The ceremonial county of Leicestershire (which includes the unitary authority of Leicester), is divided into 11 parliamentary constituencies - 3 borough constituencies and 8 county constituencies. One of these is a cross-county boundary constituency with Lincolnshire also including 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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harborough, Oadby and Wigston CC | 74,810 | 2,378 | Neil O'Brien | Hajira Piranie |  | ||
| Hinckley and Bosworth CC | 75,683 | 5,408 | Luke Evans | Michael Mullaney |  | ||
| Leicester East BC | 76,465 | 4,426 | Shivani Raja | Rajesh Agrawal |  | ||
| Leicester South BC | 71,007 | 979 | Shockat Adam | Jon Ashworth |  | ||
| Leicester West BC | 72,848 | 8,777 | Liz Kendall | Max Chauhan |  | ||
| Loughborough CC | 73,902 | 3,960 | Jeevun Sandher | Jane Hunt |  | ||
| Melton and Syston CC | 71,615 | 5,396 | Edward Argar | Zafran Khan |  | ||
| Mid Leicestershire CC | 76,173 | 2,201 | Peter Bedford | Robert Martin |  | ||
| North West Leicestershire CC | 75,373 | 1,012 | Amanda Hack | Craig Smith |  | ||
| Rutland and Stamford CC | 70,864 | 10,394 | Alicia Kearns | Joe Wood |  | ||
| South Leicestershire CC | 75,634 | 5,508 | Alberto Costa | Robert Parkinson |  | ||
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.
See 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies for further details.
For the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which redrew the constituency map ahead of the 2024 United Kingdom general election, the Boundary Commission for England opted to include 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 is now abolished, being replaced by Melton and Syston, while a reconfigured Charnwood has been renamed Mid Leicestershire. Bosworth is renamed Hinckley and Bosworth and Harborough renamed Harborough, Oadby and Wigston. [3] [4]
| Former name | Boundaries 2010–2024 | Current name | Boundaries 2024–Present | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bosworth CC |  | 1 | Harborough, Oadby and Wigston CC |  |
| 2 | Charnwood CC | 2 | Hinckley and Bosworth CC | ||
| 3 | Harborough CC | 3 | Leicester East BC | ||
| 4 | Leicester East BC | 4 | Leicester South BC | ||
| 5 | Leicester South BC | 5 | Leicester West BC | ||
| 6 | Leicester West BC | 6 | Loughborough CC | ||
| 7 | Loughborough CC | 7 | Melton and Syston CC | ||
| 8 | North West Leicestershire CC | 8 | Mid Leicestershire CC | ||
| 9 | Rutland and Melton CC | 9 | North West Leicestershire CC | ||
| 10 | South Leicestershire CC | 10 | Rutland and Stamford CC | ||
| 11 | South Leicestershire CC |
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 2010–2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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) |
Primary data source: House of Commons research briefing - General election results from 1918 to 2019 [5]
The number of votes cast for each political party who fielded candidates in constituencies comprising Leicestershire and Rutland in the 2024 general election were as follows:
| Party | Votes | % | Change from 2019 | Seats | Change from 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 173,711 | 34.2% |  19.1% | 7 | 0 |
| Labour | 142,114 | 28.0% | 4.1% | 3 | 0 |
| Reform UK | 77,889 | 15.3% |  14.5% | 0 | 0 |
| Liberal Democrats | 49,343 | 9.7% | 0.1% | 0 | 0 |
| Greens | 34,014 | 6.7% | 6.7% | 0 | 0 |
| Others | 30,875 | 6.1% | 5.6% | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 507,946 | 100.0 | 11 |
| Election year | 1983 | 1987 | 1992 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 50.6 | 52.0 | 48.7 | 36.8 | 38.1 | 37.4 | 41.0 | 43.9 | 48.9 | 53.3 | 34.2 |
| Labour | 25.3 | 27.3 | 33.0 | 43.8 | 41.5 | 36.1 | 27.6 | 30.6 | 40.1 | 32.1 | 28.0 |
| Liberal Democrat 1 | 22.7 | 20.2 | 17.1 | 15.1 | 17.0 | 20.8 | 23.3 | 8.0 | 6.6 | 9.8 | 9.7 |
| Green Party | - | * | * | * | * | * | 0.4 | 2.7 | 2.1 | 3.5 | 6.7 |
| UKIP | - | - | - | * | * | * | 2.6 | 14.4 | 1.8 | * | - |
| Reform UK 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.8 | 15.3 |
| Other | 1.4 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 4.3 | 3.4 | 5.8 | 5.1 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 6.1 |
11983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance
2 2019- Brexit Party
* Included in Other
| Election year | 1983 | 1987 | 1992 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Labour | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bosworth | McLaren | Paget | Ward | Gee | Edge | → | Allen | |||||
| Harborough | Fraser | Black | Winby | Stuart | Tree | Attewell | ||||||
| Leicester East | Hewart | Banton | Evans | Banton | Loder | Wise | Lyons | Donovan | ||||
| Leicester South | Blane | Reynolds | Allen | Waterhouse | Bowden | |||||||
| Leicester West | Green | Hill | Pethick-Lawrence | Pickering | Nicolson | B. Janner | ||||||
| Loughborough | Guest | Spears | Rye | Winterton | Kimball | Follick | ||||||
| Melton | Yate | Everard | Nutting | |||||||||
From 1918 to 1983 Rutland was categorised with Lincolnshire.
