on the Harrow Road, about miles from Charing Cross. To the w ...

lies at the southeast of the constituency, neighbouring Stonebridge and

Harlesden Harlesden is a district in the London Borough of Brent, North West London. Located north of the Grand Union Canal and Wormwood Scrubs, the Harrow Road flows through the centre of the area which goes eastwards to Central London and west towards ...

, which have a high concentration of Black residents and severe deprivation. The southwest corner is dominated by the

Park Royal Park Royal is an area in North West London, England, partly in the London Borough of Brent and partly the London Borough of Ealing. It is the site of the largest business park in London, but despite intensive existing use, the area is, toget ...

industrial estate, the largest in Europe. To the west is the 21st century-built

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

; the north takes in

Dollis Hill Dollis Hill is an area in northwest London, which consists of the streets surrounding the 35 hectares (86 acres) Gladstone Park. It is served by a London Underground station, Dollis Hill, on the Jubilee line, providing good links to central Lon ...

including part of the

Welsh Harp Reservoir The Brent Reservoir (popularly called the Welsh Harp) is a reservoir in North West London. It straddles the boundary between the boroughs of Brent and Barnet and is owned by the Canal & River Trust. The reservoir takes its informal name from a p ...

. Other than Harlesden and Stonebridge, pockets prominent in the Index of Multiple Deprivation are in smallest areas (Output Areas of censuses) within

Willesden Green Willesden () is an area of northwest London, situated 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Charing Cross. It is historically a parish in the county of Middlesex that was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Willesden in 1933, and has formed p ...

and

Neasden Neasden is a suburban area in northwest London, England. It is located around the centre of the London Borough of Brent and is within the NW2 ( Cricklewood) and NW10 (Willesden) postal districts. Neasden is near Wembley Stadium, the Welsh Har ...

, which has Britain's largest Hindu temple. Although there is a mixed income established Asian minority, the proportion of the borough's residents who describe themselves as being of Asian ethnicity is the fourth-highest in London, the highest proportion of Asian backgrounds being the

London Borough of Newham The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the s ...

. The proportion of

social housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

and rented housing is close to the average of

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

; this increased by 66% in the ten years to 2011 to 30%.

Boundaries

Brent Central is made up of nine electoral wards from the

: *

, Dudden Hill,

Mapesbury Mapesbury is a residential area of northwest London, England. It forms one of twenty-one Wards of the United Kingdom, electoral wards of the London Borough of Brent. Geography The ward covers parts of the Kilburn, London, Kilburn and Cricklewoo ...

, Stonebridge,

Tokyngton Tokyngton, also locally known as Monks Park, is a locality that forms the southeastern part of the town of Wembley in Greater London, in the London Borough of Brent, England. Most refer it as being either Wembley or Stonebridge, as the name ''T ...

, Welsh Harp,

Willesden Willesden () is an area of northwest London, situated 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Charing Cross. It is historically a parish in the county of Middlesex that was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Willesden in 1933, and has formed ...

Green

Boundary review

Following its review of parliamentary representation in

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nort ...

, the

Boundary Commission for England The boundary commissions in the United Kingdom are non-departmental public bodies responsible for determining the boundaries of constituencies for elections to the House of Commons. There are four boundary commissions: * Boundary Commission for E ...

reduced Brent and Camden's constituencies from five to four. To create the new Brent Central constituency, Dollis Hill ward, Dudden Hill ward, Mapesbury ward, and parts of Welsh Harp ward, Willesden Green ward, Kensal Green ward, and Stonebridge ward were taken from the former Brent East constituency; Harlesden ward, and parts of Stonebridge ward, Willesden Green ward, Kensal Green ward, Tokyngton ward, and Welsh Harp ward were taken from the former Brent South constituency; and part of Welsh Harp ward was taken from the reconstituted

constituency.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

:* ''Served as MP for Brent East in the 2005–2010 Parliament'' :** ''Served as MP for Brent South in the 2005–2010 Parliament''

References

External links

nomis Constituency Profile for Brent Central
— presenting data from the ONS annual population survey and other official statistics.

(Election results from 1922 onwards)

(Election results from 1955 onwards) {{DEFAULTSORT:Brent Central (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in London Politics of the London Borough of Brent Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 2010