Bradford East (UK Parliament constituency)

Bradford East is a constituency^{[n 1]} in West Yorkshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Imran Hussain of the Labour Party.^{[n 2]}

Bradford East
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundaries since 2024
Boundary of Bradford East in Yorkshire and the Humber
County	West Yorkshire
Population	113,820 (2011 census)[1]
Electorate	74,205 (December 2019)[2]
Major settlements	Bradford
Current constituency
Created	2010
Member of Parliament	Imran Hussain (Labour)
Seats	One
Created from	Bradford North
1885–1974
Seats	One
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Created from	Bradford
Replaced by	Bradford North

Constituency profile

Bradford East covers the north east and east parts of Bradford and has a significant number of non-white residents.^[3] Residents are poorer than the UK average.^[4]

History

The constituency had existed from 1885 to 1974. Following a 2007–2009 review of parliamentary boundaries in West Yorkshire by the Boundary Commission for England, the Bradford North constituency was abolished and Bradford East created for the 2010 general election.

Boundaries

Municipal boundaries of Bradford

Bradford was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1847, covering the parishes of Bradford, Horton and Manningham. It became a county borough with the passing of the Local Government Act 1888. The county borough was granted city status by Letters Patent in 1897. Bradford was expanded in 1882 to include Allerton, Bolton and Undercliffe, Bowling, Heaton, Thornbury and Tyersal. In 1899 it was further expanded by adding North Bierley, Eccleshill, Idle, Thornton, Tong and Wyke. Clayton was added in 1930.

From 1974, the county borough was merged with the Borough of Keighley, the Urban Districts of Baildon, Bingley, Denholme, Cullingworth, Ilkley, Shipley and Silsden, along with part of Queensbury and Shelf Urban District and part of Skipton Rural District to create the Metropolitan Borough of Bradford.

Parliamentary boundaries

1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Bradford, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, was divided into three single-member constituencies from the 1885 general election. Bradford East was the eastern third of Bradford and was approximately rectangular in shape. It consisted of the wards of Bradford Moor, East, East Bowling, South, and West Bowling. It bordered Pudsey to the east, Elland in the south, Bradford Central to the west and Shipley in the north.

1918–1950: The Municipal Borough of Bradford wards of Bradford Moor, East Bowling, Tong, and West Bowling. It was located in the south-east corner of the city of Bradford.

1950–1955: The constituency was expanded to the south-west, to include territory formerly in the Bradford South seat. The Bradford Moor area, in the north of the old East division, was transferred to Bradford Central. The wards allocated to the East division from 1950 were East Bowling, Little Horton, North Bierley East, Tong, and West Bowling.

1955–1974: The 1955 redistribution removed the western part of the old East division and expanded the seat north. North Bierley East and West Bowling wards were transferred to Bradford South. The East seat from 1955 comprised the wards of East Bowling, Exchange, Listerhills, Little Horton, South, and Tong.

In 1974 the Bradford East seat was abolished. The Bowling area became part of Bradford North; Tong joined Bradford South; and Little Horton became part of Bradford West.

2010-2024: Bradford East was recreated as the successor seat to Bradford North, which was created for the 1918 general election. The report into the boundary review says;

"5. The Assistant Commissioner reported that he was also called upon to consider alternative names submitted for Bradford East. He rejected a number of alternatives... as he considered they did not have any merit.... He also rejected the submissions that proposed that the name Bradford North should be retained...."

