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.
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‡ |  | ||
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.
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) |
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
Containing electoral wards from Charnwood
Containing electoral wards from Harborough
Containing electoral wards from Hinckley and Bosworth
Containing electoral wards from Leicester
Containing electoral wards from Melton
Containing electoral wards from North West Leicestershire
Containing electoral wards from Oadby and Wigston
Containing electoral wards from Rutland
Primary data source: House of Commons research briefing - General election results from 1918 to 2019 [6]
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 |
| Election year | 1983 | 1987 | 1992 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 50.6 | 52.0 | 48.7 | 36.8 | 38.1 | 37.4 | 41.0 | 43.9 | 48.9 | 53.3 |
| Labour | 25.3 | 27.3 | 33.0 | 43.8 | 41.5 | 36.1 | 27.6 | 30.6 | 40.1 | 32.1 |
| Liberal Democrat 1 | 22.7 | 20.2 | 17.1 | 15.1 | 17.0 | 20.8 | 23.3 | 8.0 | 6.6 | 9.8 |
| Green Party | - | * | * | * | * | * | 0.4 | 2.7 | 2.1 | 3.5 |
| UKIP | - | - | - | * | * | * | 2.6 | 14.4 | 1.8 | * |
| Brexit Party | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.8 |
| Other | 1.4 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 4.3 | 3.4 | 5.8 | 5.1 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
11983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance
* Included in Other
| Election year | 1983 | 1987 | 1992 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Labour | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Total | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
11983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance
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.
Conservative Labour Liberal Liberal-Labour
| Constituency | 1885 | 1886 | 88 | 91 | 1892 | 94 | 1895 | 1900 | 04 | 1906 | 06 | 07 | Jan 1910 | Dec 1910 | 13 | 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bosworth | Ellis | C. McLaren | H. McLaren | |||||||||||||
| Harborough | Paget | Tapling | Logan | Stanhope | Lehmann | Logan | Harris | |||||||||
| Leicester | McArthur | Whitehead | Broadhurst | Thomasson | Crawshay-Williams | Hewart | ||||||||||
| Picton | Hazell | Rolleston | MacDonald | |||||||||||||
| Loughborough | Johnson-Ferguson | de Lisle | Johnson-Ferguson | Levy | ||||||||||||
| Melton | J. Manners | H. Manners | E. Manners | C. Manners | Walker | Yate | ||||||||||
| Rutland | Finch | Gretton | ||||||||||||||
From 1918 to 1983 Rutland was categorised with Lincolnshire.
Coalition Liberal (1918-22) / National Liberal (1922-23) Coalition National Democratic & Labour Conservative Labour Liberal National Labour National Liberal (1931-68)
| Constituency | 1918 | 22 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | 27 | 1929 | 31 | 1931 | 33 | 1935 | 1945 | 1950 | 50 | 1951 | 1955 | 56 | 57 | 1959 | 62 | 1964 | 1966 | 67 | 1970 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bosworth | McLaren | Paget | Ward | Gee | Edge | → | Allen | Wyatt | Butler | |||||||||||||||
| Harborough | Fraser | Black | Winby | Stuart | Tree | Attewell | Baldock | Farr | ||||||||||||||||
| Leicester East / Leicester NE (1950) | Hewart | Banton | Evans | Banton | Loder | Wise | Lyons | Donovan | Ungoed-Thomas | Bradley | ||||||||||||||
| Leicester South / Leicester SW (1950) | Blane | Reynolds | Allen | Waterhouse | Bowden | Boardman | ||||||||||||||||||
| Leicester West / Leicester NW (1950) | Green | Hill | Pethick-Lawrence | Pickering | Nicolson | B. Janner | G. Janner | |||||||||||||||||
| Leicester South East | Waterhouse | Peel | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Loughborough | Guest | Spears | Rye | Winterton | Kimball | Follick | Cronin | |||||||||||||||||
| Melton | Yate | Everard | Nutting | Pike | ||||||||||||||||||||
Conservative Independent Labour Liberal Democrats Reclaim Social Democratic
| Constituency | Feb 1974 | Oct 1974 | 1979 | 81 | 1983 | 1987 | 1992 | 1997 | 2001 | 04 | 2005 | 2010 | 11 | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 | 20 | 23 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blaby / South Leicestershire (2010) | Lawson | Robathan | Costa | |||||||||||||||||
| Bosworth | Butler | Tredinnick | Evans | |||||||||||||||||
| Harborough | Farr | Garnier | O'Brien | |||||||||||||||||
| Leicester East | Bradley | → | Bruinvels | Vaz | Webbe | → | ||||||||||||||
| Leicester South | Boardman | Marshall | Spencer | Marshall | Gill | Soulsby | Ashworth | |||||||||||||
| Leicester West | G. Janner | Hewitt | Kendall | |||||||||||||||||
| Loughborough | Cronin | Dorrell | Reed | Morgan | Hunt | |||||||||||||||
| Melton / Rutland and Melton (1983) | Latham | Duncan | Kearns | |||||||||||||||||
| North West Leicestershire | Ashby | Taylor | Bridgen | → | → | → | ||||||||||||||
| Charnwood | Dorrell | Argar | ||||||||||||||||||
Leicestershire is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warwickshire to the south-west, and Staffordshire to the west. The city of Leicester is the largest settlement and the county town.
