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Leicester East
Leicester East
Racial makeup (2021)
• Asian	68.6%
• White	20.3%
• Other	4.1%
• Black	4.1%
• Mixed	2.9%

Leicester East
Leicester East
Borough constituency; for the House of Commons
	Interactive map of boundaries since 2024
	Boundary within the East Midlands
County	Leicestershire
Electorate	76,465 (2023)
Current constituency
Created	1974
Member of Parliament	Shivani Raja (Conservative)
Seats	One
Created from	Leicester South East; Leicester North East
1918–1950
Seats	One
Created from	Leicester
Replaced by	Leicester South East; Leicester North East

Leicester East is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since July 2024 by Shivani Raja of the Conservative Party.

Constituency profile

This is an urban constituency, much of which is densely developed as housing, retail or industry. The seat does not include central Leicester, skirting its ring road, but is served by buses and cycle routes into Leicester City Centre, which is within normal walking distance of the division's south-west quarter. The boundaries include a golf course situated in the south-east and a large municipal garden in the north-west.

Leicester East has an extremely high South Asian population. Almost a third of the population is Hindu, and the majority of the others of Asian ethnicity are of Muslim or Sikh faiths. Those of mixed ethnicities are gradually increasing – to 3.1% of the population in 2011.

History

First creation

The seat was created in 1918 and for the next four years was served by Sir Gordon Hewart KC, who resigned to become Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. In 1950 the area was divided between Leicester North East and Leicester South East.

Second (current) creation

The constituency was re-created in 1974.

Summary of results

Leicester East has been won by the Labour Party's candidate in 12 of the 14 elections since it was re-created. Its MP from 1987 to 2019, Keith Vaz, won an absolute majority of votes from the 1992 general election onward. It had been narrowly won by Conservative Party candidate Peter Bruinvels (a lay canon) at the height of his party's popularity in 1983. The following election saw Vaz regain the seat for Labour; he held it at every election thereafter, from 1997 onward always winning by margins of over 29% and 13,000 votes, until he stood down at the 2019 general election. The result in 2015 made the constituency the 37th-safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage majority.^[3] Vaz won his highest majority, 22,428 votes (42.8%), in 2017. In 2019 Labour held the seat with a substantially reduced majority of 6,019, down from 22,428 – a swing of 15%.

The constituency was the sole gain by the Conservatives at the 2024 general election, when Shivani Raja was elected with 31.1% of the vote. The presence of two former Labour MPs (Vaz and Claudia Webbe) on the ballot, both standing as independent candidates, split the Labour vote; the new Labour candidate saw his party's vote share fall by 29.3%.^[4]

Opposition parties

The Conservative Party candidate has been runner-up in every election save for Bruinvels' win in 1983 and Raja's victory in 2024. The candidate of UKIP took third place in 2015, for the first time; her 2010 counterpart had won 1.5% of the vote, the party not having previously stood in the constituency. The pro-UKIP swing between the 2010 and 2015 elections, of 7.4%, was less than the national average of 9.5%. Susan Cooper was 1.8% away from second place in 2005, giving the best result of a Liberal Democrat to date, attracting just under a fifth of the vote.

Turnout

Turnout in the recreated seat has ranged between 78.7% in 1992 and 62.1% in 2001.

Boundaries

1918–1950: The County Borough of Leicester wards of Belgrave, Latimer, Spinney Hill, and West Humberstone.

1974–1983: The County Borough of Leicester wards of Belgrave, Charnwood, Evington, Humberstone, and Latimer.

1983–2010: The City of Leicester wards of Belgrave, Charnwood, Coleman, Evington, Humberstone, Latimer, Rushey Mead, Thurncourt, and West Humberstone.

2010–2024: The City of Leicester wards of Belgrave, Charnwood, Coleman, Evington, Humberstone & Hamilton, Latimer, Rushey Mead, and Thurncourt.

2024–present: As above, with polling district EVF in Evington ward transferred out to Leicester South.^[5]

Members of Parliament

MPs 1918–1950

Leicester prior to 1918

	Member^[6]	Party
1918	Sir Gordon Hewart	Liberal Party
1922 by-election	George Banton	Labour
1922	Arthur Evans	National Liberal
1923	George Banton	Labour
1924	John Loder	Conservative
1929	Frank Wise	Labour
1931	Abraham Lyons	Conservative
1945	Terence Donovan	Labour
1950	constituency abolished