The wards in this new constituency were entirely within the Bradford city boundaries:

• Bolton and Undercliffe, Bowling and Barkerend, Bradford Moor, Eccleshill, Idle and Thackley and Little Horton

2024-present: As above, apart from the loss of a small part of the Bowling and Barkerend ward (polling district 5F) to Bradford South.^[5]

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885–1974

Election		Member[6]	Party
	1885	Sir Angus Holden, later Baron Holden	Liberal
	1886	Henry Byron Reed	Conservative
	1892	William Sproston Caine	Liberal
	1895	Henry Byron Reed	Conservative
	1896 by-election	Ronald Greville	Conservative
	1906	William Priestley	Liberal
	1918	Charles Edgar Loseby	Coalition National Democratic
	1922	Fred Jowett	Labour
	1924	Thomas Fenby	Liberal
	1929	Fred Jowett	Labour
	1931	Joseph Hepworth	Conservative
	1945	Frank McLeavy	Labour
	1966	Edward Lyons	Labour
	Feb 1974	constituency abolished

MPs since 2010

Election		Member[7]	Party
	2010	David Ward	Liberal Democrats
	Jul 2013		Independent
	Oct 2013		Liberal Democrats
	2015	Imran Hussain	Labour
	2024		Independent
	2025		Labour

Elections

The original constituency had its first contest at the 1885 general election and its last at the 1970 general election.

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Bradford East^[8][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Imran Hussain	14,098	37.9	−25.1
	Independent	Talat Sajawal	7,909	21.3	N/A
	Reform UK	Jacob Anstey	4,952	13.3	+7.1
	Conservative	Aubrey Holt	3,450	9.3	−12.4
	Green	Celia Hickson	2,571	6.9	+5.4
	Liberal Democrats	Robert St John O'Carroll	1,910	5.1	−2.6
	Independent	Mohammed Rahman	817	2.2	N/A
	Yorkshire	Lara Barras	761	2.0	N/A
	Independent	Amer Rehman	683	1.8	N/A
	SDP	Richard Riley	65	0.2	N/A
Majority			6,189	16.6	–24.7
Turnout			37,216	49.5	–10.1
Registered electors			75,167
	Labour hold

Elections in the 2010s

2019 notional result[10]
Party		Vote	%
	Labour	27,105	63.0
	Conservative	9,344	21.7
	Liberal Democrats	3,302	7.7
	Brexit Party	2,647	6.2
	Green	638	1.5
Turnout		43,036	59.6
Electorate		72,150

General election 2019: Bradford East^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Imran Hussain	27,825	63.0	−2.4
	Conservative	Linden Kemkaran	9,681	21.9	+1.5
	Liberal Democrats	Jeanette Sunderland	3,316	7.5	+5.7
	Brexit Party	Jonathan Barras	2,700	6.1	New
	Green	Andy Stanford	662	1.5	+0.9
Majority			18,144	41.1	−3.9
Turnout			44,184	60.4	−4.6
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 2017: Bradford East^[12][13][14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Imran Hussain	29,831	65.4	+18.8
	Conservative	Mark Trafford	9,291	20.4	+9.1
	Independent	David Ward	3,576	7.8	New
	UKIP	Jonathan Barras	1,372	3.0	−6.9
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Jewell	843	1.8	−27.7
	Better for Bradford	Paul Parkins	420	0.9	New
	Green	Andy Stanford	289	0.6	−1.5
Majority			20,540	45.0	+27.9
Turnout			45,622	64.8	+2.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.8

See also: Opinion polling in United Kingdom constituencies, 2010–15 § Bradford East

General election 2015: Bradford East^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Imran Hussain	19,312	46.6	+13.8
	Liberal Democrats	David Ward	12,228	29.5	−4.2
	Conservative	Iftikhar Ahmed	4,682	11.3	−15.5
	UKIP	Owais Rajput	4,103	9.9	New
	Green	David Stevens	871	2.1	New
	British Democrats	James Lewthwaite	210	0.5	New
Majority			7,084	17.1	N/A
Turnout			41,406	62.6	+0.5
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing	+9.0

