Leeds South (UK Parliament constituency)

Leeds South
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundaries since 2024
Boundary of Leeds South in Yorkshire and the Humber
County	1885–1974: West Riding of Yorkshire after 1974: West Yorkshire
Current constituency
Created	2024
Member of Parliament	Hilary Benn (Labour)
Seats	One
Created from	Leeds Central Leeds East (minor part)
1885–1983
Seats	One
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Created from	Leeds
Replaced by	Leeds Central and Morley & Leeds South[1]

Leeds South is a parliamentary constituency^{[n 1]} in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, which returns one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The constituency existed from 1885 to 1983 and was recreated in 2024 following the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies.^[2]

In the 2024 general election, the seat was won by Hilary Benn of the Labour Party, who serves as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the government of Keir Starmer.^[3][4] Benn had represented Leeds Central, the main predecessor of Leeds South, since 1999.

Leeds South was the seat of the former Leader of the Labour Party, the late Hugh Gaitskell, and the former Home Secretary Merlyn Rees.

Boundaries

1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Leeds wards of East Hunslet, South, and West Hunslet, and part of Bramley ward.

1918–1950: The County Borough of Leeds wards of Holbeck and West Hunslet, and part of New Wortley ward.

1950–1951: The County Borough of Leeds wards of Beeston, Holbeck South, Hunslet Carr and Middleton, and West Hunslet.

1951–1955: The County Borough of Leeds wards of Beeston, Holbeck, Hunslet Carr, and Middleton.^[5]

1955–1974: The County Borough of Leeds wards of Beeston, Holbeck, Hunslet Carr, and Middleton.

1974–1983: The County Borough of Leeds wards of Beeston, East Hunslet, Holbeck, Middleton, and West Hunslet.

1983: Constituency was abolished.

2024: Constituency was re-established after 41 years.

2024–present: The City of Leeds wards of: Beeston & Holbeck; Burmantofts & Richmond Hill; Hunslet & Riverside; Middleton Park; Temple Newsam (polling districts TNA, TND, TNE, TNH, TNI, TNJ, TNK and TNL).^[6]

2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies described the re-established constituency as following: The part ward of Temple Newsam will be transferred from Leeds East, with remaining areas currently part of the Leeds Central constituency (to be abolished).

History

The constituency was created in 1885 by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, and was first used in the general election of that year. Leeds had previously been represented by two MPs (1832–1868) and three MPs (1868–1885). From 1885 it was represented by five single-member constituencies: Leeds Central, Leeds East, Leeds North, Leeds South and Leeds West. The constituencies of Morley, Otley and Pudsey were also created in 1885.

The constituency was abolished for the 1983 general election. It was then largely replaced by the new Morley and Leeds South constituency. After the 1983 general election Leeds was represented by the constituencies of Leeds Central, Leeds East, Leeds North East, Leeds North West, Leeds West and Morley and Leeds South. There were also constituencies of Elmet (created 1983) and Pudsey.

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was re-established for the 2024 general election, formed primarily from the (to be abolished) constituency of Leeds Central, but excluding the city centre, and including a small part of Leeds East and a very small part of Morley and Outwood.^[7][8] The notional 2019 result for the new seat was Labour.^[9]

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885–1983

Leeds prior to 1885

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Sir Lyon Playfair	Liberal
	1892	John Lawson Walton	Liberal
	1908	William Middlebrook	Liberal
	1922	Henry Charleton	Labour
	1931	Noel Whiteside	Conservative
	1935	Henry Charleton	Labour
	1945	Hugh Gaitskell	Labour
	1963	Merlyn Rees	Labour
	1983	Constituency abolished

MPs since 2024

Leeds Central prior to 2024

Election		Member	Party
	2024	Hilary Benn	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Leeds South ^[10] ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hilary Benn	17,117	54.0	−4.4
	Green	Ed Carlisle	5,838	18.4	+14.6
	Conservative	Karen Cooksley	4,172	13.2	−13.1
	SDP	Daniel Whetstone	1,874	5.9	+5.3
	Liberal Democrats	George Sykes	1,340	4.2	−0.2
	Workers Party	Muhammad Azeem	719	2.3	N/A
	CPA	Janet Bickerdike	341	1.1	N/A
	Independent	Niko Omilana	277	0.9	N/A
Majority			11,279	35.6	+3.5
Turnout			31,678	41.7	−16.2
Registered electors			75,953
	Labour hold		Swing	−9.5

