Leicester South (UK Parliament constituency)

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Leicester South Borough constituency
Leicester South shown within Leicester, and Leicester shown within England
Created:	1918, 1974
MP:	Peter Soulsby
Party:	Labour
Type:	House of Commons
County:	Leicestershire
EP constituency:	East Midlands

Leicester South is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP), by the first past the post voting system.

Contents 1 Boundaries 2 History 3 Members of Parliament 3.1 MPs 1918-1950 3.2 MPs 1974-present 4 Election results 5 See also 6 References

[edit] Boundaries

The seat is centred on the southern part of Leicester covering leafy suburbs such as Stoneygate and Knighton, as well as inner city areas with a strong Asian community and deprived outer estates such as Saffron and Eyres Monsell. The constituency encompasses the council wards of Spinney Hills, Stoneygate, Knighton, Freemen, Aylestone, Eyres Monsell and virtually all of Castle.

[edit] History

The constituency was first created in 1918, abolished in 1950, and reconstituted in 1974.

Leicester South has over the past few decades seen demographic changes which have altered the balance of the constituency. The seat saw close contests between the Conservatives and Labour in the 1980s, with Labour MP Jim Marshall losing the seat by just 7 votes to the Conservatives in the 1983 general election but regaining it in 1987. In subsequent elections the majority grew to the point where it was considered substantially safe.

Marshall died in 2004 and the resulting by-election was fiercely contested. Along with a by-election in Birmingham Hodge Hill held on the same day, the seat saw a fierce challenge by the Liberal Democrats, hoping to build on their previous by-election gain at Brent East, as well as competition for the anti-war vote from RESPECT The Unity Coalition. The seat was won by the Liberal Democrats' Parmjit Singh Gill with a majority of 1,654.

Sir Peter Soulsby, who had contested the seat for Labour at the byelection, won the seat at the 2005 election.

[edit] Members of Parliament

[edit] MPs 1918-1950

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Thomas Blane	Conservative
	1922	William George Waterhouse Reynolds	Conservative
	1923	Ronald Wilberforce Allen	Liberal
	1924	Charles Waterhouse	Conservative
	1945	Herbert Bowden	Labour
1950		constituency abolished

[edit] MPs 1974-present

Election		Member	Party
	Feb 1974	Thomas Boardman	Conservative
	Oct 1974	Jim Marshall	Labour
	1983	Derek Spencer	Conservative
	1987	Jim Marshall	Labour
	2004	Parmjit Singh Gill	Liberal Democrat
	2005	Peter Soulsby	Labour

[edit] Election results

General Election 2005: Leicester South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sir Peter Soulsby	16,688	39.3	+15.2
	Liberal Democrat	Parmjit Singh Gill	12,971	30.6	+13.4
	Conservative	Martin McElwee	7,549	17.8	−5.3
	Respect	Yvonne Ridley	2,720	6.4	N/A
	Green	Matthew Follett	1,379	3.3	+0.4
	Veritas	Ken Roseblade	573	1.4	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Dave Roberts	315	0.7	−0.9
	Independent	Paul Lord	216	0.5	N/A
Majority			3,717	8.8
Turnout			42,411	58.7	+0.7
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing

By-election 2004: Leicester South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Parmjit Singh Gill	10274	34.9	+17.7
	Labour	Sir Peter Soulsby	8620	29.3	-25.2
	Conservative	Chris Heaton-Harris	5796	19.7	-3.4
	Respect	Yvonne Ridley	3724	12.7	+12.7
	Socialist Labour	Dave Roberts	263	0.9	-0.7
	Monster Raving Loony	R. U. Seerius	225	0.8	+0.8
	Independent - Save Our Schools	Pat Kennedy	204	0.7	+0.7
	Independent	Paul Lord	186	0.6	+0.6
	Independent (anti-EU)	Mark Edwin Benson	55	0.2	+0.2
	Independent (yoga and meditation)	Jitendra Bardwaj	36	0.1	+0.1
	Independent Conservative	Alan Gordon Barrett	25	0.1	+0.1
Majority			1654	5.6
Turnout
	Liberal Democrat gain from Labour		Swing	21.5

General Election 2001: Leicester South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jim Marshall	22,958	54.5	-3.5
	Conservative	Richard Hoile	9,715	23.1	-0.7
	Liberal Democrat	Parmjit Singh Gill	7,243	17.2	+3.4
	Green	Margaret Layton	1,217	2.9
	Socialist Labour	Arnie Gardner	676	1.6
	UK Independence	Kirti Ladwa	330	0.8
Majority			13,243	31.4
Turnout			42,139	58.0

[edit] See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Leicestershire and Rutland

[edit] References

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page

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