Leicester East is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since July 2024 by Shivani Raja of the Conservative Party.

Boundaries

Historic

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, Charnwood1, 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. 1 Further to a local government boundary review that became effective in May 2015, the newly created Troon ward replaced the old Charnwood ward, covering the Northfields Estate and the adjacent industrial area to the north, from which it takes its name.

Current

Following the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency was adjusted slightly to bring the electorate within the permitted range by transferring polling district EVF in Evington ward to Leicester South.

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

Members of Parliament

MPs 1918–1950

Leicester prior to 1918

MPs since 1974

Leicester South East and Leicester North East prior to 1974

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

Elections in the 2010s

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.

Elections in the 2000s

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.

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1940s

Elections in the 1930s

Elections in the 1920s

Election in the 1910s