Leeds Central and Headingley

MP

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Alex Sobel

Labour Co-operative

Data from TheyWorkForYou.

MP contact details

Data from UK Parliament, TheyWorkForYou, and Wikipedia.

Positions and memberships

Select committees

APPGs

Data from UK Parliament.

Stances

Topic	Position
MP stance on greater regulation of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to extract shale gas	No position
MP stance on the preservation of environmental protections after withdrawal from the EU	Generally voted for
MP stance on improving environmental water quality	Consistently voted for
MP stance on improving air quality	Consistently voted for
MP stance on increasing windfall tax on oil and gas companies	Generally voted for
MP stance on higher taxes on plane tickets	No position
MP stance on financial incentives for low carbon emission electricity generation methods	Consistently voted for
MP stance on measures to prevent climate change	Almost always voted for
MP stance on lower taxes on fuel for motor vehicles	No position
MP stance on improving biodiversity	Consistently voted for

Data from TheyWorkForYou Votes. See this MP’s full voting record on TheyWorkForYou.

Votes and EDMs

Vote	Position
MP vote on Ban on Fracking for Shale Gas Bill	Did not vote
MP vote on Environment Bill	No
MP support for Cumbria coal mine court appeal	Did not support
MP support for Accelerating construction work and lower carbon construction vehicles	Did not support
MP support for Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty	Did not support
MP support for Zero carbon homes	Did not support

Data from UK Parliament and TheyWorkForYou. Votes and EDMs selected for indicating support for climate/nature movement. See this MP’s full voting record on TheyWorkForYou.

Written Answers

Department	Topic	Date
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	Veterinary Services: Drugs	2026-01-29
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	Veterinary Services: Prescription Drugs	2026-01-29
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero	Drax Power: Low Carbon Contracts Company	2026-01-13

Data from TheyWorkForYou. Recent Written Answers to questions submitted by the MP to departments relevant to climate and nature. See this MP’s full record on TheyWorkForYou.

2024 majority

8,422

Data from UK Parliament. This information is provided because in the UK electoral system, political parties and the media will be paying more attention to marginal seats and therefore the voices of the people within them can have greater national impact.

Date elected

8th Jun 2017

Data from UK Parliament.

2025 Mass Lobby attendance

MP attended

More MP data

Place

Constituency history

This constituency was introduced at the July 2024 general election, and replaced the previous three new constituencies:

Leeds Central

Covered approximately 28% of this new constituency’s population, and 15% of this new constituency’s area.

Leeds North West

Covered approximately 52% of this new constituency’s population, and 14% of this new constituency’s area.

Leeds West

Covered approximately 24% of this new constituency’s population, and 18% of this new constituency’s area.

Estimated households in fuel poverty

33.3%

17.9% national average

Data from End Fuel Poverty Coalition. This dataset has been automatically converted from 2010 parliamentary constituencies. Percentage of households in fuel poverty, including adjustment for Energy Price Guarantee, using National Energy Action base number of households in fuel poverty. Updated July 2023.

Act Now Change Forever constituency briefing

Find out what matters in Leeds Central and Headingley Download PDF

Prepared by Friends of the Earth, for The Climate Coalition’s 2025 Act Now Change Forever campaign. Updated June 2025.

Housing Tenure

	This area	National average
Owned with a mortgage	16.7%	28.9%
Other tenure	0.7%	1.2%
Owned outright	15.2%	33.3%
Private rented	44.8%	19.9%
Social rented	22.6%	16.8%

Data from ONS (England and Wales) and NISRA (Northern Ireland), collated by House of Commons Library. Updated May 2024.

Mental health has been impacted by the cost of living crisis

43.7%

41.5% national average

Survation 2023 MRP polling, commissioned by 38Degrees. This dataset has been automatically converted from 2010 parliamentary constituencies. Updated March 2023.

Estimated child poverty

33.0%

29.3% national average

Data from End Child Poverty, based on data from DWP/HMRC. This dataset has been automatically converted from 2010 parliamentary constituencies. Percentage of children living in households with a net income (after housing costs) below 60% of the national median. Updated June 2024.

Worried about not being able to pay their energy bills in the next year

58.4%

53.5% national average

Survation 2023 MRP polling, commissioned by 38Degrees. This dataset has been automatically converted from 2010 parliamentary constituencies. Updated March 2023.

Friends of the Earth ‘State of the Environment’ report

The state of the environment in Leeds Central and Headingley

From Friends of the Earth. These reports highlight key environmental issues impacting people in this constituency, as well as proposed solutions. Updated August 2023.

Constituency age distribution

	This area	National average
Ages 0 - 15	10.8%	18.3%
Ages 16 - 24	42.0%	10.5%
Ages 25 - 34	17.7%	13.2%
Ages 35 - 49	12.8%	19.1%
Ages 50 - 64	9.0%	19.8%
Ages 65 and over	7.8%	19.1%

Data from ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland), and NISRA (Northern Ireland), collated by House of Commons Library. Updated May 2024.

