Post by John Chanin on Jan 8, 2024 15:27:27 GMT
This is a more heavily rewritten version of the original profile by @europeanlefty , cutting out repetition of the history given in the profile for South, and adding detail from the 2021 census, boundary changes, and some political history.
Leicester West is one of the most working class seats in the country, and although it is considered the “white working-class” constituency in Leicester, this is only relative, as there is still a large ethnic minority population, both black and south asian, by national standards. Part of the reason for Leicester’s high levels of deprivation, is that most of the modern expansion of the city, and its middle-class inhabitants fall outside the city’s administrative boundaries, and this is the case here. It is also part of the reason why this seat had become undersized. The Boundary Commission originally proposed adding the suburb of Glenfield to this seat, which was not only reasonable, but part of a sensible much wider reorganization of parliamentary seats in Leicestershire. However as only too common in the latest boundary review, minimizing change eventually took priority, and instead of Glenfield the southern ward of Aylestone, within Leicester’s boundaries, has been added to the seat. While this is east of the river Soar, rather than west, as is the rest of the constituency, it is not entirely out of place here. It is not wholly true that the seat was west of the Soar, although this forms the boundary for most of the old seat. Frog Island, just north of the city centre, and between the Soar and the Grand Union Canal, was a major centre of industry, as Leicester developed as an industrial city in the 1800s, the canal playing an important role, as well as the railway.
Unlike Leicester South the seat is fairly uniform in composition. Routine and semi-routine workers are over 40% everywhere, except in more middle-class and newly added Aylestone. Westcotes ward however, just across the Soar from De Montfort university, is full of students and private tenants, which gives it a different feel to the rest of the seat, and consists of dense late Victorian and Edwardian terraces. Owner-occupation is below 50% everywhere except Aylestone, and council renting remains generally high, although less so in Fosse ward north-west of the city centre, as well as Westcotes, which is also mostly old terraced housing. The outer western wards are still over 70% white, although there is a black population of around 10% everywhere except Aylestone. The south asian population, as might be expected, is concentrated in the northern Abbey ward, which adjoins Leicester East.
With the demographics of a deprived, industrial, working-class area, it is little surprise that this seat has been in Labour hands since its creation. However Leicester is a good example of how politics has changed over the last 40 years. It was the only one of Leicester’s three seats to stay in Labour hands in 1983, although subsequently it had consistently lower Labour performance than the other Leicester seats, and while South was moving from marginal to safe, West was going the other way with a majority of just 11% in 2010, and a majority nearly 20% lower than East and South in 2015. In 2019 the majority was back to just 12%. In line with this Labour used to hold every council seat within the constituency. However this is no longer the case. Aylestone ward is the one Leicester ward where the Liberal Democrats regularly elect councillors. And the two northern wards of Abbey and Beaumont Leys shared in the revolt against Labour seen in the east of the city in 2023, based substantially, but not wholly on the Hindu community, and elected Conservative councillors. Before 2011, Western Park – now subsumed into Western ward – used to give them the most trouble and does contain the most affluent area of the seat and the highest proportion of owner-occupied housing, so there are still some Conservative votes here. Overall, this is a historically safe Labour seat that delivered a shock in 2019 in line with many other areas of the Midlands. This is the continuation of a trend in many similar working class seats, and whether this will continue remains to be seen, although the party is not in the same difficulty here as in Leicester East.
Leicester West has had a number of high profile MPs. Post-war it was Barnett Janner, a prominent figure in the jewish community, and he passed the seat on to his son Greville in 1970. He was Chairman of the Board of Deputies of British Jews for a while, and made a life peer on his retirement in 1997, but his declining years were blighted by allegations of child sexual abuse, which were never tested in court owing to his dementia. His successor was Patricia Hewitt, a major figure in the Blair governments, and an Australian in origin (although you wouldn’t know it from her accent). On her retirement in 2010 the seat was inherited by the current MP, Liz Kendall. Inheritance is a justified term here as she previously worked for Hewitt. She is currently a shadow cabinet member, and was humiliated in finishing a poor last in the Labour Party leadership election in 2015.
Census data: Owner-occupied 44% (532/575 in England & Wales), private rented 29% (72nd), social rented 27% (51st).
