75-1176: Leeds North West is a constituency in the City of Leeds which has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Katie White , of the Labour Party . 1950–1951 : The County Borough of Leeds wards of Far Headingley, Hyde Park, and Kirkstall . 1951–1955 : The County Borough of Leeds wards of Far Headingley, Hyde Park, Kirkstall, and Meanwood. 1955–1974 : The County Borough of Leeds wards of Far Headingley, Hyde Park, Kirkstall, Meanwood, and Moortown . 1974–1983 : The County Borough of Leeds wards of Cookridge, Headingley, Kirkstall, Moortown, and Weetwood . 1983–2010 : The City of Leeds wards of Cookridge, Headingley, Otley and Wharfedale, and Weetwood. 2010–2024 : The City of Leeds wards of Adel and Wharfedale , Headingley, Otley and Yeadon , and Weetwood. 2024–present : The City of Leeds wards of: Adel and Wharfedale, Guiseley and Rawdon , Horsforth , and Otley and Yeadon. New boundaries of
150-420: A few cases one). From 1535 each Welsh county and borough was represented, by one knight or burgess. The franchise was restricted differently in different types of constituency; in county constituencies forty shilling freeholders (i.e. landowners) could vote, while in boroughs the franchise varied from potwallopers , giving many residents votes, to rotten boroughs with hardly any voters. A county borough
225-666: A form or degree of mixed-member proportional representation . The existing constituencies were created, effectively, for the first general election of the Scottish Parliament, in 1999. When created, all but two had the names and boundaries of Westminster constituencies. The two exceptions were the Orkney Holyrood constituency , covering the Orkney Islands council area , and the Shetland Holyrood constituency , covering
300-448: A more suitable label cannot be found. Where used, "The compass point reference used will generally form a prefix in cases where the rest of the constituency name refers to the county area or a local council, but a suffix where the rest of the name refers to a population centre." This is the reason for the difference in naming between, for example, North Shropshire (a county constituency ) and Reading West (a borough constituency ). In
375-545: A net gain of just one seat, 2005 was the first general election since their famous 1983 landslide victory where the number of Conservative seats increased appreciably, although the Conservatives' vote share increased only slightly and this election did mark the third successive general election in which the Conservatives polled below 35%. In some areas the Conservative vote actually fell. The Conservatives claimed to have won
450-586: A number of single-member first-past-the Post constituencies, matching the way Westminster MPs are elected. Following the decision that all MEPs should be elected by some form of proportional representation , the Labour government passed the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999 , creating eleven constituencies on Great Britain, which were first used in 1999 . The South West England constituency
525-555: A strong economy; however, Blair had suffered a decline in popularity, which was exacerbated by the controversial decision to send British troops to invade Iraq in 2003. Despite this, Labour mostly retained its leads over the Conservatives in opinion polls on economic competence and leadership, and Conservative leaders Iain Duncan Smith (2001–2003) and Michael Howard (2003–2005) struggled to capitalise on Blair's unpopularity, with
600-450: Is based on the 2001 election results if they had been fought on these new 2005 boundaries. At 04:28 BST, it was announced that Labour had won Corby , giving them 324 seats in the House of Commons out of those then declared and an overall majority, Labour's total reaching 355 seats out of the 646 House of Commons seats. Labour received 35.3% of the popular vote , equating to approximately 22% of
675-679: Is in the Holyrood area of Edinburgh , while the main meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom is the Palace of Westminster , in the City of Westminster . There are 73 Holyrood constituencies covering Scotland , and each elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first-past-the-post system . Also, the constituencies are grouped into eight electoral regions, and each of these regions elects seven additional members , to produce
750-559: The 1992 general election and having not taken a single seat off Labour in 1997 , they had held their gains off Labour from the 2001 general election and had actually made further gains from them. The Liberal Democrats also managed to take three seats from the Conservatives, one notable victory being that of Tim Farron over Tim Collins in Westmorland and Lonsdale , through the use of a "decapitation strategy", which targeted senior Tories. The Liberal Democrats increased their percentage of
825-465: The 2005 United Kingdom general election , the House of Commons had 646 constituencies covering the whole of the United Kingdom. This rose to 650 in the 2010 election following the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies . Each constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the " first-past-the-post " system of election. The House of Commons is one of the two chambers of
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#1732851717378900-653: The Acts of Union 1707 , Scottish burghs were grouped into districts of burghs in the Parliament of Great Britain , except that Edinburgh was a constituency in its own right . After the Acts of Union 1800 , smaller Irish boroughs were disenfranchised, while most others returned only one MP to the United Kingdom Parliament. The Reform Act 1832 reduced the number of parliamentary boroughs in England and Wales by eliminating
