Islington South and Finsbury (UK Parliament constituency)

Islington South and Finsbury is a constituency[n 1] created in 1974 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Emily Thornberry of the Labour Party.[n 2] Thornberry served as Shadow Foreign Secretary from 2016 until 2020 and is currently Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales.

Islington South and Finsbury
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Outline map
Boundary of Islington South and Finsbury in Greater London
CountyGreater London
Electorate70,489 (December 2019)[1]
Current constituency
Created1974 (1974)
Member of ParliamentEmily Thornberry (Labour)
SeatsOne
Created fromIslington South West, and Shoreditch and Finsbury

Constituency profile
Typical housing in Islington South on Liverpool Road

This densely populated seat covers Barnsbury, part of Highbury, Islington proper, and Clerkenwell and Finsbury adjoining the City. It contains many desirable apartments and townhouses as well as 20th century social housing developments.

The constituency has been described as "the natural habitat of the hypocritical, well-off, ostensibly liberal chattering classes"[2] including higher earners, leaders in the public sector, critics, entertainers, writers and former Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Boris Johnson. Despite this reputation for liberal affluence there is also significant deprivation in the constituency and its neighbour Islington North.[3]

Boundaries

1974–1983: The London Borough of Islington wards of Barnsbury, Bunhill, Clerkenwell, Pentonville, St Mary, St Peter, and Thornhill.

1983–2010: As above, save that Pentonville was abolished and Canonbury East, Canonbury West, Hillmarton, Holloway were created or added to the seat.

2010–present: The London Borough of Islington wards of Barnsbury, Bunhill, Caledonian, Canonbury, Clerkenwell, Holloway, St Mary's and St Peter's.

The seat covers the southern part of the London Borough of Islington, including Barnsbury, Canonbury, major parts of Holloway, Kings Cross and the former area of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury, which includes Bunhill, Pentonville and Clerkenwell.

History

Islington South and Finsbury was created in 1974 from part of the former Islington South West and Shoreditch and Finsbury constituencies. In 1983, its boundaries changed when the Islington Central constituency was abolished and its area split between Islington South and Finsbury and Islington North.

Islington was an early stronghold for the SDP. All three sitting Labour MPs defected to the party together with a majority of the borough council.[n 3] However, in spite of their less radical position than the Labour Party, they won only one seat to Labour's 59 in the 1982 Islington Council elections[4] and at the 1983 general election, Labour managed to narrowly retain the seat. The new MP, Chris Smith was the first MP to come out as gay and was aligned with the Labour left, and retained the seat with a slight increase in his majority in 1987. By 1992, the post-merged SDP, the Liberal Democrats, had faded locally, and no longer had the former MP as a candidate, and Smith managed to win a majority exceeding 10,000 votes.

The Liberal Democrat revival in local elections in Islington, which saw them take control of the council in 2000, began to cross over to Parliamentary elections in 2001. In 2002, the Liberal Democrats won every council seat in Islington South and Finsbury, and Smith's subsequent retirement and the resultant loss of incumbency made the constituency vulnerable once again in 2005. However Smith's successor, Emily Thornberry, retained the seat with a narrow majority of 484 votes over the Liberal Democrat challenger, Barnsbury councillor Bridget Fox.[5] — the seat therefore became one of the ten most marginal in Britain. However, in the local council elections a year later, Labour made an almost full recovery locally and won a majority of the seats in Islington South and Finsbury, defeating both Bridget Fox and the-then council leader Steve Hitchins.[6] At the 2010 general election, Thornberry increased her majority over Fox. In 2014 the Liberal Democrats lost all their remaining seats on the council. The 2015 general election result made the seat the 93rd safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority.[7]


Members of Parliament
Election Member[8] Party
Feb 1974 George Cunningham Labour
1982 SDP
1983 Chris Smith Labour
2005 Emily Thornberry Labour