: White 63%(487th), Black 10%(61st), South Asian 15%(66th), Mixed 5%(90th), Other 7%(104th)
: Muslim 10.5%(104th), Hindu 7%(21st), Sikh 3%(36th)
: Managerial & professional 26% (563rd), Routine & Semi-routine 45% (7th)
: Degree level 26%(451st), Minimal qualifications 36%(55th)
: Students 12% (52nd), Over 65- 11% (523rd)
Boundaries : The new seat is made up of 89% from Leicester W, and 11% from Leicester S
100% of the old seat is in the new one
Leicester West is one of the most working class seats in the country, and although it is considered the “white working-class” constituency in Leicester, this is only relative, as there is still a large ethnic minority population, both black and south asian, by national standards. Part of the reason for Leicester’s high levels of deprivation, is that most of the modern expansion of the city, and its middle-class inhabitants fall outside the city’s administrative boundaries, and this is the case here. It is also part of the reason why this seat had become undersized. The Boundary Commission originally proposed adding the suburb of Glenfield to this seat, which was not only reasonable, but part of a sensible much wider reorganization of parliamentary seats in Leicestershire. However as only too common in the latest boundary review, minimizing change eventually took priority, and instead of Glenfield the southern ward of Aylestone, within Leicester’s boundaries, has been added to the seat. While this is east of the river Soar, rather than west, as is the rest of the constituency, it is not entirely out of place here. It is not wholly true that the seat was west of the Soar, although this forms the boundary for most of the old seat. Frog Island, just north of the city centre, and between the Soar and the Grand Union Canal, was a major centre of industry, as Leicester developed as an industrial city in the 1800s, the canal playing an important role, as well as the railway.
Unlike Leicester South the seat is fairly uniform in composition. Routine and semi-routine workers are over 40% everywhere, except in more middle-class and newly added Aylestone. Westcotes ward however, just across the Soar from De Montfort university, is full of students and private tenants, which gives it a different feel to the rest of the seat, and consists of dense late Victorian and Edwardian terraces. Owner-occupation is below 50% everywhere except Aylestone, and council renting remains generally high, although less so in Fosse ward north-west of the city centre, as well as Westcotes, which is also mostly old terraced housing. The outer western wards are still over 70% white, although there is a black population of around 10% everywhere except Aylestone. The south asian population, as might be expected, is concentrated in the northern Abbey ward, which adjoins Leicester East.
With the demographics of a deprived, industrial, working-class area, it is little surprise that this seat has been in Labour hands since its creation. However Leicester is a good example of how politics has changed over the last 40 years. It was the only one of Leicester’s three seats to stay in Labour hands in 1983, although subsequently it had consistently lower Labour performance than the other Leicester seats, and while South was moving from marginal to safe, West was going the other way with a majority of just 11% in 2010, and a majority nearly 20% lower than East and South in 2015. In 2019 the majority was back to just 12%. In line with this Labour used to hold every council seat within the constituency. However this is no longer the case. Aylestone ward is the one Leicester ward where the Liberal Democrats regularly elect councillors. And the two northern wards of Abbey and Beaumont Leys shared in the revolt against Labour seen in the east of the city in 2023, based substantially, but not wholly on the Hindu community, and elected Conservative councillors. Before 2011, Western Park – now subsumed into Western ward – used to give them the most trouble and does contain the most affluent area of the seat and the highest proportion of owner-occupied housing, so there are still some Conservative votes here. Overall, this is a historically safe Labour seat that delivered a shock in 2019 in line with many other areas of the Midlands. This is the continuation of a trend in many similar working class seats, and whether this will continue remains to be seen, although the party is not in the same difficulty here as in Leicester East.
Leicester West has had a number of high profile MPs. Post-war it was Barnett Janner, a prominent figure in the jewish community, and he passed the seat on to his son Greville in 1970. He was Chairman of the Board of Deputies of British Jews for a while, and made a life peer on his retirement in 1997, but his declining years were blighted by allegations of child sexual abuse, which were never tested in court owing to his dementia. His successor was Patricia Hewitt, a major figure in the Blair governments, and an Australian in origin (although you wouldn’t know it from her accent). On her retirement in 2010 the seat was inherited by the current MP, Liz Kendall. Inheritance is a justified term here as she previously worked for Hewitt. She is currently a shadow cabinet member, and was humiliated in finishing a poor last in the Labour Party leadership election in 2015.
Census data: Owner-occupied 44% (532/575 in England & Wales), private rented 29% (72nd), social rented 27% (51st).
: White 63%(487th), Black 10%(61st), South Asian 15%(66th), Mixed 5%(90th), Other 7%(104th)
: Muslim 10.5%(104th), Hindu 7%(21st), Sikh 3%(36th)
: Managerial & professional 26% (563rd), Routine & Semi-routine 45% (7th)
: Degree level 26%(451st), Minimal qualifications 36%(55th)
: Students 12% (52nd), Over 65- 11% (523rd)
Boundaries : The new seat is made up of 89% from Leicester W, and 11% from Leicester S
100% of the old seat is in the new one
2017 | % | 2019 | % | Notional | % | |
Labour | 22,823 | 60.8 | 17,291 | 49.7 | 19,027 | 49.3 |
Conservative | 11,763 | 31.4 | 13,079 | 37.6 | 14,145 | 36.7 |
Liberal Democrat | 792 | 2.1 | 1,808 | 5.2 | 2,592 | 6.7 |
UKIP/Brexit | 1,406 | 3.7 | 1,620 | 4.7 | 1,740 | 4.5 |
Green | 607 | 1.6 | 977 | 2.8 | 1,091 | 2.8 |
Other | 121 | 0.3 | ||||
| Majority | 11,060 | 29.5 | 4,212 | 12.1 | 4,882 | 12.7 |