MPs since 1974

Leicester South East and Leicester North East prior to 1974

	Member	Party
Feb 1974	Tom Bradley	Labour
1981	Tom Bradley	SDP
1983	Peter Bruinvels	Conservative
1987	Keith Vaz	Labour
1992
1997
2001
2005
2010
2015
2017
2019	Claudia Webbe	Labour
2020	Claudia Webbe	Independent
2024	Shivani Raja	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Leicester East^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Shivani Raja	14,526	31.1	–7.4
	Labour	Rajesh Agrawal	10,100	21.6	–29.3
	Liberal Democrats	Zuffar Haq	6,329	13.5	+7.9
	Independent^{[n 2]}	Claudia Webbe^[8]	5,532	11.8	N/A
	One Leicester	Keith Vaz^[9]	3,681	7.9	N/A
	Reform UK	Raj Solanki	2,611	5.6	+3.1
	Green	Mags Lewis	2,143	4.6	+2.8
	Independent	Malihah Adam	974	2.1	N/A
	Independent	Nagarjun Agath	703	1.5	N/A
	Independent	Khandu Patel	115	0.2	N/A
Majority			4,426	9.5	–2.7
Turnout			46,714	61.0	–2.1
Registered electors			76,560
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+11.0

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Leicester East^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Claudia Webbe	25,090	50.8	–16.2
	Conservative	Bhupendra Dave	19,071	38.6	+14.4
	Liberal Democrats	Nitesh Dave	2,800	5.7	+3.1
	Brexit Party	Tara Baldwin	1,243	2.5	N/A
	Green	Melanie Wakley	888	1.8	−0.2
	Independent	Sanjay Gogia	329	0.7	N/A
Majority			6,019	12.2	–30.6
Turnout			49,421	63.0	–4.4
	Labour hold		Swing	–15.3

In November 2021 Webbe was given a 10-week suspended sentence for making threatening phone calls to a friend of her partner. Webbe, who since September 2020 had been suspended from the Labour Party and was sitting as an independent MP, was then expelled from the party and continued to sit as an independent until Parliament was dissolved.^[11]^[12]

General election 2017: Leicester East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Keith Vaz	35,116	67.0	+5.9
	Conservative	Edward Yi He	12,688	24.2	+1.2
	Independent	Sujata Barot	1,753	3.3	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Nitesh Dave	1,343	2.6	0.0
	Green	Melanie Wakley	1,070	2.0	–1.1
	Independent	Ian Fox	454	0.9	N/A
Majority			22,428	42.8	+4.6
Turnout			52,424	67.4	+3.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.3

General election 2015: Leicester East^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Keith Vaz	29,386	61.1	+7.4
	Conservative	Kishan Devani	11,034	23.0	–1.5
	UKIP	Susanna Steptoe	4,290	8.9	+7.4
	Green	Nimit Jethwa	1,468	3.1	+1.5
	Liberal Democrats	Dave Raval	1,233	2.6	–11.6
	TUSC	Michael Barker	540	1.1	N/A
	Independent	Tom Darwood	117	0.2	N/A
Majority			18,352	38.2	+8.9
Turnout			48,599	63.7	–2.1
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.5

General election 2010: Leicester East^[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Keith Vaz	25,804	53.8	−5.0
	Conservative	Jane Hunt	11,722	24.4	+4.6
	Liberal Democrats	Ali Asghar	6,817	14.2	−2.3
	BNP	Colin Gilmore^[15]	1,700	3.5	N/A
	Green	Mo Taylor^[16]	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	–9.6
Turnout			47,995	65.8	+3.9
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.8

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Leicester East^[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Keith Vaz	24,015	58.1	+0.5
	Conservative	Suella Fernandes	8,139	19.7	−4.8
	Liberal Democrats	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	+5.3
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^[18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Keith Vaz	23,402	57.6	−7.9
	Conservative	John Mugglestone	9,960	24.5	+0.5
	Liberal Democrats	Harpinder Athwal	4,989	12.3	+5.3
	Socialist Labour	David 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	–8.4
Turnout			40,661	62.1	−7.0
	Labour hold		Swing	–4.2

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Leicester East^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Keith Vaz	29,083	65.5	+9.2
	Conservative	Simon Milton	10,661	24.01	–9.7
	Liberal Democrats	Jay Matabudul	3,105	6.99	−1.1
	Referendum	Philip Iwaniw	1,015	2.29	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Sohan Singh Sidhu	436	0.98	N/A
	Independent	Neil Slack	102	0.23	N/A
Majority			18,422	41.49	+18.9
Turnout			44,402	69.11
	Labour hold		Swing	+9.4

