County Greater London Created 1997 European Parliament constituency London Number of members 1 | Electorate 71,595 (December 2010) Created from Finchley, Hendon South Member of parliament Mike Freer Replaced by Finchley, Hendon South | |
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Finchley and Golders Green is a constituency created in 1997 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Since 2010, its MP has been Mike Freer, a Conservative.
Contents
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 [[Finchley (UK Parliament constituency)|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 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:
These changes took effect at the 2010 general election.
History
Most of the constituency's territory was previously in the abolished Finchley seat, created in 1918, represented by former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher between 1959 and her retirement from the House of Commons in 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 exceeding 9,000 votes at General Elections throughout her premiership. Since the 1992 nominal result, and officially from its creation, the seat has been a national bellwether.
The 2015 result gave the seat the 65th most marginal majority of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority.
Constituency profile
The area is relatively hilly for Greater London and has numerous London Underground stations. Finchley and Golders Green was overwhelmingly built on in the middle 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 averages larger in size than the average London accommodation, most houses have gardens greatly exceeding their footprint and few older subdivided townhouses are present; the proportion of social housing and ex-council housing is lower than the London average finding itself in varying condition, unlike many urban hubs in the capital which have seen greater redevelopment of neglected housing stock.
Members of Parliament
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.