Elections in the 2010s

2019 notional result[12]
Party		Vote	%
	Labour	25,263	58.4
	Conservative	11,377	26.3
	Brexit Party	2,771	6.4
	Liberal Democrats	1,922	4.4
	Green	1,635	3.8
	Others	281	0.6
Turnout		43,249	57.9
Electorate		74,726

Election results 1885–1983

Elections in the 1880s

Lyon Playfair

General election 1885: Leeds South ^[13]^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Lyon Playfair	5,208	64.5
	Conservative	Stuart Cunningham Macaskie	2,869	35.5
Majority			2,339	29.0
Turnout			8,077	73.9
Registered electors			10,931
	Liberal win (new seat)

Playfair was appointed Vice-President of the Committee of the Council on Education, requiring a by-election.

By-election, 12 Feb 1886: Leeds South ^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Lyon Playfair	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

General election 1886: Leeds South ^[13]^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Lyon Playfair	4,665	61.5	−3.0
	Conservative	Thomas Hirst Bracken[15]	2,924	38.5	+3.0
Majority			1,741	23.0	−6.0
Turnout			7,589	69.4	−4.5
Registered electors			10,931
	Liberal hold		Swing	−3.0

Elections in the 1890s

Walton

General election 1892: Leeds South ^[13]^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Lyon Playfair	4,829	59.4	−2.1
	Conservative	Reginald Neville	3,294	40.6	+2.1
Majority			1,535	18.8	−4.2
Turnout			8,123	71.9	+2.5
Registered electors			11,290
	Liberal hold		Swing	−2.1

By-election, 22 Sep 1892^[13]^[14]^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Walton	4,414	56.0	−3.4
	Conservative	Reginald Neville	3,466	44.0	+3.4
Majority			948	12.0	−6.8
Turnout			7,880	69.8	−2.1
Registered electors			11,290
	Liberal hold		Swing	−3.4

• Caused by Playfair's elevation to the peerage.

General election 1895: Leeds South ^[13]^[14]^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Walton	4,608	47.6	−11.8
	Conservative	Reginald Neville	4,447	46.0	+5.4
	Ind. Labour Party	Alfred Shaw	622	6.4	New
Majority			161	1.6	−17.2
Turnout			9,677	81.2	+9.3
Registered electors			11,921
	Liberal hold		Swing	−8.6

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Leeds South ^[13]^[14]^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Walton	4,952	51.2	+3.6
	Conservative	Reginald Neville	4,718	48.8	+2.8
Majority			234	2.4	+0.8
Turnout			9,670	71.9	−9.3
Registered electors			13,442
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.4

Walton

General election 1906: Leeds South ^[13]^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Walton	6,200	50.2	−1.0
	Labour Repr. Cmte.	Albert E. Fox	4,030	32.6	New
	Conservative	Henry Cameron-Ramsay-Fairfax-Lucy	2,126	17.2	−31.6
Majority			2,170	17.6	+15.2
Turnout			12,356	81.7	+9.8
Registered electors			15,119
	Liberal hold		Swing	+15.3

Middlebrook

1908 Leeds South by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Middlebrook	5,274	41.7	−8.5
	Conservative	Reginald Neville	4,915	38.9	+21.7
	Labour	Albert E. Fox	2,451	19.4	−13.2
Majority			359	2.8	−14.8
Turnout			12,640	82.5	+0.8
Registered electors			15,321
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.4

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Leeds South ^[13]^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Middlebrook	8,969	67.3	+17.1
	Conservative	William Nicholson	4,366	32.7	+15.5
Majority			4,603	34.6	+17.0
Turnout			13,335	84.8	+3.1
	Liberal hold		Swing	+15.9

