Brent East

Brent East
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Brent East in Greater London
County	Greater London
Electorate	75,880 (March 2020) [1]
Borough	London Borough of Brent
Current constituency
Created	2024
Member of Parliament	Dawn Butler (Labour)
Seats	1
Created from	Brent Central, Brent North and Hampstead and Kilburn
1974 (1974)–2010
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Created from	Willesden East (similar boundaries) Willesden West (minor parts)
Replaced by	Brent Central (bulk) Hampstead and Kilburn (part)

Brent East is a parliamentary constituency in north west London. It returns one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.

The seat first existed between 1974 and 2010 and was re-established under the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for the 2024 general election. In the intervening period, the seat was largely replaced by Brent Central. ^[2]

The constituency is currently represented for the Labour Party by Dawn Butler, who previously served as MP for Brent Central (2015–2024) and Brent South (2005–2010).

Constituency profile

The Brent East constituency is located within the Borough of Brent in North London. It is almost entirely urban in nature and contains the neighbourhoods of Willesden, Dollis Hill and Kingsbury. The area experienced deprivation and overcrowding in the late 20th century but has recently seen increasing gentrification. ^{[3] [4]} Brent is extremely ethnically diverse. People born outside the United Kingdom make up 56% of residents, the highest rate of any local authority in the country. ^[5] Brent has the highest proportion of Irish people in Great Britain and the country's largest Brazilian community. ^{[6] [7]} Brent East constituency contains BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London, once the largest Hindu temple outside India. ^{[8] [9] [10]}

On average, residents of the constituency have lower household income and lower levels of education, professional employment and home ownership compared to the rest of London. ^[11] Much of the constituency is in the 10% most deprived areas in the country, although the Brondesbury area is generally wealthier and more suburban in character. ^[12] White British people make up 17% of the population, 17% are White of other backgrounds, 22% are Asian, 22% are Black and 7% are Arabs. The constituency is ethnically divided; the White population is concentrated in Brondesbury, the Asian population in Kingsbury and the Black population in the west of Willesden. ^[13]

At the most recent borough council election in 2022, all seats in the constituency were won by the Labour Party. An estimated 60% of voters in Brent East favoured remaining in the European Union in the 2016 referendum, in line with the rest of London and higher than the country as a whole. ^[11]

History

The constituency was created in 1974 and was first contested at the February general election of that year. It was held by Reg Freeson from 1974 to 1987, then by Ken Livingstone (following the abolition of the Greater London Council, of which he was leader, in 1986).

An ethnically diverse area, it was previously one of the Labour Party's safest seats in London. In 1971, 19.3% were non-White. ^[14] In 1981, 30% of the constiuency were non-White. ^[15] The constituency had the highest concentration of Irish born people in 1981. ^[16]

After Livingstone was expelled from the Labour Party for standing as an independent candidate for Mayor of London in 2000, he represented the constituency as an independent until standing down as an MP in 2001 to concentrate on his position as Mayor. Labour regained the seat at the 2001 general election, with Paul Daisley holding the seat until his death two years later.

The resulting Brent East by-election was held on 18 September 2003, with the 2003 Invasion of Iraq as a background. Labour lost the seat to Sarah Teather of the Liberal Democrats, with a considerable 29% swing, having come from a distant third place in 2001. ^[17] Teather retained the seat at the 2005 general election, with a majority of 2,712 votes and a swing of 30.7% from Labour to the Liberal Democrats compared to the previous general election.

Boundaries

Historic

The original constituency was one of three covering the London Borough of Brent in north-west London, covering the areas of Brondesbury, Dollis Hill, Kilburn and Neasden, as well as parts of Willesden and Cricklewood.

1974–1983: The London Borough of Brent wards of Brentwater, Brondesbury Park, Carlton, Church End, Cricklewood, Gladstone, Kilburn, Mapesbury, Queen's Park, and Willesden Green.

1983–2010: The London Borough of Brent wards of Brentwater, Brondesbury Park, Carlton, Chamberlayne, Church End, Cricklewood, Gladstone, Kilburn, Mapesbury, Queen's Park, and Willesden Green.

Map of boundaries from 2024

Current

Further to the 2023 boundary review, the constituency is composed of the following wards of the London Borough of Brent:

• Brondesbury Park; Cricklewood & Mapesbury; Dollis Hill; Kingsbury; Roundwood; Stonebridge; Welsh Harp; Willesden Green. ^[18]

The re-established seat primarily comprises the majority of the abolished Brent Central constituency, with Brondesbury Park and Kingsbury wards coming from the abolished constituencies of Hampstead and Kilburn, and Brent North respectively.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [19]	Party
	Feb 1974	Reg Freeson	Labour
	1987	Ken Livingstone	Labour
	2000		Independent
	2001	Paul Daisley	Labour
	2003 by-election	Sarah Teather	Liberal Democrat
	2010	constituency abolished: see Brent Central & Hampstead and Kilburn
	2024	Dawn Butler	Labour

