Leeds South

Leeds South is a constituency in West Yorkshire, covering the areas of Leeds south and east of the city centre. This includes the neighbourhoods of Halton, Osmondthorpe, Burmantofts, Hunslet, Holbeck, Beeston, Belle Isle and Middleton. Leeds is one of the United Kingdom's largest cities and grew rapidly during the Industrial Revolution as a centre for textile manufacturing, especially wool. Today the city has a diverse economy and is the largest legal and financial centre in England outside of London.^[5][6] The southern parts of the constituency have a history of coal mining and much of the area consists of 20th-century low-income flats and council estates. Leeds South is one of the country's most deprived constituencies, with much of it falling within the top 10% most-deprived areas of England.^[7] House prices are lower than the rest of Yorkshire and less than half the national average.^[8]

On average, residents of the constituency are young and have low levels of education and homeownership. They are unlikely to work in professional occupations and household income is low.^[8] White people made up 68% of the population at the 2021 census. Black people were the largest ethnic minority group at 14% (mainly concentrated in Burmantofts) and Asians were 11% (mostly in Beeston).^[9] Most of the constituency elected Labour Party councillors at the local city council. Middleton is represented by the Social Democratic Party, the party's only local government representation in the country. An estimated 59% of voters in Leeds South supported leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum, higher than the nationwide figure of 52%.^[8]

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 split between the re-established constituency of Leeds Central, which included just over half of the seat's boundaries, and the new constituency of Morley and Leeds South, which took slightly under half of the seat's boundaries.^[1] 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 (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.^[2][10] The notional 2019 result for the new seat was Labour.^[11]

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