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
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.
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 and in place for the 2024 General Election.
The commission has included 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.[4][5]
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 2024 general election were as follows:
11983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance
2 2019- Brexit Party
* Included in Other
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
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)
From 1918 to 1983 Rutland was categorised with Lincolnshire.
Conservative Labour Social Democratic
Conservative Independent Labour Liberal Democrats Reclaim
1includes parts of Lincolnshire