Election results

Election results 2019-2024

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Brent East ^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dawn Butler	19,370	51.2	–12.6
	Conservative	Jamila Robertson	6,323	16.7	–6.8
	Green	Nida Al-Fulaij	3,729	9.9	+6.7
	Liberal Democrats	Jonny Singh	2,635	7.0	–2.0
	Reform	Zbigniew Kowalczyk	2,024	5.4	+5.0
	Independent	Aadil Shaikh	1,846	4.9	N/A
	Workers Party	James Mutimer	1,052	2.8	N/A
	Independent	Amin Moafi	654	1.7	N/A
	Independent	Jenner Folwell	169	0.4	N/A
Majority			13,047	34.5	–5.8
Turnout			37,802	48.9	–9.1
Registered electors			77,257
	Labour hold		Swing	2.9

Elections in the 2010s

2019 notional result [n 1] [21]
Party		Vote	%
	Labour	28,100	63.8
	Conservative	10,344	23.5
	Liberal Democrats	3,972	9.0
	Green	1,426	3.2
	Brexit Party	175	0.4
Majority		17,756	40.3
Turnout		44,017	58.0
Electorate		75,880

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Brent East ^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Sarah Teather	14,764	47.5	+36.9
	Labour	Yasmin Qureshi	12,052	38.8	−24.4
	Conservative	Kwasi Kwarteng	3,193	10.3	–7.9
	Green	Shahrar Ali	905	2.9	–1.8
	Independent	Michelle Weininger	115	0.4	N/A
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Rainbow George Weiss	39	0.1	N/A
Majority			2,712	8.7	N/A
Turnout			31,068	55.3	+3.4
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing	+29.0

By-election 2003: Brent East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Sarah Teather	8,158	39.1	+28.5
	Labour	Robert Evans	7,040	33.8	−29.4
	Conservative	Uma Fernandes	3,368	16.2	−2.0
	Green	Noel Lynch	638	3.1	−1.6
	Socialist Alliance	Brian Butterworth	361	1.7	N/A
	Public Services Not War	Fawzi Ibrahim	219	1.1	N/A
	Independent	Winston McKenzie	197	0.9	N/A
	Independent	Kelly McBride	189	0.9	N/A
	Independent	Harold Immanuel	188	0.9	N/A
	UKIP	Brian Hall	140	0.7	+0.1
	Socialist Labour	Iris Cremer	111	0.5	−0.8
	Independent	Neil Walsh	101	0.5	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Alan Hope	59	0.3	N/A
	No description	Aaron Barschak	37	0.2	N/A
	No description	Jitendra Bardwaj	35	0.2	N/A
	www.xat.org	Rainbow George Weiss	11	0.1	N/A
Majority			1,118	5.4	N/A
Turnout			20,752	36.2	−15.7
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing	+29.0

General election 2001: Brent East ^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paul Daisley	18,325	63.2	−4.1
	Conservative	David Gauke	5,278	18.2	−4.1
	Liberal Democrats	Norsheen Bhatti	3,065	10.6	+2.8
	Green	Simone Aspis	1,361	4.7	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	Sarah Macken	392	1.4	+0.8
	Socialist Labour	Iris Cremer	383	1.3	N/A
	UKIP	Ashwin Tanna	188	0.6	N/A
Majority			13,047	45.0	0.0
Turnout			28,992	51.9	−14.0
	Labour hold		Swing	0.0

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Brent East ^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ken Livingstone	23,748	67.3	+14.5
	Conservative	Mark Francois	7,866	22.3	−14.3
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Hunter	2,751	7.8	−1.1
	Socialist Labour	Stan Keable	466	1.3	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	Andrew Shanks	218	0.6	N/A
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Claire Warrilow	120	0.3	N/A
	Natural Law	Dean Jenkins	103	0.3	N/A
Majority			15,882	45.0	+28.8
Turnout			35,272	65.9	−2.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+14.4

General election 1992: Brent East ^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ken Livingstone	19,387	52.8	+10.2
	Conservative	Damian Green	13,416	36.6	−1.8
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Cummins	3,249	8.9	−5.6
	Green	Theresa Deen	548	1.5	N/A
	Communist	Anne Murphy	96	0.3	N/A
Majority			5,971	16.2	+12.0
Turnout			36,696	68.8	+4.3
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Brent East ^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ken Livingstone	16,772	42.6	−4.4
	Conservative	Harriet Crawley	15,119	38.4	+3.8
	SDP	Daniel Finkelstein	5,710	14.5	−2.4
	Independent Labour	Riaz Dooley	1,035	2.6	N/A
	Green	Miles Litvnoff	716	1.8	N/A
Majority			1,653	4.2	−8.2
Turnout			39,352	64.5	+0.9
	Labour hold		Swing	−4.1