General election December 1910: Leeds South ^[13]^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Middlebrook	6,064	48.2	−19.1
	Conservative	William Nicholson	3,804	30.3	−2.4
	Labour	John Badlay	2,706	21.5	New
Majority			2,260	17.9	−16.7
Turnout			12,574	80.0	−4.8
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1914–15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: William Middlebrook
• Unionist:
• Labour:

Middlebrook

General election 14 December 1918: Leeds South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Liberal	William Middlebrook	10,609	60.6	+12.4
	Labour	Frank Fountain	5,510	31.5	+10.0
	Independent	James A Brook*	1,377	7.9	New
Majority			5,099	29.1	+11.2
Turnout			17,496	48.8	−31.2
Registered electors			35,843
	Liberal hold		Swing	+1.2
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

* Brook was supported by the three local branches of National Association of Discharged Sailors and Soldiers, National Federation of Discharged and Demobilized Sailors and Soldiers and Comrades of the Great War.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Leeds South ^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Henry Charleton	13,210	53.7	+22.2
	Liberal	William Middlebrook	11,380	46.3	−14.3
Majority			1,830	7.4	N/A
Turnout			24,590	69.8	+21.0
Registered electors			35,252
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	+18.3

General election 1923: Leeds South ^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Henry Charleton	11,705	44.2	−9.5
	Unionist	Reginald Neville	7,679	29.0	New
	Liberal	Granville Gibson	7,083	26.8	−19.5
Majority			4,026	15.2	+7.8
Turnout			26,467	74.1	+4.3
Registered electors			35,719
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.0

General election 1924: Leeds South ^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Henry Charleton	12,799	46.3	+2.1
	Unionist	B.T. Graham Ford	11,008	39.9	+10.9
	Liberal	Frank Geary	3,801	13.8	−13.0
Majority			1,791	6.4	−8.8
Turnout			27,608	76.5	+2.4
Registered electors			36,085
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.4

General election 1929: Leeds South ^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Henry Charleton	18,043	52.5	+6.2
	Unionist	B.T. Graham Ford	9,433	27.5	−12.4
	Liberal	Ernest Kilburn Scott	6,884	20.0	+6.2
Majority			8,610	25.0	+18.6
Turnout			34,360	76.2	−0.3
Registered electors			45,084
	Labour hold		Swing	+9.3

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Leeds South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Noel Whiteside	14,881	42.12
	Labour	Henry Charleton	14,156	40.07
	Liberal	Frederick L. Boult	6,291	17.81
Majority			725	2.05	N/A
Turnout			35,328	77.56
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General election 1935: Leeds South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Henry Charleton	15,223	46.03
	Conservative	Noel Whiteside	14,207	42.96
	Social Credit	Wilfred Townend	3,642	11.01	New
Majority			1,016	3.07	N/A
Turnout			33,072	73.68
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1939–40:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Labour: Hugh Gaitskell^[19]
• Conservative: Donald Kaberry^[19]
• Liberal: J. Alun Williams^[20]
• British Union: John Angus Macnab

Election in the 1940s

General election 1945: Leeds South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hugh Gaitskell	17,899	61.03
	Conservative	Arthur Maxwell Ramsden	7,497	25.56
	Liberal	William Barford	3,933	13.41	New
Majority			10,402	35.47
Turnout			29,329	75.95
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Leeds South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hugh Gaitskell	29,795	61.11
	Conservative	B.H. Wood	14,436	29.61
	Liberal	Edgar Meeks	4,525	9.28
Majority			15,359	31.50
Turnout			48,756	84.61
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1951: Leeds South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hugh Gaitskell	30,712	65.06
	Conservative	Winifred D. Brown	16,493	34.94
Majority			14,219	30.12
Turnout			47,205	82.19
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1955: Leeds South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hugh Gaitskell	25,833	65.15
	Conservative	Winifred D. Brown	13,817	34.85
Majority			12,016	30.30
Turnout			39,650	72.85
	Labour hold		Swing

