Bradford West (UK Parliament constituency)


Bradford West is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Naz Shah of the Labour Party.

History

Before 1974, the Labour and Conservative Parties held the seat marginally in various years, since which time the Labour Party always won the seat until 2012. In 1981 though, Edward Lyons, the sitting Bradford West MP joined the newly established Social Democratic Party, but he lost the seat at the 1983 general election.
George Galloway of the Respect Party won the seat in the 2012 Bradford West by-election with 55.9% of the votes cast; his 30.9% majority was at the time the largest majority in the history of the modern constituency, but he lost the seat in 2015 to the new Labour candidate Naz Shah by a substantial margin. Despite Galloway's threats to contest the result, he neither launched a legal challenge nor stood again in 2017, where Shah surpassed his record by winning a majority of 48.1%, the largest margin for a Bradford West MP in any incarnation of the seat. Despite Galloway not standing, his former Respect colleague Salma Yaqoob did stand as an Independent, garnering 6,345 votes, not far behind the second-placed Conservative candidate.
At the 2019 general election Shah increased her vote share by 11.5%. This was easily the highest increase in the Labour Party's vote share in any constituency in the United Kingdom in an election where Labour's vote share decreased in all but 13 constituencies.

Boundaries

1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Bradford wards of Allerton, Bolton, Great Horton, Heaton, and Manningham.
1955–1974: The County Borough of Bradford wards of Allerton, Great Horton, Heaton, Manningham, and Thornton.
1974–1983: The County Borough of Bradford wards of Allerton, Heaton, Little Horton, Manningham, Thornton, and University.
1983–2010: The City of Bradford wards of Clayton, Heaton, Little Horton, Thornton, Toller, and University.
2010–present: The City of Bradford wards of City, Clayton and Fairweather Green, Heaton, Manningham, Thornton and Allerton, and Toller.

Members of Parliament

The constituency was originally created in 1885, but was abolished in 1918. For the 1955 general election the constituency was recreated, following a boundary review.

Elections

Elections of the 2010s

Elections of the 2000s

Elections of the 1990s

Elections of the 1980s

Elections of the 1970s

Elections of the 1960s

Elections of the 1950s

Elections 1885–1918