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Post by greenhert on Apr 21, 2020 20:18:50 GMT
Leeds North West has existed since 1950. It underwent a significant boundary change in 1983 when it took in Otley and Wharfedale which had previously been in the Ripon constituency, whilst losing Kirkstall to Leeds West.
Leeds North West currently consists of the wards of Otley & Yeadon, Adel & Wharfedale, Weetwood, and the Headingley part of Headingley & Hyde Park, which was created in 2018 due to local boundary changes in Leeds. Otley has been in Leeds' boundaries since 1974 but is still a separate town in some ways, having its own town council. Adel & Wharfedale consists of several pleasant villages that were absorbed into Leeds in 1974 and they still retain their period charms, as well as parish councils in some cases. Weetwood is a well-heeled suburb in the north of Leeds, and Headingley is the student area of Leeds and home to campuses of Leeds University and Leeds Beckett University, and also Headingley Stadium, which hosts rugby league and Yorkshire County Cricket Club. This combination gives interesting demographic statistics: a third of Leeds North West's population has degree-level qualifications, considerably higher than the UK average, and the student population is as high as 26%. Despite its high student population the proportion of private renters, at 23%, is not that high, although it is a somewhat younger than average constituency.
Leeds North West, like its neighbour Leeds North East, was once a safe Conservative seat. Sir Donald Kaberry held it comfortably for 33 years until he retired in 1983. This made way for Keith Hampson, whose Ripon constituency had been abolished. The Conservatives were losing momentum slowly in this seat as they were in many other middle-class seats with university campuses, though, and Dr Hampson was unseated by Labour's Harold Best in 1997 even though Labour were in third place behind the Liberal Democrats. Mr Best retired in 2005 and the Liberal Democrats' Greg Mulholland won the seat on the back of opposition to the Iraq War and to tuition fees, both of which were strongly salient issues in Leeds North West (cf. Bristol West, Cambridge, and Manchester Withington). In both 2005 and 2010 his Labour opponent was Judith Blake, who is the current leader of Leeds council and the mother of Olivia Blake (Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam). In 2015 tactical voting from Conservative voters allowed Mr Mulholland to hold on against Alex Sobel's first challenge, but in 2017 he ran out of tactical voters and Mr Sobel won the seat on a 7.9% swing. Without Mr Mulholland, the Liberal Democrats lost momentum and dropped to third place in 2019, meaning the Conservatives obtained a 7.2% vote share increase in 2019 even though Leeds North West had a high Remain vote, like other seats of its type, since Conservative voters were no longer prepared to vote tactically given the Liberal Democrats' Revoke stance regarding Brexit. Mr Sobel also obtained a rare Labour vote share increase, namely 4.5%, giving him a majority of 10,791 in what was a safe Conservative seat just 30 years ago. At a local level, Headingley & Hyde Park (Headingley until 2018) is safely Labour despite a Green challenge in 2018 on the back of its high student population, Weetwood is split between Labour and the Liberal Democrats, Adel & Wharfedale is solidly Conservative just like its rural/suburban neighbouring wards of Alwoodley and Harewood, and Otley & Yeadon is safely Liberal Democrat.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2020 20:39:42 GMT
Leeds North West has existed since 1950. It underwent a significant boundary change in 1983 when it took in Otley and Wharfedale which had previously been in the Ripon constituency, whilst losing Kirkstall to Leeds West. Leeds North West currently consists of the wards of Otley & Yeadon, Adel & Wharfedale, Weetwood, and the Headingley part of Headingley & Hyde Park, which was created in 2018 due to local boundary changes in Leeds. Otley has been in Leeds' boundaries since 1974 but is still a separate town in some ways, having its own town council. Adel & Wharfedale consists of several pleasant villages that were absorbed into Leeds in 1974 and they still retain their period charms, as well as parish councils in some cases. Weetwood is a well-heeled suburb in the north of Leeds, and Headingley is the student area of Leeds and home to campuses of Leeds University and Leeds Beckett University, and also Headingley Stadium, which hosts rugby league and Yorkshire County Cricket Club. This combination gives interesting demographic statistics: a third of Leeds North West's population has degree-level qualifications, considerably higher than the UK average, and the student population is as high as 26%. Despite its high student population the proportion of private renters, at 23%, is not that high, although it is a somewhat younger than average constituency. Leeds North West, like its neighbour Leeds North East, was once a safe Conservative seat. Sir Donald Kaberry held it comfortably