Finchley and Golders Green (UK Parliament constituency)

Finchley and Golders Green is a constituency[n 1] created in 1997 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. The current MP is Mike Freer of the Conservative Party, who has held the seat since 2010.[n 2]

Finchley and Golders Green
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Finchley and Golders Green in Greater London
CountyGreater London
Electorate71,595 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlementsFinchley, Hampstead Garden Suburb, Golders Green and Cricklewood
Current constituency
Created1997
Member of ParliamentMike Freer (Conservative)
Number of membersOne
Created fromFinchley, Hendon South

Boundaries

1997–2010: The London Borough of Barnet wards of Childs Hill, East Finchley, Finchley, Garden Suburb, Golders Green, St Paul's, and Woodhouse.

2010–present: As above; less St Paul's, plus West Finchley and replacing Finchley with Finchley Church End.

The constituency covers Finchley, Golders Green, Childs Hill and Hampstead Garden Suburb in the London Borough of Barnet. It was created in 1997 largely replacing the abolished constituency of Finchley—plus major parts of abolished Hendon South, less some of its wards transferred to the Chipping Barnet seat which covers Barnet. Specifically the creation saw the removal of Friern Barnet and the addition of Golders Green, Childs Hill and Hampstead Garden Suburb.

2007 boundary review

Under a review of parliamentary representation, and as a consequence of changes to ward boundaries, the Boundary Commission for England recommended in a boundary report published in 2007 that:

  • parts of Golders Green ward and Finchley Church End ward be transferred from Hendon
  • part of Woodhouse ward be transferred from Chipping Barnet;
  • parts of Mill Hill ward and Coppetts ward be transferred to Hendon and Chipping Barnet respectively.

These changes took effect at the 2010 general election.

History

The majority of the constituency's territory was previously in the former Finchley seat, created in 1918, and was most famously represented by former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher between 1959–1992; although boundary changes meant that she never again attained her large majority of 1959, and was re-elected by a 10-point margin in 1974, she was nonetheless returned by majorities of 8,000 and 9,000 votes or 20-point margins at the three general elections throughout her premiership. Since the nominal result at the 1992 general election, and officially from its creation, the seat has been a national bellwether.

The 2015 general election result gave the seat the 65th most marginal majority of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority.[2]

The 2019 result saw Labour's share of the vote decline by 19.6% as the party dropped to third place. This was the 8th worst decline in Labour's vote share in any of the 630 constituencies it contested in the United Kingdom. By contrast the Liberal Democrats, who came second in the seat for the first time, increased their share of the vote by 25.3%. This was third largest increase in their vote share in any of the constituencies that they contested at the election. They were partly helped by the Green Party's decision to stand down in their favour as part of the Unite to Remain electoral pact. [3]

Constituency profile
Hampstead Garden Suburb viewed from the Hampstead Heath Extension in Finchley & Golders Green. Visible on the skyline, from left to right, are the Grade I listed Free Church and St Jude's Church as well as the Henrietta Barnett School.

The area is relatively hilly for Greater London and has numerous London Underground stations. Finchley and Golders Green was overwhelmingly built on in the first half of the 20th century when it was at the fringe of London. The area has since the coming of the railways had little industry of its own, its local economy tending towards high street retail and tradespeople and instead, the workforce has a high proportion of central London commuters.

In common with much of the London Borough of Barnet, the local housing stock is larger than the London average; most houses have gardens greatly exceeding their footprint and there are many older subdivided townhouses. The proportion of social housing and ex-council housing is lower than the London average and is in varying condition, unlike many urban hubs in the capital which have seen greater redevelopment of neglected housing stock. It is a mostly affluent and middle-class constituency, but has historically strong Labour Party support in areas of East and West Finchley. Over 20% of residents are Jewish.[4]

Members of Parliament
Event Member[5] Party
1997 Rudi Vis Labour
2010 Mike Freer Conservative

According to Rallings and Thrasher, the boundary changes which came into force for the general election of 2010 meant that this seat notionally already had a Conservative majority, albeit a very small one.[6]

