Post by greenhert on Sept 2, 2023 13:31:17 GMT
Leeds Central & Headingley will be created for this election and ipso facto succeeds Leeds North West despite containing only 49% of it. It will consist of the wards of Headingley & Hyde Park, Kirkstall, Little London & Woodhouse, and Weetwood within the city of Leeds.
This is, in fact, a close recreation of the old Leeds North West seat on 1950-83 boundaries, before it expanded to include suburbs that were not incorporated into Leeds until 1974; the new Leeds North West by comparison will consist entirely of Leeds suburbs as opposed to any core part of the city of Leeds. During that time Leeds North West, like its neighbour Leeds North East, was an upmarket, primarily middle-class, safe Conservative seat except with a significant student population courtesy of Leeds University and later Leeds Beckett University, both of which have campuses in this seat. This seat also contains the main grounds of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Headingley Castle, the ruins of Kirkstall Abbey, and many of Leeds' other important historic buildings. Its demographics correspond with it being the most progressive of Leeds' constituencies-low home ownership, low car ownership, strong ethnic diversity, and high education levels.
For 33 years it was represented by Sir Donald Kaberry, who was created a Baronet in 1961 and later raised to the House of Lords as Baron Kaberry of Adel. His successor in the post-1983 version of Leeds NW was Dr Keith Hampson, a lecturer who had won the Ripon seat back from the Liberals in 1974 and transferred to Leeds NW after Ripon was abolished (it donated Otley and Wharfedale to Leeds NW); he was briefly PPS to Michael Heseltine (now Baron Heseltine) before a scandal forced him to resign that post, and ran Mr Heseltine's (as he was then) leadership campaign in 1990. He was unseated in 1997 by Labour's Harold Best, who won it from 3rd place with the SDP/Liberal Democrats having gained considerable traction in that seat during the 1980s as they had in similar seats. Mr Best retired in 2005 and then it was the Liberal Democrats' turn to win it from 3rd place via Greg Mulholland, with tuition fees and the Iraq War being the key factors behind Labour's loss of this seat. The same student population turning against the Liberal Democrats in 2015 could have cost Mr Mulholland his seat then, but tactical voting from Conservative voters saved him, just like it saved Nick Clegg in Sheffield Hallam the same year. Mr Mulholland's luck finally ran out in 2017 when the "Corbyn surge" in progressive, student-heavy seats like this saw Labour's Alex Sobel unseat him, the strong Remain vote notwithstanding. In 2019, Mr Sobel became one of a minority of Labour MPs to increase his vote share when the Liberal Democrat challenge collapsed, with the Lib Dems falling into 3rd place behind the Conservatives again despite the strong Remain vote.
Leeds Central & Headingley is expected to be a safe Labour seat although there is strong potential for this to change in the future. However, with a notional majority of 24,630, Labour will have no problems holding this seat for the time being, and furthermore every councillor representing wards in this seat is a Labour councillor.
This is, in fact, a close recreation of the old Leeds North West seat on 1950-83 boundaries, before it expanded to include suburbs that were not incorporated into Leeds until 1974; the new Leeds North West by comparison will consist entirely of Leeds suburbs as opposed to any core part of the city of Leeds. During that time Leeds North West, like its neighbour Leeds North East, was an upmarket, primarily middle-class, safe Conservative seat except with a significant student population courtesy of Leeds University and later Leeds Beckett University, both of which have campuses in this seat. This seat also contains the main grounds of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Headingley Castle, the ruins of Kirkstall Abbey, and many of Leeds' other important historic buildings. Its demographics correspond with it being the most progressive of Leeds' constituencies-low home ownership, low car ownership, strong ethnic diversity, and high education levels.
For 33 years it was represented by Sir Donald Kaberry, who was created a Baronet in 1961 and later raised to the House of Lords as Baron Kaberry of Adel. His successor in the post-1983 version of Leeds NW was Dr Keith Hampson, a lecturer who had won the Ripon seat back from the Liberals in 1974 and transferred to Leeds NW after Ripon was abolished (it donated Otley and Wharfedale to Leeds NW); he was briefly PPS to Michael Heseltine (now Baron Heseltine) before a scandal forced him to resign that post, and ran Mr Heseltine's (as he was then) leadership campaign in 1990. He was unseated in 1997 by Labour's Harold Best, who won it from 3rd place with the SDP/Liberal Democrats having gained considerable traction in that seat during the 1980s as they had in similar seats. Mr Best retired in 2005 and then it was the Liberal Democrats' turn to win it from 3rd place via Greg Mulholland, with tuition fees and the Iraq War being the key factors behind Labour's loss of this seat. The same student population turning against the Liberal Democrats in 2015 could have cost Mr Mulholland his seat then, but tactical voting from Conservative voters saved him, just like it saved Nick Clegg in Sheffield Hallam the same year. Mr Mulholland's luck finally ran out in 2017 when the "Corbyn surge" in progressive, student-heavy seats like this saw Labour's Alex Sobel unseat him, the strong Remain vote notwithstanding. In 2019, Mr Sobel became one of a minority of Labour MPs to increase his vote share when the Liberal Democrat challenge collapsed, with the Lib Dems falling into 3rd place behind the Conservatives again despite the strong Remain vote.
Leeds Central & Headingley is expected to be a safe Labour seat although there is strong potential for this to change in the future. However, with a notional majority of 24,630, Labour will have no problems holding this seat for the time being, and furthermore every councillor representing wards in this seat is a Labour councillor.