for 33 years until he retired in 1983. This made way for Keith Hampson, whose Ripon constituency had been abolished. The Conservatives were losing momentum slowly in this seat as they were in many other middle-class seats with university campuses, though, and Dr Hampson was unseated by Labour's Harold Best in 1997 even though Labour were in third place behind the Liberal Democrats. Mr Best retired in 2005 and the Liberal Democrats' Greg Mulholland won the seat on the back of opposition to the Iraq War and to tuition fees, both of which were strongly salient issues in Leeds North West (cf. Bristol West, Cambridge, and Manchester Withington). In both 2005 and 2010 his Labour opponent was Judith Blake, who is the current leader of Leeds council and the mother of Olivia Blake (Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam). In 2015 tactical voting from Conservative voters allowed Mr Mulholland to hold on against Alex Sobel's first challenge, but in 2017 he ran out of tactical voters and Mr Sobel won the seat on a 7.9% swing. Without Mr Mulholland, the Liberal Democrats lost momentum and dropped to third place in 2019, meaning the Conservatives obtained a 7.2% vote share increase in 2019 even though Leeds North West had a high Remain vote, like other seats of its type, since Conservative voters were no longer prepared to vote tactically given the Liberal Democrats' Revoke stance regarding Brexit. Mr Sobel also obtained a rare Labour vote share increase, namely 4.5%, giving him a majority of 10,791 in what was a safe Conservative seat just 30 years ago. At a local level, Headingley & Hyde Park (Headingley until 2018) is safely Labour despite a Green challenge in 2018 on the back of its high student population, Weetwood is split between Labour and the Liberal Democrats, Adel & Wharfedale is solidly Conservative just like its rural/suburban neighbouring wards of Alwoodley and Harewood, and Otley & Yeadon is safely Liberal Democrat. Safe Conservative seat JUST 30 YEARS AGO? Sorry, but if Harold Wilson said that a week is a long time in politics, 30 years is several millennia. Half the forum - myself included - were not born 30 years ago. Please don't put silly statements like that in the constituency descriptions. |
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Post by finsobruce on Apr 21, 2020 20:51:25 GMT
Leeds North West has existed since 1950. It underwent a significant boundary change in 1983 when it took in Otley and Wharfedale which had previously been in the Ripon constituency, whilst losing Kirkstall to Leeds West. Leeds North West currently consists of the wards of Otley & Yeadon, Adel & Wharfedale, Weetwood, and the Headingley part of Headingley & Hyde Park, which was created in 2018 due to local boundary changes in Leeds. Otley has been in Leeds' boundaries since 1974 but is still a separate town in some ways, having its own town council. Adel & Wharfedale consists of several pleasant villages that were absorbed into Leeds in 1974 and they still retain their period charms, as well as parish councils in some cases. Weetwood is a well-heeled suburb in the north of Leeds, and Headingley is the student area of Leeds and home to campuses of Leeds University and Leeds Beckett University, and also Headingley Stadium, which hosts rugby league and Yorkshire County Cricket Club. This combination gives interesting demographic statistics: a third of Leeds North West's population has degree-level qualifications, considerably higher than the UK average, and the student population is as high as 26%. Despite its high student population the proportion of private renters, at 23%, is not that high, although it is a somewhat younger than average constituency. Leeds North West, like its neighbour Leeds North East, was once a safe Conservative seat. Sir Donald Kaberry held it comfortably for 33 years until he retired in 1983. This made way for Keith Hampson, whose Ripon constituency had been abolished. The Conservatives were losing momentum slowly in this seat as they were in many other middle-class seats with university campuses, though, and Dr Hampson was unseated by Labour's Harold Best in 1997 even though Labour were in third place behind the Liberal Democrats. Mr Best retired in 2005 and the Liberal Democrats' Greg Mulholland won the seat on the back of opposition to the Iraq War and to tuition fees, both of which were strongly salient issues in Leeds North West (cf. Bristol West, Cambridge, and Manchester Withington). In both 2005 and 2010 his Labour opponent was Judith Blake, who is the current leader of Leeds council and the mother of Olivia Blake (Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam). In 2015 tactical voting from Conservative voters allowed Mr Mulholland to hold on against Alex Sobel's first challenge, but in 2017 he ran out of tactical voters and Mr Sobel won the seat on a 7.9% swing. Without Mr Mulholland, the Liberal Democrats lost momentum and dropped to third place in 2019, meaning the Conservatives obtained a 7.2% vote share increase in 2019 even though Leeds North West had a high Remain vote, like other