Chipping Barnet (constituency)

The Chipping Barnet constituency is located on the outskirts of Greater London within the Borough of Barnet. The area was traditionally part of Hertfordshire and consisted of the agricultural market town of Chipping Barnet (often shortened to simply Barnet).^[2] Today the area is well-connected to central London by the Northern line of the London Underground and is predominantly commuter suburbia. The constituency also includes the neighbourhood of Whetstone and part of Edgware, which is separated from Barnet by a rural area. The constituency is predominantly affluent, particularly in Barnet and parts of Brunswick Park.^[3] House prices are higher than the rest of London and more than double the national average.^[4]

Residents of the constituency are generally older than the rest of London and, compared to national averages, have high levels of income, education and professional employment.^[4] The constituency is ethnically diverse; 45% of residents are White British, 15% Other White, 17% Asian and 6% Black.^[5] There is a large Jewish community (10%) concentrated in Edgware.^[6] At the local borough council, Barnet and the residential areas to its east are represented by Labour Party councillors, whilst the more rural areas around Edgware, Totteridge and Woodside Park elected Conservatives. Voters in the constituency were generally supportive of remaining in the European Union in the 2016 referendum; an estimated 60% voted to remain compared to 48% nationwide.^[4]

The seat was held by a Conservative after its creation for the February 1974 general election, and withstood the Labour landslide in 1997 by just over 2% (1,035 votes). However, this would come to a close after the 2024 general election, when Chipping Barnet was won by the Labour Party; it was the first time in the constituency's history that it was not represented by a Conservative MP.

At the 2019 general election, the seat was seen as an important potential gain for the Labour Party, due to Theresa Villiers' small majority and high-profile (as the Environment Secretary), in addition to the seat's vote to remain in the 2016 European Union membership referendum.^{[12][13][14][15]} Nevertheless, Villiers retained the seat with a majority increased threefold, albeit still a small one.^[16] Villiers finally lost her seat at the 2024 election to Labour's Dan Tomlinson, the first Labour MP to represent the constituency, and the area, in Parliament since 1945.

• List of parliamentary constituencies in London