Leeds Central (UK Parliament constituency)

Leeds Central
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Leeds Central in West Yorkshire.
Location of West Yorkshire within England.
County	West Yorkshire
Electorate	80,912 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Leeds
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of parliament	Hilary Benn (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Leeds South, Leeds South East, Leeds East, Leeds West and Leeds North East
1885–1955
Replaced by	Leeds West, Leeds South and Leeds South East
Created from	Leeds
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	Yorkshire and the Humber

Leeds Central is a constituency recreated in 1983 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1999 by Hilary Benn of the Labour Party. A former guise of the seat spanned 1885 to 1955.

1885-1918: The Municipal Borough of Leeds wards of Mill Hill and West, and parts of the wards of Brunswick and Central.

1918-1950: The County Borough of Leeds wards of Central, Mill Hill, South, and West, and parts of the wards of Brunswick, Headingley, and North West.

1950-1955: The County Borough of Leeds wards of Armley and New Wortley, Blenheim, Central, Holbeck North, Mill Hill, and South and Westfield.

1983-1997: The City of Leeds wards of Beeston, City and Holbeck, Richmond Hill, and University.

1997-2010: As above plus Hunslet.

2010–present: The City of Leeds wards of Beeston and Holbeck, Burmantofts and Richmond Hill, City and Hunslet, Hyde Park and Woodhouse, and Middleton Park.

The business and retail centre of Leeds is at the heart. A relatively affluent hub having a large minority of its housing forming by luxury, well-served apartments or streets of grand middle-class Victorian houses, the seat has sporadic deprivation, typified by certain densely packed rows of terraced houses, home to many Labour-inclined and often low-income voters. Two large, well-ranked, universities in the city centre, the professional services sector and a 21st century increase in technology businesses has brought prosperity to the younger generations of the city. The older generations of the city have lived through the closure of many mass consumer product manufacturing and materials processing businesses in Leeds throughout the mid-20th century. Leeds' two universities produce a significant student . Middleton in the south of the seat has two golf courses and a miniature railway within the boundaries.

The constituency was created in 1885 by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, and was first used in the general election of that year *the large Leeds seat 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 in 1955. After the 1955 general election Leeds was represented by Leeds East (created 1885, abolished 1918, recreated 1955), Leeds North East (created 1918), Leeds North West (created 1950), Leeds South (created 1885), and Leeds South East (created 1918). There were also constituencies of Batley and Morley (created 1918) and Pudsey (created 1885, replaced by Pudsey and Otley 1918-1950).