Leeds Constituencies - South & Morley

The Leeds South & Morley constituency was established in 1983 and abolished before the 1997 election.

The constituency was created by merging the old Leeds South constituency and Morley following metropolitanisation and the Boundary Commission’s report. Morley had an MP from 1885 until it was merged with Batley in 1918 whilst Leeds South was established in 1885 until it was abolished in time for the 1983 election. Morley, a mixture of middle-class and working-class accommodation, was involved in the manufacture of shoddy and mining and by the late twentieth century several small industries were established there. South Leeds was a predominantly a working-class area of back-to-backs with coal mining, wool textiles and later in the nineteenth century engineering as the dominant industries. The extensive council estates of Belle Isle and Middleton. were designated Urban Priority Areas in 1978. A large Asian population settled in the Beeston district from the 1960s. The constituency was succeeded by Morley& Rothwell and Morley & Outwood.

 

South & Morley 1983
South & Morley in 1983

 

BOUNDARIES

1983–1997: Hunslet Ward, Middleton Ward, Morley North Ward, and Morley South Ward.

 

TURNOUT

For elections after 1929 when universal suffrage had been granted

  Electorate Total votes cast Turnout
1983 60,864 41,352 67.94%
1987 60,726 43,490 71.62%
1992 63,107 45,809 72.59%

 

HIGHEST NUMBER OF VOTES RECORDED BY A WINNING CANDIDATE
1992 J. Gunnell (Labour) 23,896

LOWEST NUMBER OF VOTES RECORDED BY A WINNING CANDIDATE
1983 M. Rees (Labour) 18,995

HIGHEST MAJORITY RECORDED BY A WINNING CANDIDATE
1992 J. Gunnell (Labour) 7,372

LOWEST MAJORITY RECORDED BY A WINNING CANDIDATE
1983 M. Rees (Labour) 5,854

 

RESULTS

Boundary Commission 1983

1983 - 9th June

South & Morley
M. Rees (Labour) 18,995
W. Hyde (Conservative) 13,141
P. Burley (Social Democratic/Liberal Alliance) 9,216



1987 - 11th June

South & Morley
M. Rees (Labour) 21,551
T. C. Holdroyd (Conservative) 14,840
E. J. V. Dawson (Social Democratic/Liberal Alliance) 7,099



1992 - 8th April

South & Morley
J. Gunnell (Labour) 23,896
G. R. Booth (Conservative) 16,524
J. Walmsley (Liberal Democrat) 5,062
R. Thurston (Natural Law) 327