Leicester West 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 ...

since 2010 by

Liz Kendall Elizabeth Louise Kendall (born 11 June 1971) is a British Labour Party politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester West since 2010. Kendall was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, where she read history. From 2011 to 2 ...

of the Labour Party. Along with the other two Leicester seats, it was held by Labour at the 2017 general election. Since its creation in 1918 the seat has sided with parties from the

left wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

of politics.

Boundaries

1918–1950: The County Borough of Leicester wards of Abbey, Newton, St Margaret's, Westcotes, and Wyggeston. 1974–1983: The County Borough of Leicester wards of Abbey, Newton, North Braunstone, St Margaret's, and Westcotes. 1983–2010: The City of Leicester wards of Abbey, Beaumont Leys, Mowmacre, New Parks, North Braunstone, Rowley Fields, St Augustine's, Westcotes, and Western Park. 2010–present: The City of Leicester wards of Abbey, Beaumont Leys, Braunstone Park and Rowley Fields, Fosse, New Parks, Westcotes, and Western Park.

Constituency profile

Leicester West is the whitest of the three Leicester constituencies, and the one with the highest 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 ...

. Some areas of the seat, such as Braunstone and

Beaumont Leys Beaumont Leys is a suburb and electoral ward in north-western Leicester, in the Leicester district, in the ceremonial county of Leicestershire, England. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 16,480. Locally, Beaumont Leys is usual ...

, are made up of large local authority estates, and around 30% of the housing is council- or housing association-owned, the second-highest in the Midlands. The centre of the seat, the

Westcotes Westcotes is an area to the west of the city of Leicester. It is also a ward of the City of Leicester whose population at the 2011 census was 11,644. It is also known as the West End of Leicester. The area is quite small in comparison with other ...

area, is more inner-city in character and is popular with young professionals and students. Historically this used to be the safest Labour seat in Leicester—in the 1983 general election it was the only one to remain in Labour hands. However, the high Asian populations in

Leicester South Leicester South is a constituency, recreated in 1974, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2011 by Jonathan Ashworth of the Labour Co-op Party (which denotes he is a member of the Labour Party and Co-operative Part ...

and

Leicester East Leicester East is a United Kingdom constituencies, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament since December 2019 by Claudia Webbe, who was ele ...

have pushed them away from 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 ...

; while Leicester West is still a safe Labour seat, represented by that party since the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, it is the most marginal of the three Leicester seats. While it did, like the other two Leicester seats, see a significant swing to Labour in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, unlike the other two seats

's majority was not a record high for the constituency. As of 2009, in the depths of the

late-2000s recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At t ...

, the constituency had the fourth-highest level of unemployment in Britain, with 13.8% of residents registered unemployed. Most of the unemployment is concentrated in areas such as Braunstone, which is traditionally one of the most deprived parts of the city.

History

In 1950, the seat was replaced by the constituencies of Leicester North West and

Leicester South West Leicester South West was a borough constituency in the city of Leicester. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legi ...

, until 1974. In that period, Leicester North West was represented by

Barnett Janner Barnett Janner, Baron Janner (20 June 1892 – 4 May 1982) was a British politician who was elected as a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) and later as a Labour MP. Early life Janner was born to a Litvak family in Luokė in the Kovno Gove ...

until 1970, and then by his son

Greville Janner Greville Ewan Janner, Baron Janner of Braunstone, (11 July 1928 – 19 December 2015) was a British politician, barrister and writer. He became a Labour Party Member of Parliament for Leicester in the 1970 general election as a last-minute ...

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Election in the 1940s

Elections in the 1930s

Elections in the 1920s

Election in the 1910s

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leicester West (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in Leicestershire Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1918 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1950 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1974 Politics of Leicester