Bradford West is a

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

of the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

since

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Naz Shah Naseem Shah (; born 13 November 1973) is a British Labour Party politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Bradford West since 2015. She served in the Opposition frontbench from 2018 to 2023, most recently as Shadow Minister for Cr ...

of the Labour Party.

Constituency profile

Bradford West covers the Bradford city centre, Manningham, Allerton and Clayton. It has a significant

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

population and a majority of Muslim voters.

History

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. Since its recreation in 1955, Labour and

Conservative Parties The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from centre-right to far-right. Political parties by this name include: E ...

held the seat marginally in various years up to 1974, since which time the Labour Party always won the seat, with the exception of the

2012 Bradford West by-election On 29 March 2012, a by-election was held for the House of Commons constituency of Bradford West. It was unexpectedly won by George Galloway of the Respect Party who defeated the Labour Party candidate by a large margin in a result referred to ...

. In 1981, however, Edward Lyons, the sitting Bradford West MP, joined the newly established

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

, consequently losing the seat at the 1983 general election. This seat has a history of bucking the national trend. In 1997, the seat was one of only two Labour seats in the country, the other being

Bethnal Green and Bow Bethnal Green and Bow was a United Kingdom constituencies, constituency in Greater London, represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 2010 until its abolition for the 2024 United Kingdom ...

in London, to have seen a swing towards the Conservatives away from Labour. This was attributed to the local party association selecting a

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

, Marsha Singh to stand when the majority of the seat's population is

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. In 2010, however, Singh retained his seat with a swing in his favour, against the national result.

George Galloway George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer. He has been leader of the Workers Party of Britain since he founded it in 2019, and is a former leader of the Respect Party. Until 2003, he was a member ...

of the

Respect Party The Respect Party was a left-wing to far-left socialist political party active in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2016. At the height of its success in 2007, the party had one Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons and nineteen ...

won the seat in the

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

to the new Labour candidate

by a substantial (28.3%) margin. Despite Galloway's threats to contest the result, he neither launched a legal challenge nor stood again in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, in which 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 Salma Yaqoob (born 15 August 1971) is a British political activist and psychotherapist who served as the Leader of the Respect Party from 2005 until 2012, representing the party on Birmingham City Council. She led the Birmingham Stop the War ...

did stand as an Independent, garnering 6,345 votes (13.9%), 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. This means that Bradford West has bucked the national trend thrice, as it also did in 1997 and 2010. Bradford West, during the 2019–24 Parliament, was the safest seat in the region of

Yorkshire and the Humber Yorkshire and the Humber is one of the nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It is one of the three regions covering Northern England, alongside the North West England and North East England regio ...

for Labour. In 2024, when the Labour Party won a landslide nationally, the Labour share of the vote dropped dramatically to just 31% of the vote, reducing the Labour majority to 707 votes.

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 A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

, Clayton and Fairweather Green, Heaton, Manningham, Thornton and Allerton, and

Toller Toller is a ward within the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council of West Yorkshire, England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great B ...

. The

2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies The 2023 review of Westminster constituencies was the most recent cycle of the process to redraw the Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, constituency map for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The new constituency b ...

left the boundaries unchanged.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885–1918

MPs since 1955

Election results

Elections in the 2020s

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections 1885 - 1910

Elections in the 1910s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1880s

Notes

References

External links

nomis Constituency Profile for Bradford West
— presenting data from the ONS annual population survey and other official statistics.

(boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at ''MapIt UK''

(boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at ''MapIt UK''

(boundaries from June 2024) at ''MapIt UK'' {{Coord, 53.8, -1.79, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title 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 1918 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1955 Politics of Bradford