975-668: The European Parliament , prior to the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union (see European Parliament constituency ). In local government elections (other than for the London Assembly) electoral areas are called wards or electoral divisions . House of Commons, Scottish Parliament, Senedd and Northern Ireland Assembly constituencies are designated as either county or borough constituencies, except that in Scotland
1050-600: The Guinness Book of World Records as longest consecutive delivery of first results). The vote itself represented a swing (in a safe Labour seat, in a safe Labour region) of about 4% to the Conservatives and 4.5% to the Liberal Democrats, somewhat below the prediction of BBC/ITV exit polls published shortly after 2200 BST. Sunderland North was the next to declare, followed by Houghton and Washington East , both of whose Labour MPs retained their seats but with reductions in
1125-419: The House of Commons . The governing Labour Party led by the prime minister Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, with Blair becoming the second Labour leader after Harold Wilson to form three majority governments. However, its majority fell to 66 seats; the majority it won four years earlier had been of 167 seats. The UK media interpreted the results as an indicator of a breakdown in trust in
1200-460: The House of Commons —they follow a policy of abstentionism .) The pro- independence Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales) stood candidates in every constituency in Scotland and Wales respectively. Many seats were contested by other parties, including several parties without incumbents in the House of Commons. Parties that were not represented at Westminster, but had seats in
1275-518: The Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004 , which enabled the creation of a new set of Westminster constituencies without change to Holyrood constituencies. The new Westminster boundaries became effective for the 2005 United Kingdom general election . There are 40 Senedd constituencies covering Wales , and each elects one Member of the Senedd (MS) by the first-past-the-post system . Also,
1350-562: The Shetland Islands council area . For Westminster elections, these council areas were covered (and still are covered) by the Orkney and Shetland Westminster constituency . In 1999, under the Scotland Act 1998 , the expectation was that there would be a permanent link between the boundaries of Holyrood constituencies and those of Westminster constituencies. This link was broken, however, by
1425-506: The United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons . Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by electoral districts called " constituencies " as opposed to " wards ": Between 1921 and 1973 the following body also included members elected by constituencies: Electoral areas called constituencies were previously used in elections to
1500-539: The bicameral Parliament of the United Kingdom , the other being the House of Lords . There are fourteen London Assembly constituencies covering the Greater London area, and each constituency elects one member of the assembly by the first-past-the-post system . Eleven additional members are elected from Greater London as a whole to produce a form or degree of mixed-member proportional representation . Constituency names and boundaries remain now as they were for
1575-831: The devolved assemblies and/or the European Parliament , included the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland , the UK Independence Party , the Green Party of England and Wales , the Scottish Green Party , and the Scottish Socialist Party . The Health Concern party also stood again. A full list of parties which declared their intention to run can be found on the list of parties contesting the 2005 general election . All parties campaigned using such tools as party manifestos , party political broadcasts and touring
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#17328517173781650-488: The first general election of the assembly, in 2000. The assembly is part of the Greater London Authority and general elections of the assembly are held at the same time as election of the mayor of London . There are 18 Northern Ireland Assembly Constituencies : four borough (for Belfast ) and 14 county constituencies elsewhere (see below). Each elects five MLAs to the 90 member NI Assembly by means of
1725-453: The returning officer who was obliged to declare the result as soon as it was known. As previously, there was serious competition amongst constituencies to be first to declare. Sunderland South repeated its performance in the last three elections and declared Labour incumbent Chris Mullin re-elected as MP with a majority of 11,059 at approximately 2245 BST (failing by two minutes to beat its previous best, but making it eligible for entry into
1800-424: The single transferable vote system. Assembly Constituency boundaries are identical to their House of Commons equivalents. The constituencies below are not used for the election of members to the 11 district councils . Scottish Parliament constituencies are sometimes called Holyrood constituencies, to distinguish them from Westminster (House of Commons) constituencies. The Scottish Parliament Building