Elections

Elections in the 2010s
General election 2019: Finchley and Golders Green[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Mike Freer 24,162 43.8 −3.1
Liberal Democrats Luciana Berger 17,600 31.9 +25.3
Labour Ross Houston 13,347 24.2 −19.6
Majority 6,562 11.9 +8.7
Turnout 55,109 71.0 −0.4
Registered electors 77,573
Conservative hold Swing −14.2
See also: Opinion polling for the 2019 United Kingdom general election § Finchley and Golders Green
General election 2017: Finchley and Golders Green[9][10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Mike Freer 24,599 47.0 −3.9
Labour Jeremy Newmark 22,942 43.8 +4.1
Liberal Democrats Jonathan Davies 3,463 6.6 +3.3
Green Adele Ward 919 1.8 −0.9
UKIP Andrew Price 462 0.9 −2.5
Majority 1,657 3.2 −8.0
Turnout 52,389 71.4 +1.4
Registered electors 73,329
Conservative hold Swing −4.0
General election 2015: Finchley and Golders Green[11][12][13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Mike Freer[14] 25,835 50.9 +4.9
Labour Sarah Sackman[14] 20,173 39.7 +6.1
UKIP Richard King[15] 1,732 3.4 +1.7
Liberal Democrats Jonathan Davies[16] 1,662 3.3 −13.8
Green Adele Ward[17] 1,357 2.7 +1.1
Majority 5,662 11.2 −1.2
Turnout 50,759 70.0 +8.9
Registered electors 72,530
Conservative hold Swing −0.6
General election 2010: Finchley and Golders Green[18][19]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Mike Freer 21,688 46.0 N/A
Labour Alison Moore 15,879 33.7 N/A
Liberal Democrats Laura Edge 8,036 17.0 N/A
UKIP Susan Cummins 817 1.7 N/A
Green Donald Lyven 737 1.6 N/A
Majority 5,809 12.3 N/A
Turnout 47,157 61.1 N/A
Registered electors 70,722
Conservative win (new boundaries)

Elections in the 2000s
General election 2005: Finchley and Golders Green[20]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Rudi Vis 17,487 40.5 −5.8
Conservative Andrew Mennear 16,746 38.8 +1.0
Liberal Democrats Susan Garden 7,282 16.9 +4.8
Green Noel Lynch 1,136 2.6 −0.6
UKIP Jeremy C. Jacobs 453 1.0 +0.2
Rainbow Dream Ticket Rainbow George Weiss 110 0.3 +0.3
Majority 741 1.7 −6.8
Turnout 43,214 61.9 +4.6
Registered electors 70,000
Labour hold Swing −3.4
General election 2001: Finchley and Golders Green[21]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Rudi Vis 20,205 46.3 +0.2
Conservative John Marshall 16,489 37.8 −2.0
Liberal Democrats Sarah Teather 5,266 12.1 +0.8
Green Miranda Dunn 1,385 3.2 +2.0
UKIP John A. de Roeck 330 0.8 +0.3
Majority 3,716 8.5 +2.1
Turnout 43,675 57.3 −12.2
Registered electors 76,178
Labour hold Swing +1.1

Elections in the 1990s
General election 1997: Finchley and Golders Green[22]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Rudi Vis 23,180 46.1 N/A
Conservative John Marshall 19,991 39.7 N/A
Liberal Democrats Jonathan M. Davies 5,670 11.3 N/A
Referendum Gary D. Shaw 684 1.4 N/A
Green Ashley Gunstock 576 1.1 N/A
UKIP David N.G. Barraclough 205 0.4 N/A
Majority 3,189 6.4 N/A
Turnout 50,306 69.7 N/A
Registered electors 72,357
Labour win (new seat)
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See also

Notes and references

Notes

  1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
  2. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.

References

  1. "Electorate Figures – Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  2. List of Conservative MPs elected in 2015 by % majority UK Political.info. Retrieved 2017-01-29
  3. The Times Guide to the House of Commons 2019. Glasgow: Times Books. 2020. pp. 55 & 200. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1.
  4. "UK Polling Report".
  5. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "F"
  6. General Election 2010 – Finchley & Golders Green BBC News
  7. "Election of a Member of Parliament for the Finchley and Golders Green Parliamentary Constituency: Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll" (PDF). London Borough of Barnet. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  8. "Finchley & Golders Green parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News.
  9. "Finchley & Golders Green parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
  10. "House Of Commons Library 2017 Election report" (PDF).
  11. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  12. "Archived copy". 9 July 2015. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 2015-08-21.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. "Finchley & Golders Green parliamentary constituency - Election 2017" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  14. "UK ELECTION RESULTS". electionresults.blogspot.co.uk.
  15. "Richard King, UKIP PPC for Finchley and Golders Green". ukipbarnet.org. Archived from the original on 2015-02-20.
  16. James Caven. "'We aren't going away': Lib Dems choose candidate for Finchley and Golders Green". Times Series.
  17. "Our candidates – Barnet Green Party". barnetgreenparty.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2015-01-29.
  18. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  19. BBC News|Election 2010|Constituency|Finchley & Golders Green news.bbc.co.uk, retrieved 27 July 2012
  20. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  21. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  22. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Finchley		 UK Parliament constituency
1997 – present		 Incumbent
Preceded by
Hendon South

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