Created 1983 | Electorate 85,243 (December 2010) European Parliament constituency London Number of members 1 | |
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Replaced by St Pancras North, Holborn and St Pancras South | ||
Holborn and St Pancras (/həʊbɜːn ænd sənt 'pænkɹəs/; /ənd/) is a constituency created in 1983, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom since 2015 by Keir Starmer of the Labour Party.
Contents
Constituency profile
The seat of Holborn and St Pancras as drawn in 2010 is composed of all but a small western portion of the London Borough of Camden and extends from most of Covent Garden and Bloomsbury in the heart of the West End of London through other areas of NW1, north and in elevation terms upwards through trendy and economically diverse Camden Town to the affluent suburb of Highgate in a long strip. Gospel Oak, particularly towards Kentish Town, has high deprivation levels, but neighbouring Highgate ward in the seat drawn has low deprivation levels.
Kings Cross, St Pancras International and Euston railway termini are in the seat.
During the 20th century the Bloomsbury, Holborn and Covent Garden and Highgate wards overwhelmingly elected Conservatives councillors. Since 2000 the wards forming the seat in its three revised forms have all swung against the party. The 2014-2018 local government results produced one Green Party councillor, for the Highgate ward in the seat, and the remaining 32 forming the seat (as redrawn in 2010) are members of the Labour Party.
The seat has been won since 1983 by the Labour Party candidate. The majorities achieved have been varied between a relatively marginal 13.9% in 2005 (making it a lowest 150 seat for the party in that year by percentage of majority) to a landslide 47.1% in 1997. The 2015 result ranked the seat the 77th safest of the party's 232 seats (by majority percentage).
Boundaries
Wards have to date been in the London Borough of Camden.
Bloomsbury, Brunswick, Camden, Castlehaven, Caversham, Chalk Farm, Gospel Oak, Grafton, Holborn, King’s Cross, Regent’s Park, St John's, St Pancras, and Somers Town.
As above, less Gospel Oak
Wards renamed and redrawn before 2010 election. Wards selected to form the seat in 2010 were: Bloomsbury, Camden Town with Primrose Hill, Cantelowes, Gospel Oak, Haverstock, Highgate, Holborn and Covent Garden, Kentish Town, King's Cross, Regent's Park, and St Pancras and Somers Town.
The seat was created in 1983 as a primary successor to Holborn and St Pancras South, created 1950.
National changes took place in 2010 to implement the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies to offset population changes among other objectives — each review addresses national malapportionment of electoral quotas, representations made and a local authority (or paired local authority) tie and does not seek to make seats marginal. The seat covers the southern half of the London Borough of Camden including the bulk or all of Camden Town, King's Cross, Gospel Oak, Kentish Town and Bloomsbury.
The Boundary Commission for England recommended the year 2010 modifications — parts of Highgate ward, Gospel Oak ward, Haverstock ward and Camden Town with Primrose Hill ward were transferred from the former constituency of Hampstead and Highgate. The electorate of the new seat would have been 85,188 if it had existed at the 2005 General Election the figure has since risen further and at the 2010 general election, placing the seat in the five-highest London electorates.
Members of Parliament
The seat was held from 1983 to 2015 by Frank Dobson for Labour, who had been elected in 1979 to the predecessor seat of Holborn & St Pancras South. Dobson was the longest-serving Labour MP in London as at the date he declined to stand for re-election, 2015, which election was won in the seat by Keir Starmer.
Elections in the 2010s
note that the 2010 "swings" are based on the notional result for 2005 in the new boundaries.