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 prior to 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 Leeds City Council, and as of 2008 Labour's candidate in the 2010 general election), but it was taken for the Liberal Democrats by Greg Mulholland.
This constituency has one of the biggest student populations in the country; over a quarter of the electorate.
Read more about this topic: Leeds North West (UK Parliament Constituency)
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