The county of Leicestershire in relation to England

The ceremonial county of Leicestershire (which includes the unitary authority of Leicester), is divided into 10 parliamentary constituencies - 3 borough constituencies and 7 county constituencies. One of these also includes the small historic county of Rutland, which was administratively a district of Leicestershire from 1974 to 1997. Since 1997, Rutland has been a separate unitary authority.

Constituencies

  Conservative †   Labour ‡   Liberal Democrat ¤   Independent

Name[nb 1]	Electorate[1]	Majority[2][nb 2]	Member of Parliament[2]		Nearest opposition[2]		Map
Bosworth CC	81,542	26,278		Luke Evans †		Rick Middleton‡
Charnwood CC	79,534	22,397		Edward Argar†		Gary Godden‡
Harborough CC	80,151	17,278		Neil O'Brien†		Celia Hibbert‡
Leicester East BC	78,433	6,019		Claudia Webbe[nb 3]		Bhupendra Dave†
Leicester South BC*	77,708	22,675		Jon Ashworth‡		Natalie Neale†
Leicester West BC	64,940	4,212		Liz Kendall‡		Amanda Wright†
Loughborough CC	79,764	7,169		Jane Hunt†		Stuart Brady‡
North West Leicestershire CC	78,935	20,400		Andrew Bridgen		Terri Eynon‡
Rutland and Melton CC	82,705	26,924		Alicia Kearns†		Andy Thomas‡
South Leicestershire CC	80,520	24,004		Alberto Costa†		Tristan Koriya‡

Historic constituencies

In the unreformed House of Commons, Leicestershire and Rutland were represented by two Knights of the Shire each, and the only parliamentary borough was Leicester, which sent two burgesses.

Under the Reform Act 1832, Leicestershire was split into two divisions, North and South, which each elected two members. The Reform Act 1885 redistributed these seats into four single-member divisions: Melton, or Eastern, Loughborough, or Mid, Harborough, or Southern, and Bosworth, or Western.

At the 1918 general election, the four divisions of the county were retained, and the borough of Leicester was split into three single-member constituencies, Leicester East, Leicester South, and Leicester West. From 1950 to 1974 Leicester had four constituencies, these being Leicester North East, Leicester North West, Leicester South East and Leicester South West: the three seat arrangement of South, East and West was reverted to thereafter.

Rutland constituted a constituency on its own until 1918, when it became part of the Rutland and Stamford constituency, with nearby Stamford in Lincolnshire.

In 1983, seats in Leicestershire were redrawn. Rutland was merged with Melton to form Rutland and Melton, with Loughborough, Bosworth, and Harborough remaining as seat names. The new North West Leicestershire constituency was created. A further constituency, Charnwood was created in the north for the 1997 election.

2010 boundary changes

In the Fifth Review the Boundary Commission for England recommended that Leicestershire retained its current constituencies, with minor changes only to reflect revisions to local authority ward boundaries. Although virtually unchanged, Blaby was renamed South Leicestershire on the grounds that it does not match the borders of Blaby district, and the village of Blaby itself is not one of the major population centres.

	Name	Boundaries 1997-2010	Boundaries 2010–present
1	Bosworth CC
2	Charnwood CC
3	Harborough CC
4	Leicester East BC
5	Leicester South BC
6	Leicester West BC
7	Loughborough CC
8	North West Leicestershire CC
9	Rutland and Melton CC
10	South Leicestershire CC (previously Blaby CC)

Proposed boundary changes

See 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies for further details.

Following the abandonment of the Sixth Periodic Review (the 2018 review), the Boundary Commission for England formally launched the 2023 Review on 5 January 2021.^[3] Initial proposals were published on 8 June 2021 and, following two periods of public consultation, revised proposals were published on 8 November 2022. The final recommendations were published on 28 June 2023.

The commission has proposed including Leicestershire and Rutland with Lincolnshire in a sub-region of the East Midlands region, creating one additional seat by re-establishing the constituency of Rutland and Stamford, which spans all three counties. As a consequence, Rutland and Melton would be abolished, being replaced by Melton and Syston, while a reconfigured Charnwood would be renamed Mid Leicestershire. Bosworth is renamed Hinckley and Bosworth and Harborough renamed Harborough, Oadby and Wigston.^[4][5]

The following seats are proposed:

Containing electoral wards from Blaby

• Mid Leicestershire (part)
• South Leicestershire (part)

Containing electoral wards from Charnwood

• Loughborough
• Melton and Syston (part)
• Mid Leicestershire (part)

Containing electoral wards from Harborough

• Harborough, Oadby and Wigston (part)
• Rutland and Stamford (also comprises the county of Rutland and parts of South Kesteven in Lincolnshire)
• South Leicestershire (part)

Containing electoral wards from Hinckley and Bosworth

• Hinckley and Bosworth (part)
• Mid Leicestershire (part)

Containing electoral wards from Leicester

• Leicester East
• Leicester South
• Leicester West

Containing electoral wards from Melton

• Melton and Syston (part)

Containing electoral wards from North West Leicestershire

• Hinckley and Bosworth (part)
• North West Leicestershire

Containing electoral wards from Oadby and Wigston

• Harborough, Oadby and Wigston (part)

Containing electoral wards from Rutland

• Rutland and Stamford (also comprises parts of Harborough and of South Kesteven in Lincolnshire)

Results history

Primary data source: House of Commons research briefing - General election results from 1918 to 2019^[6]

2019

The number of votes cast for each political party who fielded candidates in constituencies comprising Leicestershire and Rutland in the 2019 general election were as follows:

Party	Votes	%	Change from 2017	Seats	Change from 2017
Conservative	281,019	53.3%	4.4%	7	0
Labour	169,475	32.1%	8.0%	3	0
Liberal Democrats	51,606	9.8%	3.2%	0	0
Greens	18,705	3.5%	1.4%	0	0
Brexit	4,050	0.8%	new	0	0
Others	2,835	0.5%	1.8%	0	0
Total	527,690	100.0		10

Historical representation by party

A cell marked → (with a different colour background to the preceding cell) indicates that the previous MP continued to sit under a new party name.

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in the East Midlands (region)
• East Midlands (European Parliament constituency)
• Leicestershire County Council
• Rutland County Council

Footnotes

References

General

• "Boundary Commission for England: Fifth Periodical Report" (PDF). Boundary Commission for England. Crown Copyright. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2009.
• Craig, Frederick Walter Scott (1972). Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885–1972. Chichester, Sussex: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 0-900178-13-2.

Specific