General election 2010: Bradford East^[16][17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	David Ward	13,637	33.7	+3.9
	Labour	Terry Rooney	13,272	32.8	−11.3
	Conservative	Mohammed Riaz	10,860	26.8	+9.4
	BNP	Neville Poynton	1,854	4.6	−1.0
	Independent	Raja Hussain	375	0.9	New
	Independent	Peter Shields	237	0.6	New
	National Front	Gerry Robinson	222	0.5	New
Majority			365	0.9	N/A
Turnout			40,457	62.1	+8.0
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour		Swing	+7.6[n 3]

Election in the 1970s

General election 1970: Bradford East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Edward Lyons	17,346	66.17
	Conservative	Christopher J Barr	8,208	31.31
	Liberal	Ghulam Musa	660	2.52	New
Majority			9,138	34.86
Turnout			26,214	64.75
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1966: Bradford East^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Edward Lyons	18,435	69.50
	National Liberal	Henry Sissling	8,091	30.50
Majority			10,344	39.00
Turnout			26,526	65.12
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1964: Bradford East^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frank McLeavy	17,945	61.84
	National Liberal	D Trevor Lewis	11,075	38.16
Majority			6,870	23.68
Turnout			29,020	66.84
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1959: Bradford East^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frank McLeavy	20,056	57.99
	National Liberal	Desmond A Dagleish	14,529	42.01
Majority			5,527	15.98
Turnout			34,585	72.79
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1955: Bradford East^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frank McLeavy	23,588	61.59
	National Liberal	George C Barber	14,713	38.41
Majority			8,875	23.18
Turnout			38,301	74.44
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1951: Bradford East^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frank McLeavy	28,796	62.88
	National Liberal	Frederick William Howard Cook	16,999	37.12
Majority			11,797	25.76
Turnout			45,795	84.28
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1950: Bradford East^[23][24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frank McLeavy	27,694	59.8	+14.8
	National Liberal	Geoffrey Francis Greenbank	12,527	27.0	+0.9
	Liberal	Joseph Stanley Snowden	5,565	12.0	−2.3
	Communist	H Green	543	1.2	New
Majority			15,167	32.8	+13.8
Turnout			46,329	84.6	+5.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Election in the 1940s

General election 1945: Bradford East^[25] Electorate 44,305

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Frank McLeavy	15,743	45.0	+23.3
	Conservative	William Taylor	9,109	26.1	−6.9
	Ind. Labour Party	Will Ballantine	5,195	14.6	−12.0
	Liberal	Joseph Stanley Snowden	5,010	14.3	−4.4
Majority			6,634	19.0	N/A
Turnout			34,967	78.9	+5.9
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1935: Bradford East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Joseph Hepworth	11,131	32.98
	Ind. Labour Party	Fred Jowett	8,983	26.61	New
	Labour	Wilfred Heywood	7,329	21.71	New
	Liberal	Thomas Fenby	6,312	18.70	New
Majority			2,148	6.37
Turnout			33,755	73.04
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1931: Bradford East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Joseph Hepworth	22,532	58.81
	Ind. Labour Party	Fred Jowett	15,779	41.19
Majority			6,753	17.62	N/A
Turnout			38,311	82.40
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Election in the 1920s

Fenby

General election 1929: Bradford East^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Fred Jowett	21,398	54.7	+4.8
	Liberal	Thomas Fenby	17,701	45.3	−4.8
Majority			3,697	9.4	N/A
Turnout			39,099	83.4	+2.6
Registered electors			46,856
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	+4.8

General election 1924: Bradford East^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Fenby	15,240	50.1	+21.7
	Labour	Fred Jowett	15,174	49.9	+1.8
Majority			66	0.2	N/A
Turnout			30,414	80.8	+5.2
Registered electors			37,658
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing	+10.0

General election 6 December 1923: Bradford East^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Fred Jowett	13,579	48.1	+2.7
	Liberal	Eckersley Mitchell	8,017	28.4	+7.0
	Unionist	James Clare	6,622	23.5	New
Majority			5,562	19.7	+7.5
Turnout			28,218	75.6	−5.8
Registered electors			37,323
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.2