1875-471: The 1920s, was reduced from six MPs to one, with party leader David Trimble himself being unseated. The more hardline Democratic Unionist Party became the largest Northern Irish party, with nine MPs elected. Apart from Trimble, notable MPs leaving the House of Commons at this election included former SDLP leader John Hume , former Cabinet ministers Estelle Morris , Paul Boateng , Chris Smith , Gillian Shephard , Virginia Bottomley and Michael Portillo ,
1950-447: The BBC and ITV agreed for the first time to pool their respective data, using results from Mori and NOP. More than 20,000 people were interviewed for the poll at 120 polling stations across the country. The predictions were very accurate—initial projections saw Labour returned to power with a majority of 66 (down from 160), and the final result (including South Staffordshire , where the election
2025-544: The Boundary Commissions for England , Wales , Scotland and Northern Ireland the power to create names for constituencies, and does not provide a set of statutory guidelines for the Commissions to follow in doing so. Constituency names are geographic, and "should normally reflect the main population centre(s) contained in the constituency". Compass points are used to distinguish constituencies from each other when
2100-505: The Conservatives. The first Liberal Democrat seat to be declared was North East Fife , the constituency of Lib Dem deputy leader Sir Menzies Campbell which he had held since 1987 . The constituency of Crawley in West Sussex had the slimmest majority of any seat, with Labour's Laura Moffatt holding off the Conservatives' Henry Smith by 37 votes after three recounts. Following problems with exit polls in previous British elections,
2175-616: The Father of the House of Commons Tam Dalyell , Tony Banks and Sir Teddy Taylor , while Stephen Twigg lost the Enfield Southgate constituency back to the Conservatives. A notable MP who joined the House of Commons at this election was future Labour leader and energy secretary Ed Miliband . Following the election, Michael Howard conceded defeat , resigned as Conservative leader and was succeeded by future prime minister David Cameron . Blair resigned as both prime minister and leader of
2250-576: The Labour Party in June 2007, and was replaced by Gordon Brown , the then Chancellor of the Exchequer . The election results were broadcast live on the BBC and presented by Peter Snow , David Dimbleby , Tony King , Jeremy Paxman , and Andrew Marr . The governing Labour Party , led by Tony Blair , was looking to secure a third consecutive term in office and to retain a large majority. The Conservative Party
2325-494: The Lib Dems' vote share predicted by the exit poll was accurate (22.6% compared to the actual 22.0%), they did better in some Lib Dem-Labour marginals than predicted on the basis of the national share of the vote, and achieved a net gain of 11 seats. There were major boundary changes in Scotland, where the number of seats was reduced from 72 to 59. As a result of this each party lost some seats, and this notional election result below
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2400-462: The Liberal Democrats achieving what was at that point their largest vote share in their history. Blair won a third term as prime minister, with Labour having 355 MPs, but with a popular vote share of just 35.2%. This was the smallest of any majority government in UK electoral history until Keir Starmer won an even lower share in 2024. In terms of votes, Labour was only narrowly ahead of the Conservatives, but
2475-528: The Liberal Democrats failed to match the higher national votes of the SDP–Liberal Alliance in the 1980s either in absolute or percentage terms. The total combined vote for Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats proved to be the lowest main three-party vote since 1922 . Popular vote The figure of 355 seats for Labour does not include the Speaker Michael Martin . See also
2550-630: The Liberal Democrats. In Northern Ireland the Ulster Unionists were all but wiped out, only keeping North Down , with leader David Trimble losing his seat in Upper Bann . For the first time the DUP became the biggest party in Northern Ireland. It was the first general election since 1929 in which no party received more than ten million votes. It was the most "three-cornered" election since 1923 , though
2625-722: The Official Opposition, but more realistically hoped to play a major part in a parliament led by a minority Labour or Conservative government. In Northern Ireland the Democratic Unionist Party sought to make further gains from the Ulster Unionist Party in unionist politics, and Sinn Féin hoped to overtake the Social Democratic and Labour Party in nationalist politics. (Sinn Féin MPs do not take their seats in
2700-610: The Tories and the Liberal Democrats, Labour also lost Blaenau Gwent , its safest seat in Wales, to Independent Peter Law , and Bethnal Green and Bow to Respect candidate George Galloway . The Conservatives claimed that their increased number of seats showed disenchantment with the Labour government and was a precursor of a Conservative breakthrough at the next election. Following three consecutive elections of declining representation and then in 2001
2775-452: The UK left the EU was represented by three Brexit Party , one Labour , one Liberal Democrat and one Green Party MEPs . Note that the figures for gain and loss refer to comparisons with the notional 2019 result for the constituency with its revised boundaries. 53°53′N 1°40′W / 53.88°N 1.66°W / 53.88; -1.66 United Kingdom constituencies In
2850-466: The United Kingdom elected its Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) through twelve multimember European Parliament constituencies . One, Northern Ireland , used single transferable vote , while the eleven covering Great Britain used the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation . For its first European Parliamentary elections in 1979 Great Britain was divided into
