Leicester East (UK Parliament constituency)

Leicester East
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Leicester East in Leicestershire.
Location of Leicestershire within England.
County	Leicestershire
Electorate	74,377 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1974 (1974)
Member of parliament	Keith Vaz (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Leicester South East Leicester North East
1918–1950
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Leicester South East Leicester North East
Created from	Leicester
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	East Midlands

Leicester East is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1987 by Keith Vaz of the Labour Party and former Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee.

1918-1950: The County Borough of Leicester wards of Belgrave, Latimer, Spinney Hill, and West Humberstone.

1974-1983: The County Borough of Leicester wards of Belgrave, Charnwood, Evington, Humberstone, and Latimer.

1983-2010: The City of Leicester wards of Belgrave, Charnwood, Coleman, Evington, Humberstone, Latimer, Rushey Mead, Thurncourt, and West Humberstone.

2010–2015: The City of Leicester wards of Belgrave, Charnwood, Coleman, Evington, Humberstone & Hamilton, Latimer, Rushey Mead, and Thurncourt.

An urban seat in the commercial and engineering centre of Leicester. Leicester East has one of the highest Asian populations of any British constituency. In the 2001 census two-thirds of the population were non-white and 58% of people described themselves as Asian. Almost a third of the population here are Hindu, although there are also significant Muslim and Sikh minorities.

Leicester East is generally a safe Labour seat. It was briefly and narrowly held by the trenchant Conservative MP turned lay canon Peter Bruinvels at the height of the Tory party's popularity in 1983, but was regained by Labour in 1987 and has become increasingly safe since then.

The seat was created in 1918 and for the next four years was served by Sir Gordon Hewart KC, who in 1922 became Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. In 1950 it was divided between two new constituencies; Leicester North East and Leicester South East, which also covered part of the present Charnwood seat and Rutland and Melton. In 1974 the seat was recreated and covers part of Leicester City Centre and its relatively compact eastern suburbs, compared to the remainder of the county.