seats of its type, since Conservative voters were no longer prepared to vote tactically given the Liberal Democrats' Revoke stance regarding Brexit. Mr Sobel also obtained a rare Labour vote share increase, namely 4.5%, giving him a majority of 10,791 in what was a safe Conservative seat just 30 years ago. At a local level, Headingley & Hyde Park (Headingley until 2018) is safely Labour despite a Green challenge in 2018 on the back of its high student population, Weetwood is split between Labour and the Liberal Democrats, Adel & Wharfedale is solidly Conservative just like its rural/suburban neighbouring wards of Alwoodley and Harewood, and Otley & Yeadon is safely Liberal Democrat. Safe Conservative seat JUST 30 YEARS AGO? Sorry, but if Harold Wilson said that a week is a long time in politics, 30 years is several millennia. Half the forum - myself included - were not born 30 years ago. Please don't put silly statements like that in the constituency descriptions. grh said " was once a safe conservative seat" which is a perfectly reasonable statement. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2020 21:08:25 GMT
Safe Conservative seat JUST 30 YEARS AGO? Sorry, but if Harold Wilson said that a week is a long time in politics, 30 years is several millennia. Half the forum - myself included - were not born 30 years ago. Please don't put silly statements like that in the constituency descriptions. grh said " was once a safe conservative seat" which is a perfectly reasonable statement. That's not the statement I take issue with. I have quoted him word for word. Read it again. Liverpool Walton was once a safe conservative seat. It means squat. |
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Apr 21, 2020 21:58:21 GMT
Gosh some people are sensitive. There is an interesting point to be made here because unlike Liverpool Walton, Leeds North West has not moved very far down the social scale since the days it was a safe Tory seat.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2020 22:20:16 GMT
Gosh some people are sensitive. There is an interesting point to be made here because unlike Liverpool Walton, Leeds North West has not moved very far down the social scale since the days it was a safe Tory seat. Nothing to do with sensitivity. If you want to get into that I seem to recall you threw a terrible tantrum a while ago because someone addressed you by a username from an old site? People in glass houses and all that? My concern lies with the quality of this review. |
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Post by loderingo on Apr 22, 2020 7:47:13 GMT
I have always thought this constituency and neighbouring Pudsey have terrible boundaries. Surely it would make more sense to merge the 2 most NW wards of Leeds NW with the 2 N wards of Pudsey. The 2 S wards of Pudsey go with 2 from Leeds W and the 2 most SE wards of Leeds NW go with the other 2 wards of Leeds W. Presumably you still end up with 2 safe Lab and 1 marginal Con but much tidier boundaries.
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Apr 22, 2020 8:28:24 GMT
Gosh some people are sensitive. There is an interesting point to be made here because unlike Liverpool Walton, Leeds North West has not moved very far down the social scale since the days it was a safe Tory seat. Nothing to do with sensitivity. If you want to get into that I seem to recall you threw a terrible tantrum a while ago because someone addressed you by a username from an old site? People in glass houses and all that? My concern lies with the quality of this review. I think there's all the difference in the world between a deeply personal thing like your own name (which if deliberately wrongly stated is a considerable insult), and a piece of psephological analysis (about which anyone could make a mistake). |
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iang
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Post by iang on Apr 22, 2020 9:43:06 GMT
It still seems a perfectly reasonable observation. I'm older admittedly (83 was the first election I was involved in), but |I was taught in A Level Politics when we did voting behaviour that famous phrase about (I paraphrase) class being all that matters in British politics and all else being embellishment and detail. The behaviour of seats like Leeds NW, when the Conservatives hold much more working class seats near to it is surely a matter of valid comment, because it illustrates something significant about the changing nature of British politics and voting.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2020 4:23:02 GMT
It’s certainly not unreasonable to say this used to be considered a safe Tory seat because it did (although I will point out that the last time the Conservatives got 50%+ of the vote here was 50 years ago).
However I think Sandy’s point that 30 years isn’t a short time when regarding socio-economic change is perfectly valid. Just eliminate the word ‘just’.
As I understand it (feel free to correct) this seat has a large public sector workforce. The NHS is a big employer, and perhaps the university (staff) aspect too?