2925-525: The caption "Britain's working, don't let the Tories wreck it again." For the Liberal Democrats, this was the second and final election campaign fought by leader Charles Kennedy , who strongly opposed the Iraq War and personally offered a more down-to-earth approach to voters, which proved popular. There were some questions, however, over Kennedy's abilities when, at the Liberal Democrat manifesto launch, he
3000-485: The constituencies are grouped into five electoral regions, and each of these regions elects four additional members , to produce a form or degree of mixed-member proportional representation . The current set of Senedd constituencies is the second to be created. The first was created for the first general election of the National Assembly for Wales, in 1999. Before its withdrawal from the European Union in 2020,
3075-453: The constituencies of: Leeds Central , Leeds North , Leeds South , Leeds West , (all created 1885); Leeds North-East and Leeds South-East (both created 1918). There were also constituencies of Batley and Morley (created 1918) and Pudsey and Otley (created 1918 replacing Pudsey ). Leeds North West was created before the 1950 election, and at the same time the Pudsey and Otley constituency
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3150-450: The constituencies since 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies described as following: Headingley and Weetwood in the south of the existing constituency (about 50% of the electorate) are to be included in the newly formed constituency of Leeds Central and Headingley , while Guiseley, Rawdon and Horsforth will be transferred from Pudsey (which is being reconfigured and renamed Leeds West and Pudsey ). The constituency covers
3225-456: The council. The spending limits for election campaigns are different in the two, the reasoning being that candidates in county constituencies tend to need to travel farther. For by-elections to any of these bodies, the limit in all constituencies is £100,000. In the House of Commons of England , each English county elected two " knights of the shire " while each enfranchised borough elected "burgesses" (usually two, sometimes four, and in
3300-526: The country in what are commonly referred to as battle buses . Local elections in parts of England and in Northern Ireland were held on the same day. The polls were open for fifteen hours, from 07:00 to 22:00 BST ( UTC+1 ). The election came just over three weeks after the dissolution of Parliament on 11 April by Queen Elizabeth II , at the request of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Following
3375-425: The death of Pope John Paul II on 2 April, it was announced that the calling of the election would be delayed until 5 April. Thanks to eight years of sustained economic growth Labour could point to a strong economy, with greater investment in public services such as education and health. This was overshadowed, however, by the issue of the controversial 2003 invasion of Iraq , which met widespread public criticism at
3450-558: The distinction; the Boundary Commission for England has stated that, "as a general principle, where constituencies contain more than a small rural element they should normally be designated as county constituencies. Otherwise they should be designated as borough constituencies." In Scotland, all House of Commons constituencies are county constituencies except those in the cities of Glasgow , Edinburgh , Aberdeen , Dundee and three urban areas of Lanarkshire . In England and Wales,
3525-498: The electorate on a 61.3% turnout, up from 59.4% turnout in 2001. As expected, voter disenchantment led to an increase of support for many opposition parties, and caused many eligible to vote, not to turn out. Labour achieved a third successive term in office for the first time in their history, though with reduction of the Labour majority from 167 to 67 (as it was before the declaration of South Staffordshire ). As it became clear that Labour had won an overall majority, Michael Howard ,
3600-461: The general election in England, since they received more votes than Labour although Labour still won a majority of seats. The Liberal Democrats claimed that their continued gradual increase in seats and percentage vote showed they were in a position to make further gains from both parties. They pointed in particular to the fact that they were now in second place in roughly one hundred and ninety constituencies and that having had net losses to Labour in
3675-501: The government, and especially in Blair. This was the first time the Labour Party had won a third consecutive election, but would be the last election victory for Labour until 2024 . The Liberal Democrats , led by Charles Kennedy , increased its seat count for a third consecutive election, netting the most seats in its history until 2024 and the most of any of the connected British Liberal parties since 1929 . The Labour campaign emphasised
3750-406: The incumbent majorities of up to 9%. The first Scottish seat to declare was Rutherglen and Hamilton West — another safe Labour seat, also a Labour hold, but with the majority reduced by 4%. The first seat to change hands was Putney , where Labour's majority of 2,771 fell to a strong Conservative challenge, with a total swing of about 5,000 (6.2%). This was also the first seat to be declared for
