Leeds South.
Labour Party MP Hilary Benn holds the seat on 54.0% of the vote.
9 Jun 2026
Inner-city Leeds, safe Labour, Greens advancing
Leeds South is an inner-city seat, almost wholly urban, with the city of Leeds accounting for nearly all of its 124,649 residents and only a thin fringe of dispersed settlement beyond. It is a young constituency by national standards, with a median age of 32, and rather less degree-educated than the country as a whole at around 27.5 per cent. Roughly two-thirds of residents are recorded as White. Services across the seat are run by a single authority, Leeds City Council, a metropolitan borough that administers the four wards falling within these boundaries.
The recent ward picture is more contested than the parliamentary arithmetic alone would suggest. Across the four most-recent ward contests, held in May 2026, the Green Party took two -- Beeston & Holbeck and, more emphatically, Hunslet & Riverside -- while Labour held one and the Social Democratic Party took Middleton Park, a spread that points to a fragmenting opposition rather than a single challenger. At the General Election in 2024, the first fought on these boundaries, Labour won comfortably on 54 per cent, with the Greens a distant runner-up on 18.4 per cent. The sitting member, Hilary Benn, has represented the area since 1999 and has shown no whipped dissent in recent months.
On the figures available the seat looks safe at Westminster while turning livelier at ward level, where Green and smaller-party gains hint at churn beneath a settled Labour majority. Recent local coverage has had a markedly civic, administrative character, dominated by planning matters, regeneration funding and community initiatives rather than by national controversy. Several crime categories appear to run well above the constituency average, among them drugs offences and public order, a pattern consistent with a dense inner-city seat. The overall position is one of a secure Labour hold accompanied by visible movement on the council benches.
Ward-level direction-of-travel: who controls what, who flipped recently, who holds the line.
| Ward | Latest winner | Votes | Council | Last cycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beeston & Holbeck | Matt Rogan | 1,978 | Leeds Lab | May 2026 |
| Burmantofts & Richmond Hill | Luke Anthony Farley | 1,957 | Leeds Lab | May 2026 |
| Hunslet & Riverside | Ed Carlisle | 3,202 | Leeds Lab | May 2026 |
| Middleton Park | Wayne Alan Dixon | 2,203 | Leeds Lab | May 2026 |
Source · Democracy Club · DCLEAPIL v1.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The seat’s population is concentrated in Leeds (123,771), with Rural & dispersed (1,659) as the second pole. Total population across named built-up areas: 125,430.
Source · ONS Built-Up Areas · Census 2021
| Settlement | Pop. | Class |
|---|---|---|
| Leeds | 123,771 | city |
| Rural & dispersed | 1,659 | village |
Headline indicators.
| Indicator | Local | National | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employment rate | 57.0% | 57.1% | 0% |
| Owner-occupied | 37.2% | 63.1% | -41% |
| Private rented | 29.9% | 20.0% | +49% |
| Social rented | 32.5% | 16.8% | +93% |
Ethnicity.
Source · Census 2021
Population by age & sexCensus 2021 · 18 bands · click to expand
Source · Census 2021 (ONS) · % of usual residents; tick marks the median seat per band
Income tax contribution.
| Total income tax | £177m |
| Taxpayers | 53,000 |
| Median per taxpayer | £2,220 |
| Mean per taxpayer | £3,350 |
Source · HMRC SPI · ±8% confidence
Where the money flows back in.
This constituency is served by Leeds. Each council’s service spend, peer rank and supplier list lives on its own page — open from the meta block above or the compass strip below.
Move the income slider on My place to see income tax, NI, VAT and council tax against your earnings — the household lens.
Headline rate.
By category.
Source · data.police.uk · 3-month rate per 1,000 pop
2024 — full result.
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hilary BennWON | Lab | 17,117 | 54.0 |
| Ed Carlisle | Grn | 5,838 | 18.4 |
| Karen Cooksley | Con | 4,172 | 13.2 |
| Daniel Whetstone | Ind | 1,874 | 5.9 |
| George Sykes | LD | 1,340 | 4.2 |
| Muhammad Azeem | Ind | 719 | 2.3 |
| Janet Bickerdike | Ind | 341 | 1.1 |
| Niko Omilana | Ind | 277 | 0.9 |
Turnout 31,678
Prior contests.
Created on the 2023 boundary review. 2024 General Election was the first contest on these boundaries.
Sources, methods & last update
2023 boundary review
DCLEAPIL v1.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Census 2021
National avg over 575 seats
±8% confidence
LSOA-aggregated · rolling 12mo