Constituency Population

106,000

102,977.2 national average

Data from ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland), and NISRA (Northern Ireland), collated by House of Commons Library. Updated May 2024.

Number of onshore windfarms

0.7 national average

Data from Wikipedia. Updated 2024-04-24.

Current Industry

	This area	National average
Agriculture, energy and water	0.5%	1.1%
Construction	1.6%	4.1%
Distribution, hotels and restaurants	9.8%	9.2%
Financial, real estate, professional and administrative activities	7.4%	7.9%
Manufacturing	1.5%	3.5%
Does not apply	59.5%	53.4%
Other	2.4%	2.1%
Public administration, education and health	13.7%	14.3%
Transport and communication	3.4%	4.4%

Data from ONS. Updated May 2024.

Current Occupation

	This area	National average
Administrative and secretarial occupations	3.3%	4.3%
Associate professional and technical occupations	6.3%	6.1%
Caring, leisure and other service occupations	3.5%	4.4%
Elementary occupations	5.0%	4.8%
Managers, directors and senior officials	3.2%	6.0%
Does not apply	59.5%	53.4%
Process, plant and machine operatives	1.6%	3.2%
Professional occupations	10.8%	9.4%
Sales and customer service occupations	4.5%	3.5%
Skilled trades occupations	2.3%	4.8%

Data from ONS. Updated May 2024.

Disabled under the Equality Act

16.0%

17.7% national average

Data from ONS. Updated May 2024.

Ethnicity

	This area	National average
Asian / Asian British	13.2%	8.1%
Mixed / Multiple ethnic groups	4.9%	2.8%
Other ethnic groups	4.6%	1.8%
Other White	7.3%	6.3%
White British	63.8%	77.5%

Data from ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland), and NISRA (Northern Ireland), collated by House of Commons Library. Updated May 2024.

General Health

	This area	National average
Bad or very bad health	3.6%	5.3%
Fair health	10.0%	12.8%
Very good or good health	86.4%	81.9%

Data from ONS. Updated May 2024.

Have missed a bill payment in the last six months

37.8%

31.5% national average

Survation 2023 MRP polling, commissioned by 38Degrees. This dataset has been automatically converted from 2010 parliamentary constituencies. Updated March 2023.

Have missed a credit payment in the last six months

25.6%

23.6% national average

Survation 2023 MRP polling, commissioned by 38Degrees. This dataset has been automatically converted from 2010 parliamentary constituencies. Updated March 2023.

Have missed a rent payment in the last six months

24.1%

19.0% national average

Survation 2023 MRP polling, commissioned by 38Degrees. This dataset has been automatically converted from 2010 parliamentary constituencies. Updated March 2023.

Have not been able to afford to turn the heating on at home when they have felt cold in the past month

46.8%

37.5% national average

Survation 2023 MRP polling, commissioned by 38Degrees. This dataset has been automatically converted from 2010 parliamentary constituencies. Updated March 2023.

Main Language

	This area	National average
African languages	0.8%	0.3%
Asian languages	6.3%	3.0%
English or Welsh	84.9%	88.9%
European languages (EU)	3.8%	3.8%
Does not apply	2.1%	3.1%
North or South American languages	0%	0.0%
Oceanic or Australian languages	0.0%	0.0%
Any other languages	1.9%	0.6%
Other European languages (non-EU)	0.2%	0.1%
Any other UK languages	0.0%	0.0%
Sign and supported languages	0.0%	0.0%

Data from ONS. Updated May 2024.

Travel to work method

	This area	National average
Bicycle	0.9%	0.9%
Bus, minibus or coach	3.6%	1.8%
Driving a car or van	11.8%	21.3%
On foot	5.6%	3.5%
Work mainly at or from home	15.1%	14.5%
Underground, metro, light rail, tram	0.1%	0.7%
Motorcycle, scooter or moped	0.1%	0.2%
Not in employment or aged 15 years and under	59.5%	53.4%
Other method of travel to work	0.4%	0.5%
Passenger in a car or van	1.2%	1.8%
Taxi	0.9%	0.3%
Train	0.8%	0.8%

Data from ONS. Updated May 2024.

Worried about having to use a foodbank in the next year

33.9%

28.7% national average

Survation 2023 MRP polling, commissioned by 38Degrees. This dataset has been automatically converted from 2010 parliamentary constituencies. Updated March 2023.

Worried about not being able to afford their mortgage or rent in the next year

46.2%

40.0% national average

Survation 2023 MRP polling, commissioned by 38Degrees. This dataset has been automatically converted from 2010 parliamentary constituencies. Updated March 2023.