3825-552: The leader of the Conservative Party, announced his intention to retire from frontline politics. The final seat to declare was the delayed poll in South Staffordshire, at just after 1 a.m. on Friday 24 June. The election was followed by further criticism of the UK electoral system. Calls for reform came particularly from Lib Dem supporters, citing that they received only just over 10% of the overall seats with 22.1% of
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#17328517173783900-563: The new constituency was a Conservative win. In the 2024 general election the seat was won by Katie White for Labour. This constituency has one of the biggest student populations in the country at over a quarter of the electorate; it comprises outer Leeds suburbs that are professional, middle-to-high income and residential. It was within the Yorkshire and the Humber European Parliament constituency, which from 2019 to 2020 when
3975-415: The northwestern part of the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds , West Yorkshire . It stretches from Otley in the north to Horsforth in the south, with Guiseley and Yeadon in between them in terms of major settlements. The constituency was created in 1950, as Leeds North-West ; the name was changed by dropping the hyphen in 1955. Before the 1950 general election , Leeds was represented by
4050-416: The old constituency) and Leeds Central and Headingley (14.3% by area and 49.8% by population). The new constituency was made up predominantly of parts of the old constituency (62.2% by area and 47.3% by population of the new constituency) and Pudsey (37.7% by area and 52.7% by population), with a small contribution from Leeds North East (0.1% by area and 0.0% by population). The notional 2019 result for
4125-501: The party consistently trailing behind Labour in the polls throughout the 2001–2005 parliament. The Conservatives campaigned on policies such as immigration limits, improving poorly managed hospitals, and reducing high crime rates. The Liberal Democrats took a strong stance against the Iraq War , particularly due to the absence of a second United Nations resolution, This anti-war position resonated with disenchanted Labour voters, leading to
4200-518: The party still held a comfortable lead in terms of seats. The Conservatives returned 198 MPs, with 32 more seats than they had won at the previous general election, and won the popular vote in England , while still ending up with 91 fewer MPs in England than Labour. The Liberal Democrats saw their share of the popular vote increase by 3.7%, and won the most seats of any third party since 1923 , with 62 MPs. Anti-war activist and former Labour MP George Galloway
4275-483: The popular vote. The only parties to win a substantially higher percentage of seats than they achieved in votes were Labour, the Democratic Unionist Party, Sinn Féin, and Health Concern , which ran only one candidate. The results of the election give a Gallagher index of dis-proportionality of 16.76. The Labour government claimed that being returned to office for a third term for the first time ever showed
4350-465: The position of returning officer in borough constituencies is held ex officio by the mayor or chairman of the borough or district council, and the high sheriff of the county in county constituencies. The administration of elections is carried out by the acting returning officer, who will typically be a local council's chief executive or Head of Legal Services. The role, however, is separate from these posts, and can be held by any person appointed by
4425-413: The previous common electoral quota for the whole United Kingdom and replaced it with four separate national minimal seat quotas for the respective Boundaries commissions to work to, as a result the separate national electoral quotas came into effect: England 69,534; Northern Ireland 67,145, Wales 58,383 and in Scotland only 54,741 electors. The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 gives
4500-513: The public approval of Labour 's governance and the continued unpopularity of the Conservatives. Nevertheless, Labour's vote declined to 35.3%, the lowest share of the popular vote to have formed a majority government in the history of the UK House of Commons. In many areas the collapse in the Labour vote resulted in a host of seats changing hands. Labour also failed to gain any new seats, almost unique in any election since 1945. As well as losing seats to
4575-788: The rotten boroughs. It also divided larger counties into two two-seat divisions , the boundaries of which were defined in the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832 , and gave seven counties a third member. Similar reforms were also made for Scotland and for Ireland . The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 ( 48 & 49 Vict. c. 23) equalised the population of constituencies; it split larger boroughs into multiple single-member constituencies, reduced smaller boroughs from two seats each to one, split each two-seat county and division into two single-member constituencies, and each three-seat county into single-member constituencies. The House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1958 , eliminated
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#17328517173784650-430: The term burgh is used instead of borough . Since the advent of universal suffrage , the differences between county and borough constituencies are slight. Formerly (see below ) the franchise differed, and there were also county borough and university constituencies. Borough constituencies are predominantly urban while county constituencies are predominantly rural . There is no definitive statutory criterion for