I have relatives who live in the northern suburbs, one of whom works in the NHS, and they say it seems like every other person works in the organisation.
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Post by Robert Waller on Feb 11, 2021 13:35:38 GMT
2011 Census
Age 65+ 14.9% 463/650
Owner-occupied 60.2% 473/650
Private rented 23.1% 85/650
Social rented 15.1% 346/650
White 90.5% 420/650
Black 1.0% 267/650
Asian 4.9% 235/650
Managerial & professional 31.6%
Routine & Semi-routine 16.9%
Degree level 33.3% 114/650
No qualifications 14.1% 621/650
Students 28.6% 7/650
2021 Census
Owner occupied 59.9% 408/573
Private rented 25.9% 95/573
Social rented 14.1% 329/573
White 85.8%
Black 1.7%
Asian 6.7%
Managerial & professional 35.6% 208/573
Routine & Semi-routine 14.6% 531/573
Degree level 41.5% 89/573
No qualifications 11.2% 552/573
Students 23.0% 13/573
General Election 2019: Leeds North West
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Alex Sobel 23,971 48.6 +4.5
Conservative Stewart Harper 13,222 26.8 +7.2
Liberal Democrats Kamran Hussain 9,397 19.1 -15.9
Green Martin Hemingway 1,389 2.8 +1.6
Brexit Party Graeme Webber 1,304 2.7 N/A
Lab Majority 10,749 21.8 +12.7
Turnout 49,283 73.0 +5.1
Labour hold
Swing 10.2 LD to Lab
Swing 1.3 Lab to C
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Feb 11, 2021 14:35:13 GMT
I have always thought this constituency and neighbouring Pudsey have terrible boundaries. Surely it would make more sense to merge the 2 most NW wards of Leeds NW with the 2 N wards of Pudsey. The 2 S wards of Pudsey go with 2 from Leeds W and the 2 most SE wards of Leeds NW go with the other 2 wards of Leeds W. Presumably you still end up with 2 safe Lab and 1 marginal Con but much tidier boundaries. Interestingly this arrangement would see all three of these seats in quota (where on the current arrangements Leeds West is under quota). It makes a good deal of sense actually but I'm sure our old friends minimum change and established arrangements would prevent that being entertained |
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Post by Merseymike on Feb 11, 2021 14:46:22 GMT
Gosh some people are sensitive. There is an interesting point to be made here because unlike Liverpool Walton, Leeds North West has not moved very far down the social scale since the days it was a safe Tory seat. Just noticed this 10 months later. Actually Liverpool Walton has not moved down the scale that dramatically - it's always been a working class seat though it did take wards from neighbouring seats which were on average poorer But it's Toryism was about the old Orange Protestant identity in Liverpool which lent itself to Tory voting. Not it's social class makeup |
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Post by edgbaston on Feb 11, 2021 15:01:34 GMT
Gosh some people are sensitive. There is an interesting point to be made here because unlike Liverpool Walton, Leeds North West has not moved very far down the social scale since the days it was a safe Tory seat. Just noticed this 10 months later. Actually Liverpool Walton has not moved down the scale that dramatically - it's always been a working class seat though it did take wards from neighbouring seats which were on average poorer But it's Toryism was about the old Orange Protestant identity in Liverpool which lent itself to Tory voting. Not it's social class makeup Why did Protestant loyalism collapse in Liverpool? Do people in the city still identify with religious communities? |
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Post by Merseymike on Feb 11, 2021 15:05:29 GMT
Just noticed this 10 months later. Actually Liverpool Walton has not moved down the scale that dramatically - it's always been a working class seat though it did take wards from neighbouring seats which were on average poorer But it's Toryism was about the old Orange Protestant identity in Liverpool which lent itself to Tory voting. Not it's social class makeup Why did Protestant loyalism collapse in Liverpool? Do people in the city still identify with religious communities? Well, I think Thatcherism finally finished it off and uniquely, the Tories have never recovered on Merseyside My mate Keith did his PhD on this topic - it's quite a complex picture. www.amazon.co.uk/Liverpool-Sectarianism-Keith-Daniel-Roberts/dp/1781383170There's still a lot of cultural Catholicism here but many if the old small Protestant congregations are really struggling. I don't think Christian religious affiliation has a great deal of impact any longer. We also have a relatively small number of other religions represented here compared to most cities. |
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Post by gwynthegriff on Feb 11, 2021 15:25:21 GMT