Country of the UK

England

Data from mySociety. Updated 2024-04-24.

Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD)

2.8 national average

Data from ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland), and NISRA (Northern Ireland), collated and standardised by mySociety. This dataset has been automatically converted from 2010 parliamentary constituencies. Deciles of deprivation, from 1 (most deprived) to 10 (least deprived). This uses a composite measure of deprivation (including income, employment, education, skills, health, crime, and housing) standardised across the countries of the UK.

Coastal constituency

Calculated with coastline data from the University of Exeter, based on the ONS / UK Census Mean High Water boundary. Constituencies touching the sea, or a river estuary more than 1km wide. Updated May 2024.

More place data

Public opinion

Should government policy on climate change be going faster or slower?

	This area	National average
Go faster	67.1%	54.1%
Neither	7.8%	12.0%
Go slower	25.1%	30.9%

FocalData MRP polling for Persuasion UK. Updated July 2024.

Results of last election

Party	Votes
Labour Party	15853
Green Party	7431
Liberal Democrats	2611
Reform UK	2399
Conservative Party	2237
Other	1064

Data from UK Parliament. The results of the last parliamentary election held in this constituency Updated 2024-07-29.

EU (Brexit) leave vote percentage

43%

50.5% national average

Data from UK Parliament. Percentage of constituents who voted to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum Updated February 2017.

Likelihood to take action such as voting for a particular candidate or lobbying an MP to tackle climate change and protect nature

	This area	National average
Net likely	41.8%	39.7%
Net unlikely	25.4%	27.8%
Very likely	13.6%	12.2%
Quite likely	28.2%	27.5%
Neither likely nor unlikely	32.8%	32.5%
Quite unlikely	12.0%	12.6%
Very unlikely	13.4%	15.3%

Focaldata 2023 MRP polling, commissioned by HOPE not hate. This dataset has been automatically converted from 2010 parliamentary constituencies. Updated April 2023.

Should the UK have closer economic ties with the EU, even if that means giving up some sovereignty?

	This area	National average
Closer ties with the EU	66.4%	51.5%
Neither	6.0%	6.1%
No closer with the EU	27.5%	39.5%

FocalData MRP polling for Persuasion UK. Updated July 2024.

Would you support or oppose the building of onshore wind farms in your area?

	This area	National average
Neither	24.2%	18.6%
Oppose	10.5%	12.2%
Support	65.3%	66.3%

FocalData MRP polling for Persuasion UK. Updated July 2024.

Do you think immigration has generally enriched or undermined society?

	This area	National average
Enriched	53.5%	37.2%
Neither	12.8%	12.5%
Undermined	33.7%	47.3%

FocalData MRP polling for Persuasion UK. Updated July 2024.

Should the welfare system be expanded to help more people, or reduced to make benefits harder to get?

	This area	National average
Expanded	47.7%	34.1%
Neither	9.6%	11.5%
Reduced	42.7%	51.5%

FocalData MRP polling for Persuasion UK. Updated July 2024.

Would you be comfortable paying more tax, if it meant more money were invested in public services like the NHS and education?

	This area	National average
Comfortable	52.8%	44.3%
Neither	5.3%	6.0%
Uncomfortable	41.9%	46.8%

FocalData MRP polling for Persuasion UK. Updated July 2024.

Would you be comfortable with government debt going up, provided that money were invested in the economy and local services?

	This area	National average
Comfortable	60.9%	52.5%
Neither	7.4%	7.6%
Uncomfortable	31.7%	37.0%

FocalData MRP polling for Persuasion UK. Updated July 2024.

Would you support or oppose the building of new housing in your area?

	This area	National average
Neither	18.3%	21.1%
Oppose	14.1%	17.8%
Support	67.6%	58.2%

FocalData MRP polling for Persuasion UK. Updated July 2024.

Consider climate change a high priority

53.6 national average

Public First MRP Polling, commissioned by Onward UK, adjusted for the demographics of the local area by mySociety. This dataset has been automatically converted from 2010 parliamentary constituencies. Estimated percentage of constituents who consider climate change a high priority. Updated July 2022.

Second placed party at most recent election

Green Party

Data from UK Parliament. The parliamentary party who came second in this constituency’s most recent election or by-election Updated 2024-07-29.

Loss of nature and destruction of the environment should be one of the most important concerns for the country

	This area	National average
Net agree	70.6%	72.6%
Net disagree	9.4%	8.7%
Strongly agree	32.4%	33.8%
Partly agree	37.8%	38.8%
Neither agree nor disagree	20.0%	18.7%
Partly disagree	6.4%	5.9%
Strongly disagree	3.4%	2.7%

Focaldata 2023 MRP polling, commissioned by HOPE not hate. This dataset has been automatically converted from 2010 parliamentary constituencies. Updated April 2023.

