Finchley and Golders Green (UK Parliament constituency)

Finchley and Golders Green is a constituency^{[n 1]} created in 1997. It is represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Sarah Sackman of the Labour Party.

Finchley and Golders Green
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Interactive map of boundaries from 2024
Location within Greater London
County	Greater London
Electorate	75,761 (2023)[1]
Major settlements	Finchley, Hampstead Garden Suburb, Golders Green and Cricklewood
Current constituency
Created	1997
Member of Parliament	Sarah Sackman (Labour)
Seats	One
Created from	Finchley, Hendon South

Boundaries

The constituency covers Finchley, Golders Green, Childs Hill, Temple Fortune 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.

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

2010–2024: As above; less St Paul's, plus West Finchley and replacing Finchley with Finchley Church End.

2024–present: The London Borough of Barnet wards of Childs Hill, Cricklewood, East Finchley, Finchley Church End, Garden Suburb, Golders Green, West Finchley and Woodhouse.^[2][3]

Boundary reviews

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.

The 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies^[4] recommended a new composition for the consitutency which was adopted for the 2024 general election.

History

Most of this zone was in Finchley (abolished), created in 1918, most famously represented by former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher from 1959 to 1992; reshaping meant that she never re-won as large a majority as in 1959, and was re-elected by a 10 per cent margin in 1974. She nonetheless won 8,000 and 9,000 majorities, 20 per cent 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 result gave the seat the 65th-most marginal majority of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority.^[5]

The 2019 result saw Labour's share of the vote decline by 19.6% as the party dropped to third place. This was the eighth-worst decline among the 630 Labour candidates. The Liberal Democrats, who came second in the seat for the first time, increased their vote share by 25.3%, the third-largest increase of their candidates. They were partly helped by the Green Party's choice to stand aside locally via the Unite to Remain electoral pact.^[6] Despite the Conservative share of the vote going down 3%, their majority quadrupled from 2017.

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 green and hilly for London and has many tube stations. Finchley and Golders Green were overwhelmingly built on in the first half of the 20th century when at the fringe of London. The area has since the heyday of the railways had little industry or large headquarters of its own, the non-commuting economy being in public service, high street retail, leisure and hospitality, domestic/commercial premises tradespeople, plus home-based media, digital economy and arts workers. Commuters take in many people in the financial, medical and legal professions and some people ancillary to central London's diverse economy.

In southern parts of the London Borough of Barnet, private and one-family housing still exceeds the London average; houses tend to have gardens exceeding their footprint, yet there are also many older, subdivided, townhouses and shared or modest-size family flats. The proportion of social and assured or supported rental housing is lower than the London average. Most residents have quite high incomes largely to meet the cost of mortgages and rent, are very well educated, and middle-class – it retains many Labour Party supporters in East and West Finchley. Over 20% of residents are Jewish, the highest of any constituency.^[7]

Members of Parliament

Event	Member[8]	Party
1997	Rudi Vis		Labour
2010	Mike Freer		Conservative
2024	Sarah Sackman		Labour

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.^[9]

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Finchley and Golders Green^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sarah Sackman	21,857	44.3	+19.9
	Conservative	Alex Deane	17,276	35.1	–8.7
	Liberal Democrats	Sarah Hoyle	3,375	6.8	–25.0
	Green	Steve Parsons	3,107	6.3	N/A
	Reform UK	Bepi Pezzulli	2,598	5.3	N/A
	Rejoin EU	Brendan Donnelly	486	1.0	N/A
	Party of Women	Katharine Murphy	318	0.6	N/A
	Independent	Michael Shad	272	0.6	N/A
Majority			4,581	9.2	N/A
Turnout			49,289	63.6	–9.5
Registered electors			77,500
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+14.3

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Finchley and Golders Green^[11][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mike Freer	24,162	43.8	–3.2
	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^[13][14]

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^[15][16][17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mike Freer[18]	25,835	50.9	+4.9
	Labour	Sarah Sackman[18]	20,173	39.7	+6.0
	UKIP	Richard King[19]	1,732	3.4	+1.7
	Liberal Democrats	Jonathan Davies[20]	1,662	3.3	–13.7
	Green	Adele Ward[21]	1,357	2.7	+1.1
Majority			5,662	11.2	–1.1
Turnout			50,759	70.0	+8.9
Registered electors			72,530
	Conservative hold		Swing	–0.6

