This seat's name is a bit of a misnomer - it is not in fact the true centre of the city but rather around the Town Moor open space area and includes the popular residential district of Jesmond. It has the lowest of the three Labour majorities in the city (even though that's 35.8%) and as late as 1987 it had a Conservative MP, Piers Merchant. Both of the cities' universities lie within its boundaries, consequently Newcastle Central has a large number of students in its population. Owner-occupation runs at just above 50% with 23% renting from the council. It is culturally and religiously mixed. In 2004 Newcastle provided one of the biggest shocks on local election night when Labour lost control of the City Council after 30 years to the Liberal Democrats, with both the leader and deputy leader being defeated. Labour's Jim Cousins has been MP here since he defeated Piers Merchant in 1987. His majority last time was 33.3%.