Oadby and Wigston is a local government district with borough status in Leicestershire, England. It covers the two towns of Oadby, where the council is based, and Wigston, which is the larger town. Both form part of the Leicester urban area, lying south-east of the city.
Charnwood is a local government district with borough status in the north of Leicestershire, England. It is named after Charnwood Forest, much of which lies within the borough. The council is based in Loughborough, the area's largest town. The borough also contains the towns of Shepshed and Syston, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. In the south of the borough it includes parts of the Leicester Urban Area, notably at Birstall and Thurmaston.
Blaby is a local government district in Leicestershire, England. The district is named after the village of Blaby, although the council is based in Narborough. The district covers an area lying south-west of the city of Leicester. Several of the district's settlements form part of the wider Leicester Urban Area, including Glenfield, where Leicestershire County Council has its headquarters at County Hall, and the town of Braunstone.
Harborough is a local government district in Leicestershire, England. It is named after its main town, Market Harborough, which is where the council is based. The district also includes the town of Lutterworth and numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. In the north of the district it includes parts of the Leicester Urban Area, notably at Thurnby, Bushby and Scraptoft. Covering 230 square miles (600 km2), the district is the largest by area of the eight districts in Leicestershire and covers almost a quarter of the county.
Bosworth is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Luke Evans, a Conservative.
Rutland and Melton is a county constituency spanning Leicestershire and Rutland, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom since 2019 by Alicia Kearns, a Conservative. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election.
Harborough is a constituency covering the south east of Leicestershire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Neil O'Brien of the Conservative Party.
Charnwood is a constituency in Leicestershire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Edward Argar, a Conservative.
Loughborough is a constituency in Leicestershire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Jane Hunt, a Conservative. From 2010 until 2019, it was represented by Nicky Morgan, who served in the governments of David Cameron and Boris Johnson. In 2020, she was elevated to the Peerage and became a member of the House of Lords. The constituency is a considered a bellwether, as it has reflected the national result at every general election since February 1974.
Leicestershire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland in England. Its headquarters are at Enderby, Leicestershire.
South Leicestershire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Alberto Costa, a member of the Conservative Party.
Rutland and Stamford was a county constituency comprising the area centred on the town of Stamford in Lincolnshire, and the county of Rutland. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, using the first-past-the-post voting system.
The county of Leicestershire is divided into eight districts: Charnwood, Melton, Harborough, Oadby and Wigston, Blaby, Hinckley and Bosworth, North West Leicestershire, and Leicester. As there are 333 Grade II* listed buildings in the county they have been split into separate lists for each district.
The Leicestershire County Cup is an annual rugby union knock-out club competition organized by the Leicestershire Rugby Union. It was first introduced in 1890 with the inaugural winners being South Wigston. The competition was known as the Leicestershire League Cup until 1893 when it was changed to Leicestershire Senior Cup. The first competition was open to the top sides in the county apart from the Leicester FC first XV, who were considered too strong and would instead enter an 'A' team up until 1906. Smaller clubs in the county, as well as senior club second sides, played in the Leicestershire Junior Cup which had its inaugural competition three seasons earlier in 1887.