General election 6 December 1922: Bradford East^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Fred Jowett	13,573	45.4	+7.5
	National Liberal	Charles Edgar Loseby	9,926	33.2	−7.9
	Liberal	Harry Medforth Dawson [27]	6,411	21.4	+0.4
Majority			3,647	12.2	N/A
Turnout			29,910	81.4	+19.0
Registered electors			36,758
	Labour gain from National Democratic		Swing	+7.7

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Bradford East^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	National Democratic	Charles Edgar Loseby	9,390	41.1	New
	Labour	Fred Jowett	8,637	37.9	New
	Liberal	William Priestley	4,782	21.0	−41.2
Majority			753	3.2	N/A
Turnout			22,809	62.4	−16.4
Registered electors			36,580
	National Democratic gain from Liberal		Swing
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

A General Election was due to take place by the end of 1915. By the summer of 1914, the following candidates had been adopted to contest that election. Due to the outbreak of war, the election never took place.

• British Socialist Party: John Stokes^[28]

General election December 1910: Bradford East^[29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Priestley	7,778	62.2	+8.9
	Conservative	R.M.H.J. Mortimer	4,734	37.8	+3.1
Majority			3,044	24.4	+5.8
Turnout			12,512	78.8	−2.3
Registered electors			15,884
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.9

General election January 1910: Bradford East^[29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Priestley	7,709	53.3	+7.7
	Conservative	J.H. Balfour-Browne	5,014	34.7	+3.1
	Social Democratic Federation	Edward Hartley	1,740	12.0	−10.8
Majority			2,695	18.6	+4.6
Turnout			14,463	91.1	+1.6
Registered electors			15,884
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.3

Elections in the 1900s

William Priestley

General election 1906: Bradford East^[29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Priestley	6,185	45.6	−1.3
	Conservative	Vincent Caillard	4,277	31.6	−20.6
	Social Democratic Federation	Edward Hartley	3,090	22.8	New
Majority			1,908	14.0	N/A
Turnout			13,552	89.5	+6.7
Registered electors			15,136
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+9.7

General election 1900: Bradford East^[29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ronald Greville	6,121	52.2	−1.0
	Liberal	William Priestley	5,514	46.9	+0.1
	Independent	J. Sheldon	111	0.9	New
Majority			607	5.3	−1.1
Turnout			11,746	82.8	−1.7
Registered electors			14,189
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.6

Elections in the 1890s

By-election, 1896: Bradford East^[29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ronald Greville	4,921	43.2	−10.0
	Liberal	Alfred Billson	4,526	39.7	−7.1
	Ind. Labour Party	Keir Hardie	1,953	17.1	New
Majority			395	3.5	−2.9
Turnout			11,400	86.6	+2.1
Registered electors			13,159
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.5

General election 1895: Bradford East^[29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Byron Reed	5,843	53.2	+4.1
	Liberal	William Sproston Caine	5,139	46.8	−4.1
Majority			704	6.4	N/A
Turnout			10,982	84.5	−2.7
Registered electors			12,997
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+4.1

General election 1892: Bradford East^[29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Sproston Caine	5,575	50.9	+2.6
	Conservative	Henry Byron Reed	5,373	49.1	−2.6
Majority			202	1.8	N/A
Turnout			10,948	87.2	+6.9
Registered electors			12,556
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+2.6

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1886: Bradford East^[30]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Byron Reed	4,519	51.7	+3.6
	Liberal	Angus Holden	4,223	48.3	−3.6
Majority			296	3.4	N/A
Turnout			8,742	80.3	−3.1
Registered electors			10,887
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+3.6

Holden

General election 1885: Bradford East^[30][31][32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Angus Holden	4,713	51.9
	Conservative	John Taylor	4,367	48.1
Majority			346	3.8
Turnout			9,080	83.4
Registered electors			10,887
	Liberal win (new seat)

See also

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

Notes

1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
2. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
3. Based on notional 2005 results by ward