See also: Opinion polling in United Kingdom constituencies, 2010–15 § Finchley and Golders Green

General election 2010: Finchley and Golders Green^[22][23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mike Freer	21,688	46.0	+6.2
	Labour	Alison Moore	15,879	33.7	–5.4
	Liberal Democrats	Laura Edge	8,036	17.0	–0.1
	UKIP	Susan Cummins	817	1.7	+0.6
	Green	Donald Lyven	737	1.6	–1.0
Majority			5,809	12.3	+11.6
Turnout			47,157	61.1
Registered electors			70,722
	Conservative win (new boundaries)

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Finchley and Golders Green^[24]

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 Jacobs	453	1.0	+0.2
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Rainbow George Weiss	110	0.3	New
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^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rudi Vis	20,205	46.3	+0.2
	Conservative	John Marshall	16,489	37.8	–1.9
	Liberal Democrats	Sarah Teather	5,266	12.1	+0.8
	Green	Miranda Dunn	1,385	3.2	+2.1
	UKIP	John de Roeck	330	0.8	+0.4
Majority			3,716	8.5	+2.1
Turnout			43,675	57.3	–12.4
Registered electors			76,178
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.1

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Finchley and Golders Green^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rudi Vis	23,180	46.1
	Conservative	John Marshall	19,991	39.7
	Liberal Democrats	Jonathan M. Davies	5,670	11.3
	Referendum	Gary D. Shaw	684	1.4
	Green	Ashley Gunstock	576	1.1
	UKIP	David N.G. Barraclough	205	0.4
Majority			3,189	6.4
Turnout			50,306	69.7
Registered electors			72,357
	Labour win (new seat)

See also

• Finchley (UK Parliament constituency), approximate predecessor
• Hendon South (UK Parliament constituency), half of which was merged with Finchley
• List of parliamentary constituencies in London

Notes

1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)

References

1. "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition – London". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
2. "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 1 Part 3 London region.
3. "Boundary Commission for England – Final Recommendations for the London Region: Finchley and Golders Green Borough Constituency – Electorate 75,761" (PDF). Boundary Commission for England. December 2022.
4. "2023 Review: Final report and recommendations". The Boundary Commission for England. 2023.
5. "Conservative Members of Parliament 2015". UK Political.info. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
6. The Times Guide to the House of Commons 2019. Glasgow: Times Books. 2020. pp. 55, 200. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1.
7. "UK Polling Report".
8. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "F"
9. General Election 2010 – Finchley & Golders Green, BBC News
10. "Finchley and Golders Green - General election results 2024". BBC News. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
11. "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.
12. "Finchley & Golders Green parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". BBC News.
13. "Finchley & Golders Green parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
14. "House Of Commons Library 2017 Election report" (PDF).
15. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
16. "Election results in Barnet – barnet.gov.uk". 9 July 2015. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
17. "Finchley & Golders Green parliamentary constituency – Election 2017" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
18. "UK ELECTION RESULTS". electionresults.blogspot.co.uk.
19. "Richard King, UKIP PPC for Finchley and Golders Green". ukipbarnet.org. Archived from the original on 20 February 2015.
20. James Caven (3 February 2015). "'We aren't going away': Lib Dems choose candidate for Finchley and Golders Green". Times Series.
21. "Our candidates – Barnet Green Party". barnetgreenparty.co.uk. Archived from the original on 29 January 2015.
22. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
23. BBC News|Election 2010|Constituency|Finchley & Golders Green, BBC News, retrieved 27 July 2012
24. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
25. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
26. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

External links

• Politics Resources (Election results from 1922 onwards)
• Electoral Calculus (Election results from 1955 onwards)
• Finchley and Golders Green UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK
• Finchley and Golders Green UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
• Finchley and Golders Green UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Finchley	UK Parliament constituency 1997 – present	Incumbent
Preceded by Hendon South

51.59°N 0.18°W / 51.59; -0.18