Election results

Elections in the 2010s
General election 2019: Islington South and Finsbury[9][10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Emily Thornberry 26,897 56.3 −6.5
Liberal Democrats Kate Pothalingam 9,569 20.0 +7.9
Conservative Jason Charalambous 8,045 16.8 −3.9
Green Talia Hussain 1,987 4.2 +1.7
Brexit Party Paddy Hannam 1,136 2.4 New
Monster Raving Loony Sandys of Bunhill 182 0.4 New
Majority 17,328 36.3 −5.8
Turnout 47,816 67.8 −1.3
Registered electors 70,489
Labour hold Swing -7.2
General election 2017: Islington South and Finsbury[11][12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Emily Thornberry 30,188 62.8 +11.9
Conservative Jason Charalambous 9,925 20.7 −1.6
Liberal Democrats Alain Desmier 5,809 12.1 +1.2
Green Benali Hamdache 1,198 2.5 −5.1
UKIP Pete Muswell 929 1.9 −5.7
Majority 20,263 42.1 +13.4
Turnout 48,049 69.1 +4.1
Registered electors 69,536
Labour hold Swing +6.7
General election 2015: Islington South and Finsbury[13][14][15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Emily Thornberry 22,547 50.9 +8.7
Conservative Mark Lim 9,839 22.2 +2.8
Liberal Democrats Terry Stacy 4,829 10.9 −23.2
UKIP Pete Muswell 3,375 7.6 +6.0
Green Charlie Kiss 3,371 7.6 +6.0
CISTA Jay Kirton 309 0.7 New
Majority 12,708 28.7 +20.5
Turnout 44,270 65.0 +0.6
Registered electors 68,127
Labour hold Swing +3.0
General election 2010: Islington South and Finsbury[16][17][18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Emily Thornberry 18,407 42.3 +2.4
Liberal Democrats Bridget Fox 14,838 34.1 −4.2
Conservative Antonia Cox 8,449 19.4 +4.6
Green James Humphreys 710 1.6 −3.2
UKIP Rose-Marie McDonald 701 1.6 +0.1
English Democrat John Dodds 301 0.7 New
Animal Welfare Richard Deboo 149 0.3 New
Majority 3,569 8.2 +6.6
Turnout 43,555 64.4 +10.8
Registered electors 67,650
Labour hold Swing +3.3

Elections in the 2000s
General election 2005: Islington South and Finsbury[19]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Emily Thornberry 12,345 39.9 −14.0
Liberal Democrats Bridget Fox 11,861 38.3 +10.2
Conservative Melanie McLean 4,594 14.8 +1.1
Green James Humphreys 1,471 4.8 New
UKIP Patricia Theophanides 470 1.5 New
Monster Raving Loony Andy "the Hat" Gardner 189 0.6 New
Independent Chris Gidden 31 0.1 New
Majority 484 1.6 -24.2
Turnout 30,961 53.6 +6.2
Registered electors 57,748
Labour hold Swing −12.1
General election 2001: Islington South and Finsbury[20]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Chris Smith 15,217 53.9 −8.6
Liberal Democrats Keith Sharp 7,937 28.1 +6.8
Conservative Nicky Morgan 3,860 13.7 +0.7
Socialist Alliance Janine Booth 817 2.9 New
Independent Thomas McCarthy 276 1.0 +0.5
Stuckist Party Charles Thomson 108 0.4 New
Majority 7,280 25.8 -15.4
Turnout 28,215 47.4 −16.3
Registered electors 59,516
Labour hold Swing -7.7