General election 1992: Leicester East^[20]^[21]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Keith Vaz	28,123	56.3	+10.1
	Conservative	Jeffery C. Stevens	16,807	33.7	−8.8
	Liberal Democrats	Sheila A. Mitchell	4,043	8.1	−3.3
	Green	Murray R. Frankland	453	0.9	N/A
	Independent	Dennis J. Taylor	308	0.6	N/A
	Natural Law	ASK Mahaldar	186	0.4	N/A
Majority			11,316	22.6	+18.9
Turnout			49,920	78.7	+0.1
	Labour hold		Swing	+9.5

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Leicester East^[22]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Keith Vaz	24,074	46.2	+9.2
	Conservative	Peter Bruinvels	22,150	42.5	+3.6
	SDP	Aileen Ayres	5,935	11.4	–9.7
Majority			1,924	3.7	N/A
Turnout			52,159	78.59
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General election 1983: Leicester East^[23]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Bruinvels	19,117	38.9	–2.3
	Labour	Patricia Hewitt	18,184	37.0	–9.9
	SDP	Tom Bradley	10,362	21.1	N/A
	Independent	RV Ganatra	970	2.0	N/A
	BNP	RL Sutton	459	0.9	N/A
Majority			933	1.9	N/A
Turnout			49,092	73.2	–2.4
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+3.8

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1979: Leicester East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom Bradley	23,844	46.9	+2.1
	Conservative	M Waterhouse	20,988	41.3	+4.8
	Liberal	B Andrews	4,623	9.1	–3.2
	National Front	BJ Calver	1,385	2.7	–3.7
Majority			2,856	5.6	–2.6
Turnout			50,840	75.6	+3.3
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.4

General election October 1974: Leicester East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tom Bradley	20,688	44.8	+0.1
	Conservative	KG Reeves	16,877	36.5	–8.3
	Liberal	W Capstick	5,668	12.3	N/A
	National Front	A Reed-Herbert	2,967	6.4	−1.1
Majority			3,811	8.3	+5.4
Turnout			46,200	72.3	–5.5
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.2

General election February 1974: Leicester East^[24]
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 in the 1940s

General election 1945: Leicester East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Terence Donovan	28,414	56.94
	Conservative	Abraham Lyons	15,182	30.42
	Liberal	David Goodwillie Galloway	6,306	12.64
Majority			13,232	26.52	N/A
Turnout			49,902	76.05
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1935: Leicester East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Abraham Lyons	20,442	49.28
	Labour	Frederick Gould	17,532	42.62
	Liberal	Frederick Lawson	3,509	8.46	N/A
Majority			2,910	6.66
Turnout			41,483	70.18
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1931: Leicester East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Abraham Lyons	30,265	68.67
	Labour	Frank Wise	13,811	31.33
Majority			16,454	37.34	N/A
Turnout			44,076	79.10
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1929: Leicester East^[25]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frank Wise	22,533	50.8	+1.5
	Unionist	John Loder	13,801	31.1	−19.6
	Liberal	Frederick Lawson	8,054	18.1	N/A
Majority			8,732	19.7	N/A
Turnout			44,388	81.6	+2.0
Registered electors			54,364
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+1.6

General election 1924: Leicester East^[25]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	John Loder	16,090	50.7	+22.7
	Labour	George Banton	15,669	49.3	+4.5
Majority			421	1.4	N/A
Turnout			31,759	79.6	+3.5
Registered electors			39,906
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing	+9.1

General election 1923: Leicester East^[25]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Banton	13,162	44.8	−2.9
	Unionist	Arthur Evans	8,247	28.0	N/A
	Liberal	James Henderson-Stewart	7,998	27.2	−25.1
Majority			4,915	16.8	N/A
Turnout			29,407	76.1	−0.8
Registered electors			38,658
	Labour gain from National Liberal		Swing	+11.1

General election 1922: Leicester East^[25]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Arthur Evans	15,164	52.3	*N/A*
	Labour	George Banton	13,850	47.7	+20.6
Majority			1,314	4.6	N/A
Turnout			29,014	76.9	+11.3
Registered electors			37,749
	National Liberal gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A

1922 Leicester East by-election^[25]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Banton	14,062	52.9	+25.8
	National Liberal	Albert E. Marlow	8,710	32.7	−40.2
	Liberal	Ronald Wilberforce Allen	3,825	14.4	N/A
Majority			5,352	20.2	N/A
Turnout			26,597	71.3	+5.7
Registered electors			37,319
	Labour gain from National Liberal		Swing	+33.0

Election in the 1910s

General election 1918: Leicester East^[25]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
C	Liberal	Gordon Hewart	18,024	72.9
	Labour	George Banton	6,697	27.1
Majority			11,327	45.8
Turnout			24,721	65.6
Registered electors			37,687
	Liberal win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Notes

^ A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer).
^ Webbe contested the election as an Independent, but received endorsement by the Workers Party of Britain.