4725-470: The time, and would dog Blair throughout the campaign. The Chancellor, Gordon Brown , played a prominent role in the election campaign, frequently appearing with Blair and ensuring that the economy would remain the central focus of Labour's message. Recently elected Conservative leader Michael Howard brought a great level of experience and stability to a party that had ousted its former leader Iain Duncan Smith just 18 months prior. The Conservative campaign
4800-405: The unpopular Major Government of 1992–1997 , airing a party election broadcast attacking Howard, showing a montage of scenes from Howard's tenure as Home Secretary , including prison riots and home repossessions. It also launched a billboard campaign showing Howard, and the Conservative Party's four previous leaders ( Iain Duncan Smith , William Hague , John Major and Margaret Thatcher ), with
4875-562: The vote by 3.7%, the Conservatives by 0.6%, and Labour's dropped by 5.4%. The UK media interpreted the results as an indicator of a breakdown in trust in the government, and especially in Blair. Meanwhile, the Scottish National Party improved its position in Scotland, regaining the Western Isles and Dundee East from Labour, having lost both seats in 1987. In Wales Plaid Cymru failed to gain any seats and lost Ceredigion to
4950-741: Was abolished, re-creating the Pudsey constituency and moving Otley into the Ripon constituency. The Leeds North West boundary was revised prior to the 1983 general election , bringing in Otley and the nearby villages of Bramhope , Pool-in-Wharfedale and Arthington from the abolition of the Ripon constituency. The constituency was held for the Conservative Party by Donald Kaberry from its creation in 1950 until his retirement in 1983, and then by Keith Hampson (1983–1997), who had previously been MP for Ripon . It
5025-401: Was asked about local income tax, but appeared confused on the figures. Both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives were keen to tackle Labour's introduction of tuition fees , which both opposition parties opposed and promised to abolish. At the close of voting (2200 BST ) the ballot boxes were sealed and returned to the counting centres, where counting proceeded under the supervision of
5100-642: Was elected as the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow under the Respect – The Unity Coalition banner, unseating Oona King ; Richard Taylor was re-elected for Kidderminster Health Concern in Wyre Forest ; and independent candidate Peter Law was elected in Blaenau Gwent . In Northern Ireland , the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), the more moderate of the main unionist parties, which had dominated Northern Irish politics since
5175-437: Was expanded from the 2004 elections onward to include Gibraltar , the only British overseas territory that was part of the European Union , following a court case. 2005 United Kingdom general election * Indicates boundary change – so this is a notional figure Tony Blair Labour Tony Blair Labour The 2005 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 5 May 2005, to elect 646 members to
5250-445: Was managed by Australian strategist Lynton Crosby . The campaign focused on more traditional conservative issues like immigration, which created some controversy with the slogan "It's not racist to impose limits on immigration". They also criticised Labour's "dirty" hospitals and high crime levels, under the umbrella of the slogan "Are you thinking what we're thinking?" However, Labour counter-attacked, by emphasising Howard's role in
5325-439: Was postponed due to the death of a candidate) was indeed a Labour majority of 66. The projected shares of the vote in Great Britain were Labour 35% (down 6% on 2001), Conservatives 33% (up 1%), Liberal Democrats 22% (up 4%) and other parties 8% (up 1%). The Conservatives were expected to make the biggest gains, however — 44 seats according to the exit poll — with the Liberal Democrats expected to take as few as two. While
5400-402: Was re-elected in 2010 and 2015 . Alex Sobel regained the seat for Labour in the 2017 general election , and was re-elected in 2019 . Following the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies , the constituency boundaries were substantially changed although its name was unchanged. The old constituency was divided between the new constituency (85.7% by area and 50.2% by population of
5475-622: Was seeking to regain seats lost to both Labour and the Liberal Democrats since the 1992 general election , and move from being the Official Opposition into government. The Liberal Democrats hoped to make gains from both main parties, but especially the Conservative Party, with a "decapitation" strategy targeting members of the Shadow Cabinet . The Lib Dems had also wished to become the governing party, or to make enough gains to become
5550-494: Was taken for Labour in the 1997 general election by Harold Best , who was re-elected in the 2001 general election . Best retired at the 2005 general election . The seat was contested for Labour by Judith Blake (at that time Deputy Leader of the Labour Group on Leeds City Council , and later also Labour's candidate in the 2010 general election ), but it was taken for the Liberal Democrats by Greg Mulholland . Mulholland
5625-459: Was the constituency of a county corporate , combining the franchises of both county and borough. Until 1950 there were also university constituencies , which gave graduates an additional representation. Similar distinctions applied in the Irish House of Commons , while the non-university elected members of the Parliament of Scotland were called Shire Commissioners and Burgh Commissioners. After
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