Why did Protestant loyalism collapse in Liverpool? Do people in the city still identify with religious communities? Well, I think Thatcherism finally finished it off and uniquely, the Tories have never recovered on Merseyside My mate Keith did his PhD on this topic - it's quite a complex picture. www.amazon.co.uk/Liverpool-Sectarianism-Keith-Daniel-Roberts/dp/1781383170There's still a lot of cultural Catholicism here but many if the old small Protestant congregations are really struggling. I don't think Christian religious affiliation has a great deal of impact any longer. We also have a relatively small number of other religions represented here compared to most cities. Once made the mistake of visiting Southport on the day of the Orange Order march. Not a pleasant experience. Is it still a thing? |
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Post by Merseymike on Feb 11, 2021 16:51:27 GMT
Well, I think Thatcherism finally finished it off and uniquely, the Tories have never recovered on Merseyside My mate Keith did his PhD on this topic - it's quite a complex picture. www.amazon.co.uk/Liverpool-Sectarianism-Keith-Daniel-Roberts/dp/1781383170There's still a lot of cultural Catholicism here but many if the old small Protestant congregations are really struggling. I don't think Christian religious affiliation has a great deal of impact any longer. We also have a relatively small number of other religions represented here compared to most cities. Once made the mistake of visiting Southport on the day of the Orange Order march. Not a pleasant experience. Is it still a thing? Yes. Though it gets smaller by the year. |
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YL
Non-Aligned
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Post by YL on Nov 22, 2022 18:25:40 GMT
The revised proposals of the Boundary Commission make substantial changes in the west and north-west of Leeds, including some potentially confusing choices of names.
As with Pudsey, this constituency is proposed to be effectively chopped in half, and one of the halves would retain the existing name; in this case it is the half containing Otley & Yeadon and Adel & Wharfedale wards, to which are to be added the half of Pudsey containing Horsforth and Guiseley & Rawdon. This is just over half of the current constituency, but would look rather different politically from the safish Labour seat the existing Leeds North West appears to have become, and instead would be a marginal seat which would fairly narrowly have voted Conservative in 2019.
The other half, which in practice is likely to be the choice of the current Leeds North West MP Alex Sobel, contains the wards of Weetwood and Headingley & Hyde Park to the south, an area heavily influenced by the University of Leeds. To these are added the wards of Kirkstall, from Leeds West, and Little London & Woodhouse, from Leeds Central; the latter includes most of Leeds city centre. Somewhat surprisingly, given that this includes much of the core of Leeds including large parts of the centre, the name proposed for this constituency does not mention Leeds and is simply "Headingley", a name which is at least widely recognised. The constituency's elections are not likely to be as closely fought as the Ashes Tests played in it in years such as 1981 and 2019; indeed barring a huge collapse for Labour among the student vote it looks likely to be a solid Labour seat.
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andrea
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Post by andrea on Nov 22, 2022 18:45:07 GMT
The other half, which in practice is likely to be the choice of the current Leeds North West MP Alex Sobel, contains the wards of Weetwood and Headingley & Hyde Park to the south, an area heavily influenced by the University of Leeds. To these are added the wards of Kirkstall, from Leeds West, and Little London & Woodhouse, from Leeds Central; the latter includes most of Leeds city centre. Interesting that with this newly proposed version, Sobel would be the only Labour MP having a territorial claim on it (if Labour keeps the 40% of previous seat going into the new one as the requirement for territorial claim in case of reselections), while in the initial proposal, IIRC also Reeves would have a territorial claim on the Headingley constituency. |
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Dec 19, 2022 20:57:32 GMT
2019 Notional results on new boundaries Leeds North West | Con | 23597 | 42.7% | | Lab | 21372 | 38.7% | | LD | 7874 | 14.3% | | Grn | 1038 | 1.9% | | BxP | 912 | 1.7% | | Oth | 405 | 0.7% |
| | | | Majority | 2225 | 4.0% |
Headingley | Lab | 26447 | 64.1% | | Con | 7086 | 17.2% | | LD | 4782 | 11.6% | | Grn | 1690 | 4.1% | | BxP | 1010 | 2.4% | | Oth | 215 | 0.5% |
| | | | Majority | 19361 | 47.0% |
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