Elections in the 1990s
General election 1997: Islington South and Finsbury[21]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Chris Smith 22,079 62.5 +11.4
Liberal Democrats Sarah Ludford 7,516 21.3 -2.0
Conservative David Berens 4,587 13.0 -11.7
Referendum Jane Bryett 741 2.1 New
Independent Alan Laws 171 0.5 New
Natural Law Martin Creese 121 0.3 +0.09
Independent Erol Basarik 101 0.3 New
Majority 14,563 41.2 +14.76
Turnout 35,316 63.7 -8.82
Registered electors 55,468
Labour hold Swing +6.6
General election 1992: Islington South and Finsbury[22]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Chris Smith 20,586 51.1 +11.0
Conservative Mark Jones 9,934 24.7 +4.1
Liberal Democrats Christopher Pryce 9,387 23.3 -14.8
Justice From British Rail Rhona Hersey 149 0.4 New
Monster Raving Loony Marie Avino 142 0.4 New
Natural Law Michael Spinks 83 0.2 New
Majority 10,652 26.4 +24.4
Turnout 40,281 72.5 +1.3
Registered electors 55,541
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1980s
General election 1987: Islington South and Finsbury[23]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Chris Smith 16,511 40.1 +3.8
SDP George Cunningham 15,706 38.1 +2.8
Conservative Andrew Mitchell 8,482 20.6 −6.1
Green Peter Powell 382 0.9 New
Socialist (GB) Stephen Dowsett 81 0.2 0.0
Humanist Judith Early 56 0.1 New
Majority 805 2.0 +1.0
Turnout 41,218 71.2 +9.2
Registered electors 57,910
Labour hold Swing +0.5
General election 1983: Islington South and Finsbury[24]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Chris Smith 13,460 36.3 -15.7
SDP George Cunningham 13,097 35.3 N/A
Conservative Arthur Johnston 9,894 26.7 -7.4
National Front John Donegan 341 0.9 -2.5
Islington and Finsbury Party J. Murphy 102 0.3 New
BNP D. Stentiford 94 0.3 New
Socialist (GB) Clifford Slapper 85 0.2 -0.1
Majority 363 1.0 -17.0
Turnout 37,073 62.0 -0.9
Registered electors 59,795
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1970s
General election 1979: Islington South and Finsbury
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour George Cunningham 12,581 52.04 -9.41
Conservative Nigel Waterson 8,237 34.07 +13.15
Liberal Antony Dean 1,991 8.24 -7.23
National Front Paul Kavanagh 824 3.41 New
Communist Marie Betteridge 330 1.36 -0.80
New Britain Dennis Delderfield 136 0.56 New
Socialist (GB) Ralph Critchfield 78 0.32 New
Majority 4,344 17.97 -22.56
Turnout 24,177 62.92 +6.9
Registered electors 38,427
Labour hold Swing
General election October 1974: Islington South and Finsbury
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour George Cunningham 14,544 61.45 +7.1
Conservative P. Hodgson 3,951 20.92 −2.4
Liberal R. Adams 3,661 15.47 −4.1
Communist Marie Betteridge 512 2.2 +0.4
Majority 9,593 40.5 +9.6
Turnout 22,668 56.0 −10.1
Registered electors 42,251
Labour hold Swing
General election February 1974: Islington South and Finsbury
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour George Cunningham 15,064 54.31
Conservative J. Szemerey 6,473 23.34
Liberal R. Adams 5,415 19.52
Communist Marie Betteridge 492 1.77
Independent A. Lomas 293 1.06
Majority 8,591 30.97
Turnout 27,737 66.06
Registered electors 41,988
Labour win (new seat)

See also

Notes
  1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
  2. As with all constituencies, Islington South and Finsbury elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
  3. This was at the time when the Labour Party voted for in Conference leaving the EEC (Common Market) and abolishing nuclear weapons during the Cold War which largely triggered the split.

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. "Constituency Profile" 2005, The Guardian.
  3. Electoral Calculus https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/seatdetails.py?seat=Islington+South+and+Finsbury
  4. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 August 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) pp. 40–41.
  5. Bridget Fox Archived 2009-06-06 at the Wayback Machine
  6. LDA website document 488 Archived 2006-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
  7. "Labour Members of Parliament 2015". UK Political.info. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018.
  8. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "I"
  9. "Statement of persons nominated, notice of poll and situation of polling stations. Election of a Member of Parliament for Islington South and Finsbury" (PDF). London Borough of Islington. 14 November 2019.
  10. "Commons Briefing Paper 8749. General Election 2019: results and analysis" (PDF). London: House of Commons Library. 28 January 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  11. "Islington South & Finsbury parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
  12. "Commons Briefing Paper 7979. General Election 2017: results and analysis" (PDF) (Second ed.). House of Commons Library. 29 January 2019 [7 April 2018]. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 November 2019.
  13. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  14. "General Elections Results 2015". London Borough of Islington. 8 May 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  15. "Statement of Persons Nominated, Notice of Poll and Situation of Polling Stations" (PDF). London Borough of Islington. 9 April 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  16. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  17. "Statement as to persons nominated and notice of poll for Parliamentary Election, Thursday 6 May 2010: Islington South and Finsbury constituency" (PDF). London Borough of Islington. 20 April 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2010. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  18. "Islington South & Finsbury — Election 2010". BBC News Online. 7 May 2010.
  19. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  20. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  21. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  22. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  23. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  24. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

51.538°N 0.106°W / 51.538; -0.106

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