General election 1983: Brent East ^{[27] [28]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Reg Freeson	18,363	47.0	−6.3
	Conservative	Robert Lacey	13,529	34.6	−2.1
	SDP	Maurice Rosen [29]	6,598	16.9	N/A
	Independent	James O'Leary	289	0.7	N/A
	Workers Revolutionary	Gerald Downing	222	0.6	−0.2
	Independent	K. Radclyffe	88	0.2	N/A
Majority			4,834	12.4	−4.2
Turnout			39,088	63.6	−3.3
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1979: Brent East ^[30]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Reg Freeson	20,351	53.3	−0.7
	Conservative	John Howes	14,008	36.7	+6.2
	Liberal	Chris Wilding	2,799	7.3	−4.3
	National Front	John Davies [31]	706	1.9	−1.0
	Workers Revolutionary	Gerald Downing	290	0.8	N/A
Majority			6,343	16.6	−6.9
Turnout			38,155	66.9	+6.9
	Labour hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Brent East ^[32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Reg Freeson	20,481	54.0	+4.7
	Conservative	Michael Knowles	11,554	30.5	−1.0
	Liberal	P. O'Brien	4,416	11.6	−7.6
	National Front	N. Lyons	1,096	2.9	N/A
	Irish Civil Rights	J. Curran	382	1.0	N/A
Majority			8,927	23.5	+5.6
Turnout			37,929	60.0	−8.0
	Labour hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Brent East ^[32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Reg Freeson	21,063	49.3
	Conservative	G. K. Young	13,441	31.5
	Liberal	W. Perry	8,204	19.2
Majority			7,622	17.9
Turnout			42,708	68.0
	Labour win (new seat)

See also

• Parliamentary constituencies in London

Notes and references

1. "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition – London". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
2. "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume one: Report – London | Boundary Commission for England". boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
3. Brignall, Miles (2 April 2014). "London's Brent borough leads Britain for rising house prices". The Guardian . Archived from the original on 22 May 2015. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
4. McGhie, Caroline (23 March 2015). "The new map of middle-class London". The Telegraph . Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
5. "Country of birth - Census Maps, ONS". www.ons.gov.uk. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
6. "2011 Census data".
7. "Layout 1" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
8. Hayman, Kamala (17 August 1995). "The grandest Hindu temple outside India". Willesden & Brent Chronicles.
9. Bunting, Madeleine (3 August 1995). "Three weeks to achieve perfection". The Guardian. p. 3.
10. Tully, Mark (29 August 2016). "Pramukh Swami Maharaj obituary". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 6 June 2023.
11. "Seat Details - Brent East". electoralcalculus.co.uk. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
12. "Constituency data: Deprivation in England". commonslibrary.parliament.uk. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
13. "2021 census results: Ethnic groups in your constituency". commonslibrary.parliament.uk. 4 July 2024. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
14. Layton-Henry, Z. (1978). "RACE, ELECTORAL STRATEGY AND THE MAJOR PARTIES" . Parliamentary Affairs. XXXI (3): 268–281. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.pa.a054265. ISSN   1460-2482.
15. Studlar, Donley T. (1 September 1983). "The ethnic vote, 1983: Problems of analysis and interpretation" . Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. doi:10.1080/1369183x.1983.9975820. ISSN   1369-183X.
16. McAllister, Ian; Studlar, Donfey T. (1 August 1984). "The electoral geography of immigrant groups in Britain" . Electoral Studies. 3 (2): 139–150. doi:10.1016/0261-3794(84)90031-3. ISSN   0261-3794.
17. Webster, Philip; Hurst, Greg (19 September 2003). "The Times report on by-election result". London. Retrieved 23 April 2008.^{[ dead link ]}
18. "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 1 Part 3 London region.
19. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 5)
20. "Statement of Person Nominated and Notice of Poll: Brent East Constituency" (PDF). Brent Council. 7 June 2024.
21. "Brent East notional election - December 2019". Rallings & Thrasher, Professor David Denver (Scotland), Nicholas Whyte (NI) for Sky News, PA, BBC News and ITV News. UK Parliament . Retrieved 11 July 2024.
22. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
23. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
24. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
25. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
26. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
27. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
28. "UK General Election results: June 1983 [Archive]". politicsresources.net. Archived from the original on 28 June 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
29. "United Kingdom Parliamentary Election results 1983–97: London Boroughs". election.demon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 August 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
30. "UK General Election results: May 1979 [Archive]". politicsresources.net. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
31. Election Expenses. Parliament of the United Kingdom. 1980. p. 9. ISBN   0102374805.
32. "UK General Election results: October 1974 [Archive]". politicsresources.net. Archived from the original on 8 May 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2018.

1. Estimate of the 2019 general election result as if the revised boundaries recommended under the 2023 boundary review were in place

External links

• Brent East UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK
• Brent East UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK

51°33′N0°14′W / 51.55°N 0.23°W / 51.55; -0.23