Policies for tackling the cost of living crisis should go hand in hand with policies to tackle the climate crisis

	This area	National average
Net agree	62.8%	58.9%
Net disagree	14.0%	17.6%
Strongly agree	26.8%	24.2%
Somewhat agree	36.0%	34.7%
Neither agree nor disagree	23.4%	23.4%
Somewhat disagree	8.8%	10.5%
Strongly disagree	5.2%	7.1%

Focaldata 2023 MRP polling, commissioned by HOPE not hate. This dataset has been automatically converted from 2010 parliamentary constituencies. Updated April 2023.

Tackling climate change should / should not be one of the Government’s biggest priorities right now

	This area	National average
Should be a priority	58.2%	57.5%
Should not be a priority	41.8%	42.5%

Focaldata 2023 MRP polling, commissioned by HOPE not hate. This dataset has been automatically converted from 2010 parliamentary constituencies. Updated April 2023.

Neither support nor oppose Net Zero

26.2 national average

Public First MRP Polling, commissioned by Onward UK, adjusted for the demographics of the local area by mySociety. This dataset has been automatically converted from 2010 parliamentary constituencies. Estimated percentage of constituents who neither support nor oppose net zero. Updated July 2022.

Oppose Net Zero

12.4 national average

Support Net Zero

60.4 national average

Support nuclear energy

58.0%

57.4% national average

Survation MRP polling, commissioned by RenewableUK, adjusted for the demographics of the local area by mySociety. This dataset has been automatically converted from 2010 parliamentary constituencies. Updated September 2022.

Support offshore wind

82.6%

85.3% national average

Support renewable energy projects in their local area

82.8%

85.1% national average

Support solar power

86.2%

87.6% national average

Support tidal energy

82.5%

86.0% national average

Support wave energy

87.0%

86.7% national average

Believe that the government should continue the block on onshore wind development

28.6%

24.3% national average

Survation MRP polling, commissioned by RenewableUK. This dataset has been automatically converted from 2010 parliamentary constituencies. Updated September 2022.

Believe that the government should use wind and solar farms to reduce energy bills

84.6%

84.3% national average

Survation MRP polling, commissioned by RenewableUK. This dataset has been automatically converted from 2010 parliamentary constituencies. Updated September 2022.

Believe the government has increased investment in renewables over the past 5 years

49.6%

52.0% national average

Survation MRP polling, commissioned by RenewableUK. This dataset has been automatically converted from 2010 parliamentary constituencies. Updated September 2022.

Predicted winning party at next general election

Reform UK

	This area	National average
Labour	26%	22.5%
Conservative	9%	20.4%
Liberal Democrat	10%	14.7%
Reform	31%	28.2%
Green	23%	8.1%
Other	2%	4.6%

MRP polling from More in Common. Updated July 2025.

More public opinion data

Movement

Number of Act Now Change Forever local lobby meetings

0.1 national average

Data from The Climate Coalition. Constituents across the UK met their MPs as part of The Climate Coalition's Act Now Change Forever campaign in Autumn 2025. Updated 2026-01-22.

Constituents attending 2025 Act Now Change Forever Mass Lobby

7.8 national average

Data collected by The Climate Coalition. Updated July 2025.

Churches that have declared a climate emergency

0.2 national average

Data from Tearfund. Updated July 2023.

Constituents pledged to meet MP as part of Common Grounds 2024

0.7 national average

Data from The Climate Coalition. Updated October 2024.

Friends of the Earth activists

310

302.3 national average

Data from Friends of the Earth. Activists have taken at least one online action for Friends of the Earth in the last 12 months. Updated January 2024.

Friends of the Earth financial supporters

174

122.2 national average

Data from Friends of the Earth. Financial supporters have donated to Friends of the Earth in the last 12 months. Updated January 2024.

Number of Great Big Green Week 2022 events

1.8 national average

Data from The Climate Coalition. Number of Great Big Green Week 2022 events Updated October 2022.

Number of Great Big Green Week 2023 events

2.2 national average

Data from The Climate Coalition. Number of Great Big Green Week 2023 events Updated July 2023.

Number of Great Big Green Week 2024 events

1.9 national average

Data from The Climate Coalition. Number of public Great Big Green week 2024 events held in the area. This exludes any private events that were held. Updated September 2024.

Number of RSPB Reserves

0.3 national average

Data from the RSPB. Updated September 2023.

Number of Save the Children shops

0.2 national average

Data from Save the Children. Updated July 2023.

Number of Trussell Trust foodbanks

2.2 national average

Data from Trussell Trust. Updated December 2022.

Number of Wildlife Trusts Reserves

2.4 national average

Data from the Wildlife Trusts. Number of Wildlife Trusts Reserves Updated 2024-07-02.

Number of Women’s Institute groups

8.4 national average

Data from the WI. Updated 2024-04-24.

More movement data