Conservative Labour Social Democratic
| Constituency | 1950 | 50 | 1951 | 1955 | 56 | 57 | 1959 | 62 | 1964 | 1966 | 67 | 1970 | Feb 1974 | Oct 1974 | 1979 | 81 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bosworth | Allen | Wyatt | Butler | |||||||||||||
| Harborough | Baldock | Farr | ||||||||||||||
| Leicester NE / Leicester E (1974) | Donovan | Ungoed-Thomas | Bradley | → | ||||||||||||
| Leicester SW / Leicester S (1974) | Bowden | Boardman | Marshall | |||||||||||||
| Leicester NW / Leicester W (1974) | B. Janner | G. Janner | ||||||||||||||
| Leicester South East | Waterhouse | Peel | ||||||||||||||
| Loughborough | Follick | Cronin | Dorrell | |||||||||||||
| Melton | Nutting | Pike | Latham | |||||||||||||
| Blaby | Lawson | |||||||||||||||
Conservative Independent Labour Liberal Democrats Reclaim
| Constituency | 1983 | 1987 | 1992 | 1997 | 2001 | 04 | 2005 | 2010 | 11 | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 | 20 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blaby / South Leics (2010) | Lawson | Robathan | Costa | ||||||||||||||
| Bosworth / Hinckley & Bosworth (2024) | Butler | Tredinnick | Evans | ||||||||||||||
| Harborough / H., Oadby & Wigston ('24) | Farr | Garnier | O'Brien | ||||||||||||||
| Leicester East | Bruinvels | Vaz | Webbe | → | Raja | ||||||||||||
| Leicester South | Spencer | Marshall | Gill | Soulsby | Ashworth | Adam | |||||||||||
| Leicester West | G. Janner | Hewitt | Kendall | ||||||||||||||
| Loughborough | Dorrell | Reed | Morgan | Hunt | Sandher | ||||||||||||
| Rutland & Melton / R. & Stamford ('24)1 | Latham | Duncan | Kearns | ||||||||||||||
| North West Leicestershire | Ashby | Taylor | Bridgen | → | → | → | Hack | ||||||||||
| Charnwood / Mid Leicestershire (2024) | Dorrell | Argar | Bedford | ||||||||||||||
| Melton and Syston | Argar | ||||||||||||||||
1includes parts of Lincolnshire
Leicestershire or the County of Leicester is a ceremonial county and a historic 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.
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. Towns in the borough include Loughborough, Shepshed and Syston. Villages in the borough include Barrow upon Soar, Birstall, Hathern, Mountsorrel, Quorn, Rothley, Sileby and Woodhouse Eaves.
This constituency is the constituency named Bosworth from 1885-2024, then Hinckley and Bosworth since 2024. There should therefore be a Wikipedia page called 'Bosworth ' to cover 1885-2024, then another called 'Hinckley and Bosworth ' for 2024-, They are two different constituencies, as evidenced by two different names.
Rutland and Melton was a county constituency spanning Leicestershire and Rutland, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1983 to 2024. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election. For its entire existence, the seat elected members of the Conservative Party.
Harborough, Oadby and Wigston 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 was a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament from 1997 to 2024.
Loughborough is a constituency in Leicestershire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Jeevun Sandher of the Labour Party. The constituency is a considered a bellwether, as it has reflected the national result at every general election since February 1974.
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 is a county constituency comprising the area centred on the town of Stamford in Lincolnshire, the county of Rutland and also parts of rural Leicestershire making it a very unusual parliamentary constituency as it spans three counties. It returns 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.
Rutland, sometimes archaically called Rutlandshire, is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Leicestershire to the north and west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. Oakham is the largest town and county town.
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.
Mid Leicestershire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Peter Bedford, a Conservative.