Hugh Gaitskell

General election 1959: Leeds South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hugh Gaitskell	24,442	58.6	−6.5
	Conservative	John Francis William Addey	12,956	31.0	−3.8
	Liberal	John Brian Meeks	4,340	10.4	New
Majority			11,486	27.6	−2.7
Turnout			41,738	79.0	+6.2
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

1963 Leeds South by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Merlyn Rees	18,785	62.93	+4.37
	Conservative	John Udal	5,996	20.09	−10.95
	Liberal	Brian Walsh	4,399	14.74	+4.34
	Communist	Bert Ramelson	670	2.24	New
Majority			12,789	42.84	+15.32
Turnout			29,850
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1964: Leeds South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Merlyn Rees	22,339	63.12
	Conservative	Percival Arthur Woodward	12,123	34.26
	Communist	Bert Ramelson	928	2.62	N/A
Majority			10,997	28.86
Turnout			35,390	72.00
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1966: Leeds South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Merlyn Rees	23,171	68.76
	Conservative	Percival Arthur Woodward	9,813	29.12
	Communist	Bert Ramelson	714	2.12
Majority			13,358	39.64
Turnout			33,698	68.11
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Leeds South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Merlyn Rees	19,536	59.82
	Conservative	Gavin K. Macpherson	9,311	28.51
	Liberal	Stephen Cooksey	3,810	11.67	New
Majority			10,225	31.31
Turnout			32,657	65.95
	Labour hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Leeds South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Merlyn Rees	21,365	55.24
	Liberal	Denis Pedder	9,505	24.57
	Conservative	Peter David Harmer	7,810	20.19
Majority			11,860	30.67
Turnout			38,680	73.95
	Labour hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Leeds South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Merlyn Rees	21,653	64.44
	Conservative	Thomas Neil Metcalfe Stow	6,388	19.01
	Liberal	John Adams	5,563	16.55
Majority			15,265	45.43
Turnout			33,604	63.76
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1979: Leeds South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Merlyn Rees	22,388	65.02
	Conservative	R. Ratcliffe	8,058	23.40
	Liberal	F. Hurst	3,568	10.36
	National Front	B. Spink	416	1.21	New
Majority			14,330	41.62
Turnout			35,430	68.70
	Labour hold		Swing

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in West Yorkshire
• List of parliamentary constituencies in the Yorkshire and the Humber (region)

Notes

1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)

References

1. "'Leeds South', Feb 1974 – May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
2. "Yorkshire and the Humber | Boundary Commission for England". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
3. "Leeds South – General election results 2024". BBC News. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
4. "Hilary Benn: Who is the new Northern Ireland secretary?". BBC News. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
5. "The House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Order 1951. SI 1951/320". Statutory Instruments 1951. Vol. II. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1952. pp. 410–412.
6. "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 1 Part 9 Yorkshire and the Humber region.
7. "Yorkshire and the Humber | Boundary Commission for England". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
8. "UK Parliament election results: Leeds South (31 May 2024 - ) - overlaps". UK Parliament election results. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
9. "UK Parliament election results: Notional election for the constituency of Leeds South on 12 December 2019". UK Parliament election results. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
10. "Leeds South results". BBC News. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
11. "Leeds South". Leeds City Council. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
12. "Notional results for a UK general election on 12 December 2019". Rallings & Thrasher, Professor David Denver (Scotland), Nicholas Whyte (NI) for Sky News, PA, BBC News and ITV News. UK Parliament. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
13. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918, FWS Craig
14. The Liberal Year Book, 1907
15. "Biography of Candidates: Yorkshire". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 3 July 1886. p. 9. Retrieved 3 December 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
16. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
17. Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
18. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949, FWS Craig
19. Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer 31 March 1939
20. Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer 6 June 1939

External links

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 1)
• Leeds South UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Bristol South East	Constituency represented by the chancellor of the Exchequer 1950–1951	Succeeded by Saffron Walden
Preceded by Lewisham South	Constituency represented by the leader of the opposition 1955–1963	Succeeded by Belper

53.78°N 1.52°W / 53.78; -1.52