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Leeds South
Borough constituency for theHouse of Commons
Interactive map of boundaries since 2024
Boundary within Yorkshire and the Humber
County	1885–1974:West Riding of Yorkshire after 1974:West Yorkshire
Current constituency
Created	2024
Member of Parliament	Hilary Benn (Labour)
Seats	One
Created from	Leeds Central Leeds East (minor part)
1885–1983
Seats	One
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Created from	Leeds
Replaced by	Leeds Central andMorley & Leeds South[1]

Leeds South is aparliamentary constituency^{[n 1]} in the city ofLeeds,West Yorkshire, which returns oneMember of Parliament (MP) to theHouse of Commons of theParliament of the United Kingdom. The constituency existed from1885 to1983 and was recreated in2024 following the2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies.^[2]

In the2024 general election, the seat was won byHilary Benn of theLabour Party, who serves asSecretary of State for Northern Ireland in the government ofKeir Starmer.^[3][4] Benn had representedLeeds Central, the main predecessor of Leeds South, since 1999.

Leeds South was the seat of the former Leader of the Labour Party, the lateHugh Gaitskell, and the former Home SecretaryMerlyn Rees.

The constituency was created in 1885 by theRedistribution of Seats Act 1885, and was first used in thegeneral election of that year.Leeds had previously been represented by two MPs (1832–1868) and three MPs (1868–1885). From 1885 it was represented by five single-member constituencies:Leeds Central,Leeds East,Leeds North, Leeds South andLeeds West. The constituencies ofMorley,Otley andPudsey were also created in 1885.

The constituency was abolished for the1983 general election. It was then split between the re-established constituency of Leeds Central, which included just over half of the seat's boundaries, and the new constituency ofMorley and Leeds South, which took slightly under half of the seat's boundaries.^[1] After the 1983 general election Leeds was represented by the constituencies of Leeds Central, Leeds East,Leeds North East,Leeds North West, Leeds West and Morley and Leeds South. There were also constituencies ofElmet (created 1983) and Pudsey.

Further to the completion of the2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was re-established for the2024 general election, formed primarily from the (abolished) constituency ofLeeds Central, but excluding the city centre, and including a small part ofLeeds East and a very small part ofMorley and Outwood.^[2][5] Thenotional 2019 result for the new seat was Labour.^[6]

1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Leeds wards of East Hunslet, South, and West Hunslet, and part of Bramley ward.

1918–1950: The County Borough of Leeds wards of Holbeck and West Hunslet, and part of New Wortley ward.

1950–1951: The County Borough of Leeds wards of Beeston, Holbeck South, Hunslet Carr and Middleton, and West Hunslet.

1951–1955: The County Borough of Leeds wards of Beeston, Holbeck, Hunslet Carr, and Middleton.^[7]

1955–1974: The County Borough of Leeds wards of Beeston, Holbeck, Hunslet Carr, and Middleton.

1974–1983: The County Borough of Leeds wards of Beeston, East Hunslet, Holbeck, Middleton, and West Hunslet.

TheCity of Leeds wards ofBeeston & Holbeck,Burmantofts & Richmond Hill,Hunslet & Riverside,Middleton Park, andTemple Newsam (part).^[8]

The part ward of Temple Newsam was transferred fromLeeds East, with the bulk of the remainder comprising approximately 72% of the electorate of the abolishedLeeds Central seat.

Leeds South saw the lowest turnout of any constituency at the 2024 election, with just 42% of eligible voters casting a ballot.^[9]

Leeds prior to 1885

Leeds Central prior to 2024

Playfair was appointedVice-President of the Committee of the Council on Education, requiring a by-election.

• Caused by Playfair's elevation to the peerage.

General Election 1914–15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal:William Middlebrook
• Unionist:
• Labour:

* Brook was supported by the three local branches ofNational Association of Discharged Sailors and Soldiers,National Federation of Discharged and Demobilized Sailors and Soldiers andComrades of the Great War.

General Election 1939–40:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Labour:Hugh Gaitskell^[19]
• Conservative:Donald Kaberry^[19]
• Liberal: J. Alun Williams^[20]
• British Union: John Angus Macnab

• List of parliamentary constituencies in West Yorkshire
• List of parliamentary constituencies in the Yorkshire and the Humber (region)

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 1)
• Leeds South UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) atMapIt UK

53°47′N1°31′W / 53.78°N 1.52°W /53.78; -1.52

• Parliamentary constituencies in West Yorkshire
• Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1885
• Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1983
• Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 2024
• Politics of Leeds
• Hugh Gaitskell

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