Leicester East is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since July 2024 by Shivani Raja of the Conservative Party.
Constituency profile
Leicester East is an urban constituency in Leicestershire. It covers the eastern neighbourhoods of the city of Leicester, including Humberstone, Hamilton, Belgrave, Rushey Mead, North Evington and Thurncourt. Leicester is one of England's oldest cities with a history dating back to at least the Roman era when it was known as Ratae Corieltauvorum. Leicester has a strong association with the textile, clothing and shoemaking industries, which survived in the city until recently but mostly collapsed during the 2020s. The Leicester East constituency has high levels of deprivation, particularly in the areas close to the city centre with dense terraced housing like Belgrave. House prices in the constituency are similar to the rest of the East Midlands and lower than the national average.
In general, residents of the constituency are young and have low levels of education, income and professional employment. Leicester East has the highest percentage of Asian residents of any constituency in the United Kingdom; they made up 69% of the population at the 2021 census and most are of Indian origin. A majority of the Asian population are Hindu but there are also many Muslims and Sikhs. The Asian community mostly arrived in Leicester during the 1960s and 1970s, with many coming from Uganda as refugees following their expulsion from the country. White people made up 20% of residents in 2021, most of whom live on the city's outskirts in and around Thurncourt. Vaz won his highest majority, 22,428 votes (42.8%), in 2017. In 2019 Labour held the seat with a substantially reduced majority of 6,019, down from 22,428 – a swing of 15%.
The constituency was the sole gain by the Conservatives at the 2024 general election, when Shivani Raja was elected with 31.1% of the vote.
;Opposition parties
The Conservative Party candidate has been runner-up in every election save for Bruinvels' win in 1983 and Raja's victory in 2024. The candidate of UKIP took third place in 2015, for the first time; her 2010 counterpart had won 1.5% of the vote, the party not having previously stood in the constituency. The pro-UKIP swing between the 2010 and 2015 elections, of 7.4%, was less than the national average of 9.5%. Susan Cooper was 1.8% away from second place in 2005, giving the best result of a Liberal Democrat to date, attracting just under a fifth of the vote.
;Turnout
Turnout in the recreated seat has ranged between 78.7% in 1992 and 61.0% in 2024.
Boundaries
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.
2010–2024: The City of Leicester wards of Belgrave, Charnwood, Coleman, Evington, Humberstone & Hamilton, Latimer, Rushey Mead, and Thurncourt.
2024–present: The City of Leicester wards of Belgrave, Evington, Humberstone & Hamilton, North Evington, Rushey Mead, Thurncourt and Troon, with polling district EVF in Evington ward transferred out to Leicester South.
Members of Parliament
MPs 1918–1950
Leicester prior to 1918
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="2"|Year!!Member!!Party
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1918
|rowspan="2" | Sir Gordon Hewart
| Coalition Liberal
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Jan 1922
| National Liberal
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Mar 1922 by-election || George Banton
| Labour
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Nov 1922
|rowspan="2" | Arthur Evans
| National Liberal
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Aug 1923
| Unionist
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Dec 1923
| George Banton
| Labour
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1924 || John Loder
| Unionist
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1929 || Frank Wise
| Labour
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1931 || Abraham Lyons
| Conservative
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1945 || Terence Donovan
| Labour
|-
|colspan="2" align="center"|1950
| colspan="2"| Constituency abolished
|}
MPs since 1974
Leicester South East and Leicester North East prior to 1974
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="2"|Year!!Member!!Party
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| Feb 1974
| rowspan="2"| Tom Bradley
| Labour
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1981
| SDP
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1983 || Peter Bruinvels
| Conservative
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1987
| Keith Vaz
| Labour
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 2019
| rowspan="2" | Claudia Webbe
| Labour
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|2020
| Independent
|-
| style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 2024 || Shivani Raja
| Conservative
|}
Elections
center|thumb|800x800px|Leicester East vote share as a percentage since the seat's formation in 1918 and reformation in 1974.
Elections in the 2020s
Elections in the 2010s
In November 2021 Webbe was given a 10-week suspended sentence for making threatening phone calls to a friend of her partner. Webbe, who since September 2020 had been suspended from the Labour Party and was sitting as an independent MP, was then expelled from the party and continued to sit as an independent until Parliament was dissolved.
Elections in the 2000s
In 2005 this seat bucked the national trend as there was a swing to Labour whereas the national swing was 2.5% to the Conservatives.