Leeds North West (UK Parliament constituency)

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.

Boundaries
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 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 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.

History
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 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 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 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 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 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 the new constituency was a Conservative win. In the 2024 general election the seat was won by Katie White for Labour.

Constituency profile
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 the UK left the EU was represented by three Brexit Party, one Labour, one Liberal Democrat and one Green Party MEPs.

Elections in the 2020s
Note that the figures for gain and loss refer to comparisons with the notional 2019 result for the constituency with its revised boundaries.