Leeds Central by-election, 1999

The Member of Parliament for Leeds Central, the Rt. Hon. Derek Fatchett, (Labour) died suddenly on May 9, 1999. The Labour Party rushed to organise for the by-election and moved the writ so that the election could be held on June 10, the same day as elections to the European Parliament.

The shortlist for the Labour candidacy included the Chair of Leeds Central Constituency Labour Party, Maggie Giles-Hill, and Shahid Malik, but the selection went to Hilary Benn who had been Special Adviser to David Blunkett, then Secretary of State for Education and Employment. The Conservatives chose their general election candidate Edward Wild. The Liberal Democrats provided the strongest challenge and increased their vote by nearly 20%, but this was not enough to take the seat.

The campaign was subsumed with the European Parliament elections, and the result was an all-time low turnout for a by-election: at 19.9% it holds the record for the lowest turnout in a UK parliamentary by-election in peacetime since 1918.

Results

Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Hilary Benn
votes = 6,361
percentage = 48.2
change = -21.4Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = Peter Wild
votes = 4,068
percentage = 30.8
change = +19.6Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Edward Wild
votes = 1,618
percentage = 12.3
change = -1.4Election box candidate with party link
party = Green Party of England and Wales
candidate = David Blackburn
votes = 478
percentage = 3.6
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = United Kingdom Independence Party
candidate = Raymond Northgreaves
votes = 353
percentage = 2.7
change = "N/A"Election box candidate
party = Left Alliance
candidate = Chris Hill
votes = 258
percentage = 2.0
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Independent (politician)
candidate = Julian Fitzgerald
votes = 51
percentage = 0.4
change = "N/A"Election box majority
votes = 2,293
percentage =
change = Election box turnout
votes =
percentage = 19.9
change = Election box hold with party link
winner = Labour Party (UK)
swing =

General Election result, 1997

Election box candidate with party link
party = Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Derek Fatchett
votes = 25,766
percentage = 69.6
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate = Edward Wild
votes = 5,077
percentage = 13.7
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Democrats (UK)
candidate = David Freeman
votes = 4,164
percentage = 11.3
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Referendum Party
candidate = Philip Myers
votes = 1,042
percentage = 2.8
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Socialist Labour Party (UK)
candidate = Michael Rix
votes = 656
percentage = 1.8
change = "N/A"Election box candidate with party link
party = Socialist Party (England and Wales)
candidate = Chris Hill
votes = 304
percentage = 0.8
change = "N/A"Election box majority
votes = 20,689
percentage =
change = Election box turnout
votes =
percentage = 54.7
change = Election box hold with party link
winner = Labour Party (UK)
swing =